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The Sacrifice (Part 1)
Dear Reader, I began writing this story when I was sixteen. I had something important to say, but could not think of any better way to say it than through story. Soon, I became discouraged with my own work (as I so often do) and put it away to develop on its own. A few…
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The Woman, The Well, and the Wedding
Samaritan Woman at the Well 6th century Mosaic Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna
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On Dying Arts and the Art of Dying
“Do churches even still have organs?” asked a woman yesterday when I told her about my job. I was unsurprised by her incredulity, for I am often struck that the work I do for a living is a dying art. My life, it seems, as an organist and writer, centers around such “dying” arts. The…
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The Aisle
I have walked down the aisle many times throughout my life: when leading a children’s processional, rushing to a band practice, or walking with dignity to the choir loft. I remember, most strikingly, the first time I walked down the aisle at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in St. Andrew’s, Scotland. I was one of a…
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A Lifelong Engagement
My fiancé and I opted for a three month engagement. He actually proposed exactly three months prior to our wedding date—even to the hour! However, when we tell people that we are planning to be married on July 9th, their eyes widen as they reply with the inevitable, “Of this year?!” I understand. Prior to…
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Feet
I’ve begun rereading Exodus for my devotions and am struck again and again by the motifs that are fulfilled in Christ, often in unexpected ways. For instance, when the Lord commands Moses to remove his sandals because he is standing on holy ground… How great the place of Holy Flame Where His fire warns, “Draw…
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Publication Update!
Dear Readers, I recently had the honor of being published in The Journal of the T.S. Eliot Society of the United Kingdom. While I cannot share my article here, I highly recommend checking out and ordering a copy of this publication at the society website: http://www.tseliotsociety.uk/ My article highlights the correspondences between Eliot’s Four Quartets…
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A Couplet for Couples
The sweetest submission I now know is this: To bow before his gentle forehead kiss. “Wives, submit to your husbands, as to the Lord…Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor…” Ephesians…
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Frauenliebe und Leben: “Der Ring”
Nearly three years ago, I performed Robert Schumann’s stunningly beautiful Frauenliebe und Leben (translated “A Woman’s Life and Love”) for the first time. I say “for the first time” because this is a song cycle that I hope to perform over and over again for the rest of my life; composed to represent key moments…
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An Easter Rehearsal
I know my feet are prone to slip, unsure, So I play it again: Alleluia. And I know my hands may strike without measure, So I play it once more: Alleluia. But, worst, I know my heart is yet impure, So I pray it again: Alleluia, Amen. The organist and choristers know well The rehearsed…
2021 poetry, church music, church musician, church organ, church organist, Easter Sunday, Holy Saturday, holy week poetry, hymn, hymnology, Jesus Christ is Risen Today, liturgical living, liturgy, organ, organist, poem, poetry, practice musical practice, practicing, praising, rejoice, rejoicing, sacred poetry, Triduum -
Hymn to The Reconciler
I worked on this sonnet throughout Holy Week but, as my organist schedule would have it, did not have a chance to revise and publish it until now. So, here you are: a short contemplation on the incarnate Christ. *(Forgive my limping poetic meter…I prefer to conduct my poems in a musical pattern rather than…
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Grief turned Grace
We all remember Palm Sunday last year. I remember it as the first year in a long time that I did not rise early to rehearse for a highly-musical church service. I remember it as the year I did not have to keep children’s choir littles from smacking each other with palm branches and the…
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Ryanne Molinari 