Music for the Pastor's Study: Part VII. Bach

To quote a famous fictional Army corporal who served during the Korean war era: "Ah, Bach!"

Music for the Pastor's Study: Part VI. Mozart

Karl Barth was certainly onto something when he kept Mozart spinning on the gramophone, um, you know, "the record player," as he himself spun out the 6 million words of the Church Dogmatics. I cannot imagine trying to concentrate at all, much less analyze deep theological problems while listening to opera, but the symphonies move right along, and when it comes down to sheer productivity, somehow I always seem to get a lot more done than I imagine possible when the symphonies of Mozart are running in the background.

At present I am having fun loading them onto iTunes in numerical order. I am no musicologist, but I do realize there are critical and historical problems with this approach. Nevertheless, I also think it gives one a general sense of how the great composer developed by listening to things in (grossly) chronological order, and in fact, I find this developmental approach to anyone's output, whether musical, theological, sermonic, etc., is almost always the most revealing.

So then, why not start with his so-called "Youth Symphonies"?

Music for the Pastor's Study: Part V. Phil Keaggy

The amazing Phil Keaggy has a sweet singing voice that is often compared to that of Paul McCartney. Nevertheless, his vocal albums are not what I would recommend for our purposes here. Once again, the instrumental contributions stand out. Legend has it this diminutive Christian man with only nine working fingers once received a hat tip from Eric Clapton when Johnny Carson asked him what it felt like to be the best guitarist in the world. "You'd have to ask Phil," came the reply.

Music for the Pastor's Study: Part IV. Rick Wakeman

Continuing with the theme of British progressive rock artists who went and grew up, Rick Wakeman's "Airs" trilogy is virtuoso piano at its exquisite best:

Music for the Pastor's Study: Part III. Steve Hackett

Ant Phillips was replaced on guitar by Steve Hackett, who later departed Genesis in 1977 to issue a number of solo projects in a variety of genres. For music conducive to study, one must be very selective where Hackett is concerned, but his most pastoral records are his instrumental acoustic albums. (Don't let the album covers put you off!)

Music for the Pastor's Study: Part II. Anthony Phillips

Perhaps the one figure who is most prominent in my music library generally, and who more than anyone has acted as a minister of music to me over the course of my life is Anthony Phillips, the original guitarist with the progressive rock group Genesis. "Ant," as he is called, quit the band to study composition just as the band was poised to soar to legendary success on the art rock scene. Never so famous as his former band, he has nevertheless been amazingly prolific, recording as many pieces for guitar  as piano, as well as synthetic compositions for soundtracks, and other albums of blended styles and orchestrations. While not all of his albums may be described as pastoral, there is a lush and evocative pastoral beauty to his lengthy series of now ten albums that he has entitled (or subtitled) Private Parts and Pieces (I through X), and this series is but a subset of his total output. CCM fans should note that Ant's first solo album, The Geese and the Ghost, had a profound influence on guitarist Phil Keaggy, specifically on his classic, Master and the Musician.

Music for the Pastor's Study: Part I. The Harp

Much as I love music, it is not always easy to find music that complements the tasks of study, prayer, and sermon preparation, rather than distracting from them. With this posting, I thought I would initiate a series devoted to some preferred sounds that I think are not incompatible with, but rather make for a good pastoral environment in the study. Not everything that is mentioned will necessarily be sacred music as such, or as intended by the artist, but in the same way there is a great deal of well-intentioned Christian music that does not contribute to a pastoral ethos in the study and thus will find no mention here. My aim is not to be exhaustive, but merely suggestive.

The harp seems a good place to begin as it offers a wonderfully therapeutic sound that is most welcome in these very tense and stressful days; so let me recommend the works of some of the best harpists or "harpers" (as they prefer to be called) who are producing some very pastoral and pleasing sounds today:

1. Kim Robertson

2. Aryeh Frankfurter

3. Joanna Mell

All the Way to Heaven: Tracking God's Rest and Christ's Ensign with Jonathan Edwards

Those who have returned to Year A likely heard from Isaiah 11 last Sunday, the Second Sunday of Advent. This morning I was surprised to find a lengthy entry (No. 503), a real tour-de-force, in Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 15: Notes on Scripture, ed. Stein (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), wherein the Awakener ranges abroad from Isaiah 11:10 ("And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek. And his rest shall be glorious") to the epistle text (Hebrews 4:1-11) for the Third Sunday of Advent in Year D. 


Edwards tracks the intertwined themes of the Lord's "(en)sign" or "banner" [Heb. Nissi] and the Lord's "rest" through the marching formation of the army of Israel under four ensigns (see Num 2), through the battle with Amalek (Ex. 17:15), through the central ensign of the ark as it led Israel in procession (Num 10:33) and eventually across the Jordan into Canaan (Josh 3:3-4). 

Likewise, the pillars of fire and cloud are visible symbols not only of the locus of the presence of God with or upon the ark (Num 9:15-23), they are also traditional signs of God's glory. So, when Edwards views these texts by way of Isaiah's phrase, "HIS REST SHALL BE GLORY," he ushers in a slew of texts, especially psalms, canticles, and prophetic oracles, that essentially conflate God's (en)sign, ark, banner, tent, tabernacle, temple, mountain, etc., with the rod of Jesse, the cross of Christ, etc., all of which signify, in one way or another, the "rest" of God. In addition to the aforementioned texts, his citations include (in the following order): Jer 17:3; Ps 132:8, 13-14; 1Chron 28:2; 2Sam 7:6; Isa 66:1 and 57:15; Ezek 20:6, 15; Dan 11:16, 45; Pss 48:2; 50:2; 1Chron 22:5; Pss 29:2; 96:6; Jer 17:12; and finally, Heb 4:9. 

The entry is too long to reproduce in full, but among the highlights (with respect to his comments on Hebrews 4) are these:

"Here 'tis remarkable that ... the Apostle seems to suppose that what is called 'God's rest,' or 'Christ's rest,' in the promises of the Old Testament, is so called not only because it was a rest of God's providing and promising, but because it was his personally" (p. 603; emphasis mine).

"All these things show plainly that here is an allusion to God's salvation of Israel of old, when they were brought out of Egypt, and led through the wilderness to Canaan under Christ as their ensign, manifested by those types and symbols of his presence: Moses' rod, the tabernacle and ark, and especially the cloud of glory above them; and that the rod of Jesse, here spoken of, is that person there exhibited in those types [and] symbols. And they all manifestly show that the Messiah was to work out another redemption far greater than that of Egypt, of both Gentiles and Jews, and gather both into one great congregation, and lead 'em to another and far more glorious rest than that of Canaan, Jerusalem, and the temple, even in their greatest glory in Solomon's time, and a rest which should be his own land, and his own dwelling place, and temple, which his people should partake with him in his rest, happiness, and glory. And so that, as the Apostle says, there 'remains a rest to the people of God' (Heb 4:9), besides that which Joshua brought Israel into, and that heaven is that rest" (pp. 604-5; emphasis mine).

It is amazing what emerges when one simply lays hold of a phrase like: "His rest shall be glorious," with almost algebraic certainty and then follows it with a sort of transitive exegetical logic. But that is what the Awakeners were known for: an extraordinarily thorough biblical literacy worn like a pair of seven-league boots.