My reply to those who say - I've never been to seminary

Some pastors from the UOJ camp dismiss my views because my religious education was from a university not from a seminary. So they imply it is not worth much because I have never been to seminary. Here is my reply.

M. Suzuki's Bach Passion of St John

I so love this rendition of J. S. Bach's Passion of St. John, BMV245.
You will enjoy this, it has English subtitles.
One thing I notice about J. S. Bach as a writer and a Godly composer. Bach does not leave the story out there, he brings the story down to you. An example is the denial of Peter when he repented. Towards the last of the 1st Part we hear these words...


Jesu, blicke mich auch an,
Wenn ich nicht will büßen;
Wenn ich Böses hab getan,
Rühre mein Gewissen!


Jesus, look on me as well,
When I feel no sorrow;
When I wickedness have done,
Stir thou up my conscience!

Happy Bachday to you

March 31st was the day when J. S. Bach was born. So happy bach-day to you.

Sometimes I listen to Lutheran Public Radio, Sacred Music to the World. Some of the hymn versions they play lately leave me depressed.  I am sorry for the fans of this Internet station, that is just honestly how some of the hymn versions they have been playing affect me. For example, the tempo of those versions do not match the lyrics of the hymn. It somewhat undermines the truth found in the hymns.

This is not my experience with Bach's cantatas. It is hard to be gloomy even if the music had a somber message. In 2009, my eldest daughter gave birth to a disabled boy. He has cerebral palsy. Each morning as I went to work (I had a software development contract then), I had to struggle getting out of bed. When I get to work, I would play Bach's music again and again as I worked. It got me out of depression and mind you I had experienced some serious ones in the past.

Have a listen to this BWV75

Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan,
What God does ,that is done well,
Dabei will ich verbleiben.
I shall keep to this thought.
Es mag mich auf die rauhe Bahn
It may be that on the rough road
Not, Tod und Elend treiben;
I shall be driven by distress, death and misery;
So wird Gott mich
yet God will
Ganz väterlich
just like a father
In seinen Armen halten;
hold me in his arms;
Drum lass ich ihn nur walten. (Samuel Rodigast 1674, Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan.)
therefore I let him alone rule over me.

Bach, I get ya and thank ya

The church I go to has a Bach foundation and it sponsors Bach's cantatas in the divine service. They have cantatas at a minimun I think 6 times per year.

A few weeks ago I went with my missus even though I had to wake up quite early in the morning, it was worth it. Now, as you know, I must not name the church because I am like Peter Parker, the Spiderman; those who are associated with me could get hurt. The people I criticise can be nasty.

The cantata for that Sunday was BMV 40.  I am listening to it as I type.

In Scripture we read,1 Corinthian 14

¹⁶ Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?

Well it was a blessing that they printed the cantata both in English and German.  Since I can sight read music, I could follow the singers as they sang. The music was in the bulletin. I understood what was being conveyed by the cantata, as I looked at the English translation.

I tell you I was extremely edified and my heart was bursting in praise to God. It was beautiful, Bach was indeed a genius, the words and music as it were dropped down from heaven. I do not mind saying  even in a facetious way, I got a "religious experience".

Many years ago, when I was getting my degree in Religious Studies, my Greek professor said to me that doing scholarly work in the original Biblical Languages requires one to learn either German or French. If you confine yourself to English, you will miss the other results other scholars from other countries have discovered, since there are lots of scholarly work in those languages.

I am toying learning German so I can read Bach's music and Luther's writings but I only have 24 hours in a day, so what to do?

Bach, I get ya, and I thank God for ya. You are a good Lutheran contribution to the world.

The semester is on next week and so blogging will be slow.

Bach BMV645 - Sleepers Awake.

This is like being in heaven. What joy to listen to Bach and to hear this talented lady interpret it. It moves me to tears and never bores me. I have been listening to many versions of this many times over.

It is music fit to welcome the King of our Salvation.

Why settle for dried fish when you can get a steak?

Enjoy.

In Excelsis Deo- broccoli version

Dozo! Why not play a tune with your broccoli before you chuck it in the pan?

Remember when God forgives...

I have been listening to my old record of Amick Byram's Encounter. There are a good number of Christ centered songs here.

I was particularly touched again in listening to One Voice.

Taken from John 1:29

²⁹The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold,^A)">(A) the Lamb of God, who^B)">(B) takes away the sin^C)">(C) of the world!

Carries away the sin of the world... carries away the sin of the world... carries away the sin of the world.

This came to mind as I listened and enjoyed this song: that it is so important to remember that when God forgives it is not an empty forgiveness that he draws from himself, but that there was an actual concrete payment for the sins of which God is forgiving us; Christ bore those sins we are being forgiven for. We like to look away from this and detach it from the Atonement. Even if some one preaches forgiveness but neglects to make us to look at the Cross, that person is not preaching the Word. Other monotheistic religions have a notion of God being merciful too!

To separate the forgiveness of God from the Atonement leaves us with no assurance and leaves us with a God whom we know is a consuming fire. It leaves us a God whom we do not know, we will be left wondering if he may or may not forgive us. This is what happens with those who emphasize the conversion or "born again experience". I fell for this myself. It happens when the Christian is not made to look again and again to the Cross but is indirectly told by impression that they clinched it when they said the "sinner's prayer" and walked down the aisle. My friend, this is not liberation but enslavement again to the tyranny of religion.

But the Biblical story is not that way. It does not present God drawing forgiveness barely from his shear merciful character. His forgiveness is concrete because there was an actual payment made, by Christ, for our sins to God. There was an actual transaction that was made, not by you, but by the Son to the Father.

For God loved us this way -- by sending his Son to die for us, pay for our sins so that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

They must be reelin in the years (peg)

Just feeling nostalgic today. This group was one of my favorits when I was in my late teens. Come to think of it now, they are so versatile, they can do blues, jazz and rock. It is a powerful mix of talents. Their music has variation, not like today, 2 bars that get repeated for 20 minutes.

Just an enjoyable good tune.

Let me know if you were one of those who enjoyed their tunes.

The time when you can still ask a girl to dance

Just bring'n some lovin today...


When I was a teen ager, the way they sponsor a dance was in a public or town basketball court. The court would be decorated all around and us guys would be sitting in one end of the court and the girls to the opposite side of the court. It was a great stress when I had to walk accross the court to invite a girl, who happened to be a stranger, to dance with me. When a girl happened to be tired, you walk back to your seat dejected.

The songs of these guys would permeate the dance court. Boy, did they have the grove. My buddies had lots of fun singing and copying those moves. Their song "you make me feel brand new", makes me feel very old. Here is one more..

Ah, yes, they don't do those moves anymore.

Have you heard of the song Ken Lee?

I call Australia home, I am Australian

Today is Australia Day. I went to the park to celebrate it.



I like to share this Qantas ad that ran 1998. I am biased, my youngest daughter was in this ad. She is that brown skinned girl at the last portion of this video. Do watch carefully because we are spitting image of each other. She is 21 this year. She is very multi-talented and sharp wit. She did not get it from me.



This song gets me teary eyed... here is the lyrics but I highlighted the truth about us who migrated here...

(Bruce Woodley and Dobe Newton)

I came from the dream time, from the dusty red soil plains,
I am the ancient heart - the keeper of the flame,
I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come,
For forty thousand years I'd been the first Australian.

We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian.

I came upon the prison ship bound down by iron chains
I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.
I'm a settler, I'm a farmer's wife on a dry and barren run
A convict then a free man, I became Australian.
I'm the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode
The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road
I'm a child of the depression, I saw the good times come
I'm a bushy, I'm a battler, I am Australian.

We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian.

I'm a teller of stories, I'm a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira, and I paint the ghostly gums
I am Clancy on his horse, I'm Ned Kelly on the run
I'm the one who waltzed Matilda, I am Australian.
I'm the hot wind from the desert, I'm the black soil of the plains
I'm the mountains and the valleys, I'm the drought and flooding rains
I am the rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land, I am Australian.
We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian.

Lord, thank you this nation and for its culture, these are your gifts too. Thank you for the peace we still have in this great land. May we all know how much you have blessed her, and may we too bless others the same way you have blessed our land.

Bits and Pieces

This is just odds and ends of special mentions and that, like.... you know?

I ordered this cross from Kelly. She makes Christian Art and other stuffs. I call this Kellly's cross, or perhaps it should be Alex's cross, since she made it originally for him. You can order yours from Kelly here.

I hope to put it in my study or some part of our home.
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Then also, Past Elder had a burst of blogging lately and I am so glad he did because his piece on Armistice here is, as chess players say..."brilliant".

I will not spoil the ending for you so I will not review it here, except that I will warn you, you will be blessed with the insights spread up there.
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Eric has opened up an internet community for those curious of the Lutheran tradition and so if you are curious, you got inquiries, questions, exploring Christianity etc., I invite you to be a member of The Wittenberg Trail so to find out more, click on this image below.



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I am feeling nostalgic and so I am clipping here my favorite guitarist. I got introduced to his playing when I saw Woodstock.



. Well, the best style to use if you want to dance to this music is ... as the title has it... Samba. But I think I can do Rumba on this one too and switch to Merengue on the tail end. I know, I can be so carnal sometimes, it is just so un-spiritual of me, sorry.

One of my pet dreams is one day to play this tune in my trumpet. To get to know what I mean, just imagine the guitar is sounding off a trumpet sound. Ayayay, caramba, only in my dreams, no?

We got groove

In the last couple of years I came to see that God has given us many gifts like music and culture. The thing is that we misuse and abuse these gifts. I thought I should share something personal, this was the type of songs my buddies and I used to like when we were in high school. Its got groove, its got soul (Funk Bros & Joan Osborne). We liked these types of songs because we were a bunch of lonely cowboys hanging out figuring out the meaning of life. Besides we were Filipinos boys, what could we do but sing. Imagine that, I am posting something "un-spiritual" and I do not even feel guilty about that! Just tells you how much of a baby boomer I am. If it looks unclean in Firefox, let me know, Safari Beta isn't handling this well.

I know I got to find, some kind of peace of mind, help me please.

Thank God, the words of this song is not the last statement that can be made to the broken hearted.

UPDATE I have been praying for the Korean Christians being hostaged by the Taliban.

Mossa's Gospel Collection

I have been listening to James Morrison's Gospel Colletion CD given by a brother in Christ for my birthday. This James Morrison (there are many out there with the same name) is Australia's King of Jazz, akin to Wynton Marsalis. James is a multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist musician. Name a brass instrument and James can play it. From trumpet, flugels, trombone etc to even piano, he can deal with it. My former trumpet teacher the late Cal Martin said James is a master technician. He is The Screemer (the guy who hits the high C and over in the trumpet). He is the real trump(et) geek, if I met one.

I did not realize he has a Christian upbringing and that he writes Gospel music too. In this CD he has a couple of those he wrote. Jazz can be disrespectful when not done properly to sacredly recognized music like the hymns of the Church. In this CD there is respect and reverence for what has been regarded as property of the Church. Yet there is swing! The wow factor is high. There is a tint of Dixie/Trad flowing in some of the songs but very subtle, you have to really hook your ear to it but it is ingenious because it is not that obvious.

My favorite is "Jesus Loves Me", I kept repeating it in the car's CD as I drove to work.