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First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City
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Music and Mortality
This past Friday, I was privileged to conduct the Jubilate Singers and the Murray symphony in a performance of the Mozart Requiem. For us who are still among the living, the Requiem Mass presents us with an essential question that confronts the reality of our mortality. The question in the Requiem is this: in the end, on which side will you find yourself? The wrath of God (Dies Irae, Lacrymosa Dies Illa) or the forgiveness and grace of Jesus Christ (Pie Jesu Domine, Donum Fac Remissiones)?
Mozart certainly wrestled with this question personally and musically as he set the Requiem to music. Throughout this his last composition, we are scolded by the music and text (especially the tenors; I know, I have sung it) with fear-filled visions and sounds of God?s righteous wrath toward fallen, sinful...
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A Moab Kind Faith
After Church on Labor Day weekend, my family began a whirlwind 2 night trip to Moab and back. Although we?ve been in Utaha year, we had not had the opportunity to check out southern part of the state (we?ve only been as far as Provo). On Monday, Vicky, Jack, and I were simply awestruck by the sandstone ?sculptures? of Arches National Park. Wow!!! To think that something THAT beautiful is only 4 hours away!! But maybe those 4 hours are an important distance?
Although the beauty of the ?arches? dwarf the Wasatch Front here in Salt Lake Valley, our mountains are still pretty amazing. When I first got to Salt Lake City I found my gaze lingering on them often. Now on some days, I find myself ignoring the Wasatch altogether. But I shouldn?t be surprised, in Seattle I lived just 3 minutes from the Puget Sound and a...
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