christmas
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Christmas Recommendations to Nourish Your Imagination
I just looked up from answering emails to see that today is December 19th. How is that possible? Even though I’ve spent the last few weeks playing for holiday concerts and preparing for Advent services, Christmas still managed to sneak up on me. Anyway, if you are not quite in a holiday mood or are Continue reading
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Reblog & Reflection: After a Children’s Christmas Service
I just finished playing for another children’s Christmas service which, as usual, was full of joy and cuteness and more than a few muffled laughs. Highlights of the evening included my organ student accompanying hymns with excellence, little voices reading big words from Scripture, and pews full of beaming parents and grandparents. Humor from the Continue reading
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“Stop”: Christmas Lyrics Based on the Book of Job
Earlier this autumn, I got to play Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living with one of the choirs I accompany. I’ve written before about how much I love playing Forrest’s music. A pianist himself, he writes choral music that requires accompanists to be genuine collaborators. His piano parts tend to be equal parts intuitive—fitting perfectly Continue reading
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Early Christmas Gifts + Road Trip Entertainment
Happy Thanksgiving week! Since this week marks the start of the Christmas season for many of us, I wanted to share a few recommendations to get you in the holiday spirit and—for those of you who are traveling—to help pass the hours. In the spirit of early Christmas, I’d like to give you a few Continue reading
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Core Memories, Weird Hobbies, and a High-Brow Christmas Bop
In graduate school, I was plunged into the deep end as my peers casually threw around words like “apophatic” and I wondered what on earth I’d gotten myself into. Fortunately, I found my footing and had a wonderful experience after that initial disorientation. One of my professors, an expert on theology and music, was known Continue reading
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Christmas Letter – 2023
I am terrible at keeping track of people’s addresses, and this is the worst time of year for me to add another to-do, so consider this post my digital Christmas letter. Do you like the photo I chose? Billy and I have had another lovely year of long runs, strong coffee, good books, and more Continue reading
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Christmas Trees
I.Beside the road, browning in the breeze,Are th’unadorned and corpselike Christmas trees.Their severed stumps pine for forsaken sod,The rootless forest for a promised Rod. Dangling from a beam of their own bark,They wait in vain for cries of joy or “Hark!”In these rejected trees we find reversedThe truth that He who hangs as such is Continue reading
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After a Children’s Christmas Service
Would the Light of the World have liked light-up shoes?Or eagerly volunteered to switch on the tree?Or struggled not to wiggle when asked to stand and sing? Would he sprint, unsteady, to the altarOr jump merrily from its step—Bowing midair lest He forgetUpon landing? We often consider Him as a baby With all His infant Continue reading
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The First Day of Christmas
Each week, I have anywhere between six and eleven rehearsals. Yesterday, however, was my favorite of the entire year: the first Christmas rehearsal. I realize it is only mid-October, but for musicians it might as well be the first day of Christmas. Spooky season and Christmas tend to blend together if you’re a musician…or Tim Continue reading
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Publication – The Silent Carol
Recently, I had the joy of writing on my favorite carol for Deus ex Musica, a fantastic publication and resource for musicians, ministers, and students. You can read my article and listen to some beautiful recordings at the link below: https://www.deus-ex-musica.com/blog/2021/12/10/the-silent-carol Continue reading
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Joseph – A Song and a Sermon
When we first began dating, my husband and I were employed by two very different churches. They proclaimed the same gospel, but the one where he worked was extremely contemporary while mine preserved the beautiful Lutheran liturgy. Although we attended each others’ services, it became our dream to collaborate, for him to preach while I Continue reading
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Joseph’s Magnificat
My troubled soul shall magnify the LordWhose glory proves through my humiliation.May it be unto me according to his wordFor the promised hope of this, my own nation. The Master works through my humbled estateAs the fitting tool to smooth my splintered grain.He gives and takes away and by his greatCraft turns my lonesome loss Continue reading
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Ryanne Molinari 