These two psalms overlap with a number of common verses, so I combined them into one track. The unique verses in Psalm 108 seemed to require a fresh and distinct musical section, hence the reggae (with photos of friends from my Jamaican chapter), after which the shared verses from Psalm 60 warranted a return to the previous setting, but a new tempo to set it apart from the first iteration. I hope you like it. Right now this is the leading candidate for the opening track on the forthcoming Revenant Psalms, Vol. IV.
The Year D Project
Curating the biblical and Reformed theological traditions in order "to make the Word of God fully known"
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
A good reminder after any election, whatever the result
Another new track and video are in the pipe, but this 30+ year-old offspring came to mind this morning. It debuted through the Late Late Service (in something called the rolling magazine tent, if memory serves) at the Greenbelt Festival in 1993. I'm still so very grateful for the use of Andy Thornton's Jump Studio and his patient mixing and his generous addition of the ethereal speech tracks. We are made in the image of God, and the referent for that, we now know, is the Word of God. Among many other things, we are speech creatures or language animals as Charles Taylor puts it. Enjoy.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Psalm 28 [Carrier]
Same chord sequence in several different time signatures: 6/4, 4/4, and 5/8. The solo score at the end shows 4/4, but that is overlaid on the 5/8 section. Whatever. Just find the downbeat.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Johannes Zwick's prayer "Before the Children's Service"
O God and Father of all fathers [parents], teach us!
O God and Father of all children, teach us!
O Lord of lords, teach us!
O Spirit, Teacher of Truth, teach us,
that we may join ourselves to the Holy Child Jesus,
follow his example in all that we do,
grow in spirit, grace, and truth,
for the benefit of all Christians,
that together we children may adorn your Church and your Name.
O Lord God, teach us this!
— Johannes Zwick (1496—1542), translated by TMS from the Alsatian Evangelical Songbook [Evangelisches Gesangbuch für Elsasz] (Lothringen [i.e., Lorraine], 1907) p. 498.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
The music of Martha Christian
I had the occasion to speak with this talented singer/songwriter the other day. What a bright light she is.
Check out her YT channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC78JzVBRutJbBRpasjqtEQA
And her Bandcamp site here: https://marthachristian.bandcamp.com/album/all-will-be-well
Monday, October 21, 2024
Suggested Strategies (for Reviving and Growing Your Congregation), Nos. 1-20
1. Read Psalm 127 and pray accordingly.
2. Use the various liturgies for the Reaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant in the Book of Common Worship. I would suggest doing this every other month, or at least quarterly for the foreseeable future. These can be blended in easily with services that involve a baptism, or that remember Jesus' baptism (the Sunday after Epiphany), but also with services around the seasons of Lent (Ash Wednesday or First Lent) and Easter, as well as Pentecost, Trinity, World Communion, All Saints', etc.
3. Adapt these services to include foot washing, no, not just at Maundy Thursday, but as often as you can persuade your session to support it, on retreats, in mid-week worship, in small group settings, etc. This is just a suggestion, and you can bet there will be resistance. But read John 13 and convince me that Jesus did not give us foot washing as "the" rite for the renewal of the baptismal covenant. It is simply stunning than no major liturgical resources acknowledge this. If we say we worship biblically, this needs to change.
4. Build a biblically literate bench of serious disciples of Jesus with a structured and intentional Bible reading plan. Make it fun, and look long term. Here is how I would do it (with a 3-1/2 year scope) using some of the resources I have been working on for the last 25 years or so.
- Gift everyone in the church with a copy of A Phenomenal Llama for Christmas Eve 2024.
- Recommend that everyone, at least your church officers and staff, start reading Sitometrion on Christmas Day and work through it (and the whole Bible, of course), from Christmas Day 2024 to next Christmas Eve 2025.
- Follow that with a reading of Phylakterion (a Kierkegaardian style novel that basically works its way into a commentary on Ecclesiastes, Colossians, and James). Do this between Christmas 2025 and Lent 2065.
- Do a Bible Study in Lent 2026 of Psalms 1 and 137, and read The Secret of Salix Babylonicus using the discussion questions prepared by Story Path. Follow this with a Renewal of the Baptismal Covenant, preferably including foot washing.
- Recommend that everyone, at least your church officers and staff, work through The Word at Work, starting the Second Sunday of Easter 2026 and concluding on Easter Sunday 2027.
- Recommend that everyone, at least your church officers and staff, read Oecolampadius' Sermon on the Vernacular (either in the B&NPress edition or in the back matter of A Short Course in Reformed Worship). Do this in the season of Easter 2027, before Pentecost 2027.
- Recommend that everyone, at least your church officers and staff, work through The Spirit at Work, starting at Pentecost 2027 and going through Trinity 2028.
Monday, October 14, 2024
Psalm 140 [Halleseni]
Psalm 140 [Halleseni] is the latest track from the forthcoming Revenant Psalms, Vol. IV.
Use this link for streaming this and other tracks: https://songwhip.com/timslemmons
And here it is on video:
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
YouTube channels
There is some overlap between these two channels, but time does not permit consolidating them. If you like the Psalms settings or other guitar pieces, you know the drill: like, bookmark, subscribe, and share.
https://www.youtube.com/@timslemmons8474
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVQ-nVtSS1mawJCInwDacAA
Many thanks.—T
P.S. Also, please note whether playing a video registers in the YT play count. Color me suspicious.