songs, albums, and concerts
Wonder Drug #2: Decentering Money
A teaching of Jesus about money: don’t let it go to your heart!
Let Worries Go
Hello, Merry Mystics!
I’ve started a sermon series in my church: between now and Christmas, I’m preaching exclusively about the practical teachings of Jesus. The first one, just in time for the worrisome election here in the USA, is about not worrying.
I wrote a new hymn to go with my sermon. Here’s the text:
Let Worries Go
Let worries go, my anxious heart!
Let peace remain and fear depart.
Within the present moment dwell,
Where God is near and all is well.
Release the futile, foolish fears
That blind the eyes and stop the ears.
The future-focused mind will miss
God’s present voice and present bliss.
When joys abound and blessings flow,
In gratitude to God I’ll go.
When troubles come and times are tough,
I’ll go with God and that’s enough.
Oh, Jesus taught us not to care
What we would eat or drink or wear,
In each adventure to depend
On God to be our faithful friend.
To worry is to spoil and waste
A treasure that can’t be replaced,
A thing of high and holy worth:
A precious hour of life on earth.
In hymnody this form is called long meter: four-line stanzas of eight syllables each. In my hymnal, there are at least forty melodies that would fit, including, of course, the Old Hundredth (“Praise God from whom all blessings flow…”). But I thought the subject needed a more fun and unusual tune, so I used an old Scottish border ballad, “The Wraggle Taggle Gypsy.” In the video performance of this hymn, my friend Ron McCutchan leads a congregation in singing; Charlie Gebeck is the accompanist. As always, the sheet music is available in our Free Stuff area.
God Send You Liberation
Hello, my merry and mystical friends! Here’s a new song with a very old melody: “God Send You Liberation”. As always, sheet music is available in our Free Stuff area.
These are the lyrics:
God Send You Liberation
Awake, awake ye drowsy souls, and hear what I shall say.
Remember how your freedom felt before it fled away?
Unbound, unburdened, unafraid, before you were in chains?
So God send you liberation, never fear, never fear.
So God send you liberation, never fear.
Imprisoned now, ye drowsy souls, perceive your shrunken state.
Forgetting your eternal life, returning hate for hate,
Tied up in wealth, in fear of death, and many bonds beside.
So God send you liberation, never fear, never fear.
So God send you liberation, never fear.
Have you forgot, ye drowsy souls, your high and holy birth?
You are the great Creator’s child who made the heaven and earth,
And Jesus is your brother dear, who frees the sin-sick soul.
So God send you liberation, never fear, never fear.
So God send you liberation, never fear.
Fear not, fear not, ye drowsy souls, this bondage shall not stand.
No snare on earth has yet withstood God’s liberating hand.
Cast off your chains, shake off your drowsiness, and set all captives free.
So God send you liberation, never fear, never fear.
So God send you liberation, never fear.
Energized by Fear
Would you be afraid to wrestle with God? I know I would—but I hope I’d find the nerve to persevere, as Jacob did. (This sermon includes a traditional spiritual, “Changed My Name,” which begins at about 12:30.)
The Story Breaks
Sometimes, the stories we tell about God are too weak to hold up when life gets hard. When those stories break, it can be traumatic.
This sermon include a song, “I Don’t Believe in You Anymore,” beginning at about 9:55.
what if you were humble
Mellow greetings, Merry Mystics! I decided not to preach a sermon in my church this week, and sang this little song instead. There is, of course, something shaky going on when I, Renshi the Reverend Doctor Adam Brooks Webber, proudly present a new song, written by me, about … humility. But I guess we’re all on the same shaky ground, every time we open our mouths. So if you will indulge me, here it is.
Pure Delight
Bright blessings, Merry Mystics! Here’s a new song I hope you’ll enjoy: “Pure Delight.” I introduced it as part of my sermon today.
I guess you can tell that my musical tastes were partly formed in the 70s. Wacka-chicka-wacka-chicka!
As the Loaf Is Broken Open
Do you know the eucharistic chant, “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”?
Let all mortal flesh keep silence, And with fear and trembling stand; Ponder nothing earthly-minded, For with blessing in His hand, Christ our God to earth descendeth, Our full homage to demand.
That’s a translation by Gerard Moultrie from the ancient Greek Liturgy of St. James. In the Episcopal churches of my childhood, we sang it as a communion hymn, using the Ralph Vaughan Williams arrangement of “Picardy”, a French medieval folk melody. It’s a haunting melody and an elegant arrangement, and I must admit that the words too are beautiful—but they don’t fit my idea of what communion is all about.
So, of course, I wrote words of my own. Here’s my wife, Kelly Autrey-Webber, leading the singing for a Sunday service:
Sheet music for “As the Loaf Is Broken Open” is available on our web site here. As usual, it may be freely downloaded and copies for noncommercial purposes.
Altar Alteration
Hello, friends,
Here’s a mostly-musical video piece I made for the annual meeting of the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ. (Not sure they’ll be inviting me back!) It includes a song about how hard it is to change anything in church.
May you be blessed with a merry and mystical new year!
For Those Working with Struggling Churches
It’s a burden, isn’t it? It’s hard not to feel like a failure, when your church is struggling and you don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. You know that you shouldn’t feel that way; you know you shouldn’t feel responsible for saving the church. You tell yourself that your people already have a savior, and it isn’t supposed to be you. But still.
This is a presentation I made for the 2021 spring meeting of the Prairie Association of the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ. It’s about eighteen minutes of prayer, song, and reflection, written especially for those working with struggling churches.