Oddwalk Ministries

Category: music

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Maker of All Things

I (Orin) am a privileged and joy-filled composer today.

First, yesterday, the 9:30 J&A choir took my “An Advent Fantasia” for a spin (their first time with it) this morning, and sang it warmly and well. [ GIA: https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/an-advent-fantasia-print-g8785 ] Shrine peeps may remember this from some years back. The combined choirs at the 11pm Christmas Eve mass will sing it as their first prelude too.

Then, yesterday afternoon, the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus beautifully sang my newest creation (like, from Dec. 3-5 of this year), “Maker of All Things” as the encore to the program “Fulfillment: An Irish Christmas.” My original Christmas text, which I posted on Facebook a couple days ago – with pseudonym provided by Philip Barnes – and an arrangement of the Irish melody SLANE (“Be Thou My Vision,” etc.). I’ll share audio here when I can.

My wife Erin, when she attends SLCC concerts, will, to help keep herself engaged, scribble little notes in the program as the concert progresses. The text of my piece was on the back cover of the program, next to which you can see her surprise in her purple notes – I hadn’t told her about any of this, and she hadn’t noticed anything (here or in the program) until PB started announcing it to the audience.

She also pointed out afterward something that had somehow slipped my mind – we sang “Lord of All Hopefulness” (another SLANE text) at my dad’s funeral and at the little memorial for both Mom and Dad here in STL these past few months. A little temporary amnesia allowed for a little “God-wink” today.

“Hope of the nations, and hope of each heart:
Dwell in us, love us, and never depart.”

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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We Cannot Do Everything

The wreath, with a candle marking each week of the season, is a traditional symbol of the Advent. (CNS photo/Lisa A. Johnston, St. Louis Review)

This morning, I (Orin) was briefly interviewed by Matt Reichert, who hosts the NPM Ministry Monday podcast, and is co-host of the great “Open Your Hymnal” podcast on Catholic liturgical music. Matt is reaching out to several parish music directors – who this time of year have 12 or 14 irons in the fire – to ask them, “What do you do to remain sane during Advent?” It’s such a busy time for folks in church music, so the question and the podcast episodes could not come out at a better time. It will likely be split into two parts, with my part likely airing a week from today, or possibly in the next one. We’ll be sure to let you know!

One of the things we briefly talked about was a few lines from what is commonly known as the “Oscar Romero Prayer,” even though he didn’t write it. Check the endnotes at the link above:

This prayer was first presented by Cardinal Dearden in 1979 and quoted by Pope Francis in 2015. This reflection is an excerpt from a homily written for Cardinal Dearden by then-Fr. Ken Untener on the occasion of the Mass for Deceased Priests, October 25, 1979. Pope Francis quoted Cardinal Dearden in his remarks to the Roman Curia on December 21, 2015. Fr. Untener was named bishop of Saginaw, Michigan, in 1980.

The line that came up is this:

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

For me, it’s very freeing, perhaps even joyful, this particular sense of liberation. I, and we, do the best we can with the time, energy, and resources available to us, knowing that we can’t do it all – and that there is a broad Christian community who is also working very hard to build the reign of God on earth.

If you don’t know the whole prayer, please do take a moment to read it and pray it, perhaps even make it a daily part of your advent spirituality.

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Guard Your Lions

Apologies for the unannounced four week hiatus from our Jesus-Justice-Joy posts here at the Oddwalk central. On the other hand, no one has been banging on our houses’ front doors demanding their return— Yet, today they do return.

But first, a brief word of explanation. Shortly after our most recent post of September 11, significant events occurred in the lives of Orin and Shannon. Orin’s dad, Orville “Doc” Johnson, passed away on September 17 – more on that in a moment. On the Cerneka side of things, Shannon’s wife Erin lost her job at very nearly the same time. On top of and in-between those occurrences have been other things, like a couple Oddwalk engagements, and, of course, all the personal and professional things that some call “real life.” While generally speaking all are doing “okay,” to pick a most vague and not-especially-descriptive term, please do keep us in prayer.

Last Friday night, in St. Louis, some local to STL friends and family of Orin gathered in a service of remembrance for his parents, Orville and Eva (Eva died in 2008). For this week’s return to JJJ posts, we share here the Gospel passage read at that service and Orin’s preaching on it.

Orville and Eva, at Orin & Erin’s Wedding in 2004

Luke 12:35-40
Jesus told his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks: Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

PDF of Orin’s Preaching: “Guard Your Lions”