+ The Good Life

The Lenten Organ Recitals: Dr. Lois Musmann

Come enjoy Organ Recitals every Thursday during Lent at 11:30 a.m. in our beautiful Sanctuary at First Congregational Church of Redlands. After a Lenten Scripture reading, we will then give you an opportunity to listen to sacred music offered by some of our region’s finest organists. The series will continue with Lois Musmann on March 3, and will follow with Jeff Rickard and Fred Swann on the following weeks. For more information, call the Church Office at (909) 793-3157 or check out FCCRedlands.org.

Dr. Lois Musmann is a Fulbright Teaching Senior Specialist in music, and a conductor and harpsichordist who also teaches at Notre Dame de Namur University. As a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley, she was the author of a recent national survey of professional women conductors in partnership with the Women’s Philharmonic, and has written for the University of California International and Area Studies Digital Collection. Dr. Musmann recently conducted Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Enrique Gonzales’ opera Serafina y Archangela, a world premiere in Los Angeles and the Tijuana Cultural Center. She was conductor of the Euterpe Opera Theatre in Los Angeles and founder and conductor of Pacifica Chamber Orchestra and of the Collegium Musicum, University of Redlands. She chaired several sessions of the International College Music Society Conference in Vienna and is the recipient of degrees, awards and grants from several institutions.

 

Good Morning, God

You are ushering in another day

      untouched and freshly new,

so here I come to ask You, God,

      if You'll renew me too?

Forgive the many errors that

      I made yesterday,

and let me try again, dear God,

      to walk closer in Thy way.

But Father, I am well aware

      I can't make it on my own,

so take my hand and hold it tight

      for I can't walk alone.

—Helen Steiner Rice

Day of the Lord

In this picture from "Walk Thru the Bible," the letter “Z” is fanning himself, representing “Z-Fan-iah,” or Zephaniah. The sun represents the day, and this is the Day of the Lord—which is the key phrase. During Judah’s history, reform comes from time to time. Zephaniah’s forceful prophecy may have been a factor in the reform during Josiah’s reign—a “revival’’ which produces outward change but cannot remove the inward heart of corruption which characterizes the nation’s leaders. Driven by passion and motivated by concern, Zephaniah proclaims the impending Day of the Lord. That day signifies the final judgment of God on the earth and the eventual time of blessing and peace. Judah will indeed be punished, but beyond that cloud brightness blazes. God will purify His people; He will restore their fortunes; He will rejoice over them with shouts of joy; He will make them great; He will be in their midst. Beyond judgment there is joy.

Lenten Organ Recitals: Mr. William Zeitler

Come enjoy Organ Recitals every Thursday during Lent at 11:30 a.m. in our beautiful Sanctuary at First Congregational Church of Redlands. After a Lenten Scripture reading, we will then give you an opportunity to listen to sacred music offered by some of our region’s finest organists. The series will continue with William Zeitler on February 25, and will follow with Lois Musmann, Jeff Rickard and Fred Swann. For more information, call the Church Office at (909) 793-3157 or check out FCCRedlands.org.

Mr. William Zeitler is an international composer for film and concert ensembles/orchestras, an accomplished organist, pianist, and harpsichordist (B.F.A. from Cal-Arts), and one of the few professional players in the world on the ‘glass armonica,’ an instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin for which Mozart and Beethoven composed. William has performed on the glass armonica internationally, including at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, with the Blue Man Group at the Hollywood Bowl, and on film scores such as HBO’s Taking Chance and the Disney film Big Hero 6. In 2013, William published the first book-length history of the glass armonica, a project requiring 14 years of research. The book contains extensive translations for the first time from their original Latin, French, and German sources. William is also organist at the First Presbyterian Church of San Bernardino, CA.

 

The Love Priority

There's not enough time for everything we want to do, so we need to prioritize. Jesus taught that the number one priority in life is love. Nothing is more important. People need to hear, believe, and embrace this message.

In Jesus day, people were concerned more about religion and politics, then love. They longed for a time God would establish his kingdom in heaven on earth in some kind of political realm. Jesus responded that the Kingdom of God is a realm of love where we honor God with our whole being, and treat others with the same priority we give to our own needs. When we love in this way, the reign of God is near.

 

My goal for Lent this year is to become a more loving person. I hope you want this for yourself, as well. Serious, mature love says: I love people who are unlovely. I love people who don’t show love to me. I love people who may irritate me. I love the way Jesus loved.

Do you want to be serious about loving others? If so, try this: think of those with whom you interact each day and make a commitment to listen to them. Look them in the face and listen. Say to them: Is there more? And keep listening. You may need to apologize for something. You may need to sympathize. But spend some time with the people God has put in your life and show them love with listening ears.