Oddwalk Ministries

Category: scripture

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Common Ground

A couple weeks ago,  I (Orin) was happy to again attend the Liturgical Composers Forum here in St. Louis, to rub shoulders with composers both quite familiar, newly-published, and all places in-between.

Orin and Cyprian

Each year there is a different presenter for the group; this year’s was Cyprian Consiglio, a composer who is also a priest and monk. He has a hidden gem of a piece in the original Sprit and Song volume, an adaptation of “As One Unknown.” It details the many ways Christ can appear before us, emphasizing in its added refrain the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Cyprian has more recently travelled extensively through Asia and brought his knowledge and passion of other world religions to his presentations and music he shared with us at the LCF. One of his talks highlighted how different religions approach Jerusalem, both physically and spiritually (symbolically), emphasizing our common ground.

The LCF week most always propels me into writing new music, and this one is no exception. My mind and heart has been pondering, leading up to this reflection on justice, how Christ appears before us in the vulnerable, oppressed, and homeless, and how all peoples share some amount – likely a large amount – of common ground, all made in the image and likeness of God.

While the music is well on its way, it’s not quite done yet. However, I *think* the text is done, and I’m happy to share it here with you today. Let us pray that what connects us to one another is stronger than what tries to divide us.

Common Ground – by Orin Johnson ©2017

REFRAIN
We all share a common, holy ground,
we all share the hope, the promise
of the One whose image is inscribed upon our souls.
We all share this holy ground.

VERSES
The earth that we walk on is sacred.
Out of nothing this world was made
by the One who said, “Let there be—”
bringing forth all things, day by day.

The flesh we inhabit is sacred.
We are filled with the breath of life
from the One who took dust and clay,
forming living souls, humankind.

The lives that we share here are sacred,
lives of justice, of holy peace.
But the One who orders all things
places love as greater than these.

The whole of creation is sacred,
All that was and will ever be.
For the One who reigns from on high
chose to make himself small, came to dwell among all,
and remains till all is complete,
and remains till all is complete.

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NCCYM 2016 Videos

This past weekend, Oddwalk was invited to take on several roles that exemplify the things we find important in our ministries, at the National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry in San Jose, California.  We are grateful for these opportunities, whether it’s leading prayer, encouraging audience participation, making people laugh, or commenting on our retreat ministry.  Here are a few videos of those moments.

 

First, here we are, with Shannon’s wife Erin, singing a prelude before the Saturday morning mass, a piece by Orin titled “To Know Darkness,” published by GIA Publications and on our “Walk Away Different” CD.

 

Next, here we are talking a bit about our retreat ministry at a “Great Ideas” session later that day.

 

But a highlight for us of these NCCYM weekends is the “Youth Ministry Extravaganza” a chance for folks like us, who “do what we do,” to thank the youth ministers (and others) in attendance and hopefully feed their souls through, among other things, humor.  We relish the chance to create original “set pieces” for this night (previously “May God Bless and Keep You,” “Songs We Should Never Record” and others); this year, thanks to an idea from our friend Erin Brennan, we created a segment where we pretend to be covering the Games of the XXIII Liturginerd Olympiad.

 

For a couple extra “goodies” related to the Liturginerd Olympics, click here! Thanks San Jose and the NFCYM for a great conference, see you next year at NCYC!

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Make a Home Now

All, We’re excited to share this video with all of you today. It’s a composition of Orin’s that has become very important to both of us.

In Orin’s words:

I know we are in politically-charged times; I really don’t mean the piece to be a political statement, but rather an observation of the challenges of Christianity and how we view those around us made in the image and likeness of God.

The video is not only here but on YouTube and SoundCloud as well, and Orin has a webpage set up where one can find the score, a wonderful discussion guide for the video written by Shannon, and a link to make donations to CRS in their efforts dealing with this refugee crisis.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7zEPAEKav0
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/orinjohnson/make-a-home-now
Orin’s site: https://orinjohnson.com/make-a-home-now/

Thanks to many along the way for their help with this project, notably Michael C., Shannon C., Erin H., Rick T., and Emily B.

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Introducing… Us – Again!

newstickerSome of our more observant friends may have noticed an important change happening in the world of Oddwalk lately. In addition to putting the finishing touches on our forthcoming CD, “Mercy at Work“, we are also changing our logo. logotestFor the past almost eleven years (and a few years before that with Shannon’s solo ministry), that goofy face with the crazy hair, big ears, and bucked teeth, has been a familiar sight to those who have followed us. As this ministry has continued to develop, though, it has become increasingly important to us that our logo and marketing materials truly reflect who we are and what we are about. Those who know us know that it isn’t likely we’ll ever lose our joking, fun-loving side. We believe it to be our “foot in the door” as we give presentations, especially when we present for young people. That being said, Oddwalk has become much more than a couple of guys who do fun stuff and can make people laugh. We believe strongly that when we as people of faith surround ourselves with a strong Christian community, participate actively in the life of the Church, and make the mission of Jesus OUR mission, we will no doubt develop a close relationship with Jesus, an ongoing sense of justice for the world around us, and a life filled with joy. We further believe that we, as Oddwalkers, are called to invite young and old alike into such a life, into such a relationship with Jesus and His Church. This is our aim at every retreat, concert, or keynote we give. Everything we are and everything we do is meant to achieve that goal. We believe that this new logo does a better job of reflecting that mission, particularly where the arrow is concerned. In the Gospel of Luke, in the story of the disciples’ walk to Emmaus (a founding scripture passage for us), it was their encounter with Jesus that ultimately compelled them to turn around 180 degrees, back towards Jerusalem (note the blurry road as the backdrop to the logo) and to be witnesses to the Risen Christ. This reality is reflected in the curved arrow, a symbol which will be a central part of how we present ourselves from here on out.

oddlogo2015round

“With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” Luke 24:31-35