Thursday, August 13, 2020

Beethoven 250: String Quartets

As I explained in the January 24, 2020 post, I purchased the Naxos collection of Beethoven's complete works, which I plan to listen to this year, leading up to Beethoven's 250th birthday on December 16. These past few weeks I've listened to Beethoven's famous string quartets!  He is known to have composed them in three periods: 1-6 when he was in his late 20s, 7-11 when he was in his late 30s, and 12-16 during his last three years. So they're easily grouped as early, middle, and late. 

Disc 47
Quartets 1, 2 "Komplimentierquartett", and 3

48
Quartets 4, 5, and 6

These six are all Opus 18

49
Quartets 7 and 8 "Rasumowsky"

50
Quartets 9 "Rasumowsky," and 10 "Harp" 

The Rasumowsky quartets are Opus 59, and "Harp" is Op. 95. 

51
Quartets 11 and 12 (Opus 95, 127)

52
Quartets 13 and 14 (Opus 130, 131)

53 
Quartets 15 and 16 (Opus 132, 135) 

I also jumped ahead to Disc 63 which has the "Great Fugue" quartet (Opus 133) that was originally the conclusion of Quartet 13. 

I used to have an LP set of the string quartets. I had read somewhere that they are such a significant aspect of Beethoven's compositions, and that he brought a growing emotional depth to the form. I "cheated" and listened to the Opus 132, 133, and 135 the most, and it's been enjoyable to listen instead to all of the pieces! My favorite among them is 13. 

Here are some articles about the quartets: 




Cover page for Quartet #13
Cover page for Quartet #13

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

We Are God's Works of Art

Here is Beth's devotion for our church for this past Sunday. 

We Are God’s Works of Art

By Beth Stroble

“Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things.  God planned for these good things to be the way we live our lives.” Ephesians 2:10

This verse from Paul’s letter to the church of Ephesus follows his explanation of salvation as gift of God, not the result of human effort or an accomplishment of which we can be proud.  Rather, we should understand ourselves as God’s works of art, created with a purpose—to do good things and for these good things to form the fabric of our lives.

Admittedly it is challenging in these times to see humankind as beautiful, magnificent creations, of the order of the Grand Tetons, the Danube, or the Sahara Desert.  And it is harder still on many days, in the midst of so many threats to life and livelihoods, to describe humanity in our interactions with each other as expressions of God’s creative forces at work in our lives. 

But even as I write these words, I feel the call to live life in creatively Christian ways—to be an agent of the good things that God intended for us.  Thinking about ourselves as creative can be a stumbling block if we think that means that we must be artists to live creatively—sculptors, painters, musicians, poets, dancers. When I was an English teacher helping students become better writers or a teacher educator helping future teachers design more creative instructional plans for their students, I needed to reframe what creativity means.

Living creatively, for me, means trying to be as open-minded as possible in how I approach what is in front of me.  It’s why I have always craved new experiences, including living in new locations and working in many different organizations.  Those experiences have given me assorted ideas to tap—a range of ways of doing things.  Assembling those bits and pieces of what I have gained from others in new and different ways is how I like to think of living creatively.  And the best ideas come from a community—sharing perspectives and strategies for all life’s tasks and problems.  

And, truly, we see expressions of creativity everywhere as we have each adapted to new ways of day-to-day life since mid-March.  More gardens have been planted, more meals have been prepared at home, more rescue pets found their forever homes, different ways of doing work and school were put in place, and old habits of going to places of business almost daily gave way to curbside and front porch deliveries. 

As members of communities, we have used new ways to stay connected with each other, used electronic networks to learn about what is going on around us, ministered to neighbors, raised funds for causes we support, and gathered with each other remotely as family, friends, and congregants. In many ways, the difficulties of these days have necessitated new and different approaches because the tried and true were not practical. For my part, I hope that some of these novel ideas persist even when we can again be in each other’s presence.

I want to find ways to increase my concern for and connections with those I do not regularly see.  I want to grow my empathy for those whose lived experiences are different from my own.  I want to keep reading and learning about global challenges in ways that shape my thinking and actions.  I want to be a catalyst for conversations that create opportunities for change. It is my hope that I will continue to find joy and inspiration in our backyard wildlife, hikes in nature preserves, jigsaw puzzles, imaginative yard signs and Instagram posts, and online music and theatre. 

Most of all, I seek to live a creatively Christian life as described in the words of this hymn, “Colorful Creator” by Carlton Young: 

God of truth and beauty,

Poet of the word.

May we be creators, by the Spirit stirred.

Open to your presence in our joy and strife,

Vessels of the holy, coursing through our lives.

Amen

Landscape: Vallotton

 Felix Vallotton, "Outskirts of Lausanne," 1893. 


Sunday, August 2, 2020

No LImit to God's Creativity

No Limit to God’s Creativity
Genesis 1:1-2:3

A devotion for our church, for the current sermon series. 

 
In a very amateur way, I love to study science and nature. There is a story of a nineteenth century New England preacher who liked to report to his congregation on scientific discoveries, to help them appreciate God’s good creation. In the spring of 2019, I accompanied two Webster University biology classes to the Galapagos Islands. They are the famous islands, 600 miles west of the coast of Ecuador, where Charles Darwin made observations that led to his theories of natural selection. 

Our group enjoyed learning about the species endemic to the islands. I felt overwhelmed—in a very happy way—about the amazing beauty and variety of God’s creatures and the interdependence of life and nature. The frigatebird, for instance, is a fish-eating bird, but it has no oily feathers like ducks and geese, so it cannot safely dive. Instead, it catches fish that have been driven near the water’s surface because of tuna and dolphins. Ectothermic iguanas dive into the water for food, but the waters are quite cold, and so they know to sun themselves until their internal temperature is rather hot, and then they can go into the water. Making my first-ever attempt at snorkeling, I saw colorful parrotfish, anemones, eel, and other marine life. Ocean currents bring plankton and other food to the islands, and the island creatures (above and below the ocean’s surface) have adapted to the cycles of currents and also weather. Eventually, Darwin showed how species grow, change form, and adapt, analogous to animal and plant breeding by humans. 

Religious scriptures and teachers have always pointed to the beauty, balance, and variety of the natural world as “witnesses” to God. Psalms 8, 19, and 104 are beautiful hymns that describe nature. It is significant that the writer of Psalm 8 did not know the vastness of the universe as we do—the many billions of stars and galaxies—but seeing with his naked eye, he felt moved by God’s heavens. Job 38-41, too, teaches about the wonders of creation. Read Job 40:15-18: considering how strong and frightening hippopotamuses are, be grateful that they are herbivores! 

I think of Genesis 1:1-2:3 as another kind of “psalm” to God’s creativity. There is a cadence to the chapter, with its repetition of phrases “And God said…” “… and it was so,” “… and it was good,” “and there was evening and there was morning….” 

The passage contains ancient ideas that are different from our modern views. For instance, the author envisions light as existing independently: light itself is created on day 1, and sources of light are created on day 4. There is no mention that plants (created on day 3) require the sun for growth. Having no knowledge of the universe, the author depicts the sky as a beautiful dome above the earth’s surface. Of course, there is no mention of geological processes, nor of ancient, extinct species--theories that began to be formulated a little over 200 years ago. 

The chapter advances significantly on ancient ideas about God and the universe. While some ancient Greek philosophies held that the physical world is evil, God declares the world “good.” Unlike creation scriptures of other cultures, there are no creatures of land and sea who are semi-divine, participating in the process of creation. The sun and moon are not deities, either. Adam and Eve later have children, but they are certainly not fertility gods. Although God uses the plural pronoun “us” (Gen. 1:26), that does not mean that God is a “couple,” like certain Canaanite deities. God is one God and has no spouse.  

Christians tend to read that “us” as a hint that God is a Trinity. As the Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig writes, the pronoun also affirms a dynamic relationship between God and Creation. God is not aloof from the cosmos, an introverted “I.” God’s creativity and providential care are plentiful, personal, and ongoing! 

In the passage, humans are given responsible use of the earth, not permission to go crazy with it. Nor does God want us to toil without relief. Unless we’re Jewish, we may miss the crucial aspect of the Sabbath, which crowns the story. The word Sabbath is not used here, but the chapter make a kind of “story arc” over to Exodus 31:12-18, where God consecrates the Sabbath forever, as part of God’s eternal covenant with Israel. A day of rest for humans as well as animals provides a source of peace and blessing within the very act of Creation. 

The Apostle Paul teaches that in Christ we are “new creations.” God is always active in nature—and in human nature! The sermons and devotions for the next few weeks will focus us on God’s creativity. 

Prayer: 
O Lord, how great thou art! Open our eyes and minds and hearts to your cosmos. Guide us today and in the coming weeks as we grow as new creations. Amen.