Wide Awake-Burn for You

Just wanted to share this.  Below is a little video that I made really just for fun (and as a way to hopefully honor my friends) with video generators and titles in Final Cut Pro X.  The song is an original by an awesome band called Wide Awake.  

It has been a great privilege of mine to do ministry alongside these folks for the past several years.  

P.S. This song was written when the lead singer was just 14 years old, and at the time of this performance she was just 16.  The average age of those performing in this recording is just 17 1/2!

Thoughts on the Last Supper

Da Vinci's Last Supper was painted on the wall of the refectory (cafeteria) of the Holy Mary of Grace church in Milan, Italy.  Everyday when the monks gathered, they saw this painting and were reminded of the real Last Supper.  

There are so many wonderful things to meditate on in Communion services, but this wonderful piece of art showcases the moment where Christ told His disciples that one of them would betray Him.  Of all the truths to choose to think upon during Communion, this is the one Da Vinci's genius chose to depict.   

There was a traitor at the Last Supper, even with King of Glory Himself being present. 

I want close communion with God, to enjoy the freedom of relationship with Him that He purchased for me, and I'm glad to be reminded of that and feed on that joy when I celebrate Communion services. 

But Da Vinci has taught me that it's also good to remember that Christ chooses to dine with even the evil, traitorous ones that are in His life (don't we all have them?).  I should go and do likewise with others, AND be willing to let God love on me in all the places where my heart still wants to rebel against Him. 

Furthermore, let it be a backstop to my heart to know the judgment of God: that even though I sit and dine with Him today and receive His mercy, I must continue to choose His mercy and forgiveness and not my own self-righteousness as the way to salvation.  

An Entire Symphony Written for One Instrument!

You really should hear this... but don't just hear it, marvel at the coordination it takes to move your hands and feet all at the same time in rhythm!  

This song comes from a dude named Widor who wrote symphonies for the Organ (because let's face it, it's the only instrument that could single-handedly play a symphony).  This is the Tocatta from Symphony #5.  BLAM! 

And just so you know, it was the postlude (music they play at the end) at my wedding.  

This One Got to Me...

For starters, let me say that I am not really a fan of ballet.  Sure, there's some of Tchaikovsky's brilliance that I enjoy like Swan Lake or the Nutcracker, but beyond that it's pretty much nil for me.

That said, I will say that every now and then someone will make a work of art so fabulous and timely that I enjoy it, even if I don't like the medium (Lecrae even has a rap album I enjoy!).  This little piece was done by the New York City Ballet.  It is an advertisement, but it's more like the advertisement was an excuse to make a great work of art.

This is a video two dancers on top of the new 4 World Trade Center.  They are performing a dance at sunrise called After the Rain to signify new beginnings for their city.  It's brilliant.  It's almost as if they are proclaiming that dancing, romance, beauty and life are being restored to their city while you see it in the background.  Then the ballerina "takes flight" if you will, in front of the new 1 World Trade Center as if to say "out of the place of our greatest pain, we will rise."

I'm sure I'm interpreting it with my own thoughts.  I'm not an art and certainly not a ballet critic or interpreter.  Even so, this is good art, there is tons of symbolism here, and I get it.  

And one final thought: I don't know if they did it on purpose, but the fact that they filmed this on top of 4 World Trade Center seems like it had to be intentional.  This video is definitely "For [the] World Trade Center."

Well done NYC Ballet.

Dore Bible Illustrations

The Dore (pronounced like "door-ay") Bible illustrations are absolutely my favorite when it comes to the Scriptures.  (NOTE: I'm aware that this might make me seem like a nerd to even mention this, but after this blog, I hope to have you saying the same thing!)  I so respect him as an artist because he was willing to do what so few people were willing to do in his time (mid to late 1800's), and are still unwilling to do today.

In the 1800's there were LOTS of people publishing the Bible, and those Bibles often had illustrations included in them, but they were full of hyper-religious cheese ball drivel that thankfully are rarely seen anymore because they stunk.  (Unfortunately, there are still many publishers recreating all new hyper-religious and sterile pictures for Christian bookstores).  But Dore's pictures still speak loudly; he refused to sanguinate the Bible by excluding passages and acts of God that were offensive.  And the characters come to life! There's so much epic drama in each picture you get the sense of what was happening spiritually.  What I mean by that is this: in the natural, these scenes almost assuredly weren't so epic looking-a lot of it might have been very plain.  However, the drama of what God was doing spiritually in the Biblical narrative is every bit as weighty as Dore's illustrations make them out to be!

Besides all that, the man was simply a great illustrator (he did a lot with wood carvings).  During his day he was quite popular, and you can see his influence on a lot of illustrations today.  Worth looking at  for further study are his illustrations of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Crusades and Dante's Inferno and Paradise.  Once you start to recognize the look of his work, you'll see that he's all over the place in the older stuff.

BONUS: since all his work is so old, it's all public domain and thus can be used royalty free by anyone today.

TIP: click on the images to make them larger.

Ezekiel 37, the Valley of Dry Bones.  Note how totally BOSS Ezekiel appears, with light around him and even a breeze on his cloak-it's a brilliant subtlety.  The narrative mentions the breath of God coming and giving life to the dry bones.  It's a small detail by Dore, but it is creatively faithful to the story.  Likewise, don't miss the character in the front right of the drawing.  It's as if he is rising up to praise God with arms outstretched.  

These are the lions of Samaria.  It's a little known passage out of 2 Kings 7:24-41.  Basically, when Israel was conquered and Assyria sent foreigners to live in the land, God judged them by sending lions to eat them.  A short yet violent blip in the whole of the Bible, but Dore realized it was visual gold.  

I will simply say that I love how people are clamoring to get to Jesus, and that Jesus (denoted by the posture of His hands and leaning of His body) is equally eager to get to the people.  I love it when artists show the heart of God with simple gestures of His hands (probably the best example is the detail of hands in Michaelangelo's Creation of Adam.)

Moses breaking the 10 Commandments after seeing Israel had sinned.  So EPIC!  Note that Dore puts God's stamp of approval on Moses' actions with the thunderbolt behind him.

Tongues of Fire resting on the disciples as they pray for the Holy Spirit to come.  

This is Lazarus coming out of the tomb.  The incredulity of the disciples (hand on top of the head) as Jesus raises the dead.  The use of light in this illustration is brilliant because everything is dark all around except for the center of the action-where God is at work!