The RCL apparently does have its good points, though....

Song of Solomon 2:8-13

The voice of my beloved!
Look, he comes,
leaping upon the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Look, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows,
looking through the lattice.
My beloved speaks and says to me:

“Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away;
for now the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away.”

P.S. I did go. Lots of fun.

She's Ba-a-a-ack

Ruth Cunningham, at St. Mary the Virgin, that is, this Sunday, August 30. I wish I could go.

The prelude at Solemn Mass this morning is the chorale prelude on Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier ("Dearest Jesus, we are here"), BWV 731, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). The cantor is Ms. Ruth Cunningham, soprano, and the organist is Mr. James Kennerley. Sanctus and Agnus Dei will be improvised to a setting by Mr. Kennerley and Ms. Cunningham. Improvisation results in a particularly powerful, exciting and direct communication of the text that is set. At the ministration of Communion, Ms. Cunningham and Mr. Kennerley sing the duet Schaffe in mir, Gott, ein reines Herz ("Create in me a clean heart, O God"), from Kleine geistliche Konzerte, SWV 291, composed by Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672). The motet is taken from the first of the two volumes of Schütz's Kleine geistliche Konzerte ("Little Sacred Concertos"), published in Germany during the 1630s.

"Tailwinds...and Tail-Covering"

Jonathan Rauch at IGF (although I'm not real sure what that title actually means):

Don't miss Ryan Sager's post (especially the graphs) on the chasm between younger and older people on gay marriage. Citing a new paper by academics Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips, he sez:

If people over 65 in each state made the laws, zero states would have gay marriage; if people under 30 made the laws, 38 states would have gay marriage.

Also must-read: In the Chicago Tribune, Steve Chapman wonders why the same folks who predict social catastrophe if gay marriage is allowed refuse to make specific, testable predictions.

I have a strong suspicion that both sides of the debate are right. The supporters of same-sex marriage are right in predicting that it will have no bad side effects. And the opponents are right not to make predictions.

Another Episcopal Lament

From a comment at Ship of Fools, on a thread about "church entrances":

The entrance of the once-lovely-but-now-godawful parish I Belong To But No Longer Attend was once adorned with a very tasteful rendering of the dove of the Holy Spirit (the patron of the parish, in the "fancy talk" that the current incumbent affects to despise). This device was deemed either "exclusionary" or insufficiently "accessible," so it was replaced with a great big 1970s arsty-craftsy heart, bearing the legend "in loving response to Christ's command" or words to that effect (e.g. we WUV you we WUV you we WUV you to BITS).

Speaking of the entrance, the same impulse led to yanking out the stone font and replacing it with a portable font that could be moved to the "front" (i.e. the chancel, but that's more "fancy talk"); the rector didn't like having the font at the "back" (of course, it ISN'T the "back" of the church, it's the ENTRANCE, which is the point of having it there). Oh, and by the way, he decided that the old font, which generations of children had been baptised in, would make a lovely bird-bath, so there it sits in the front courtyard, full of pigeon shit.

Isn't this exactly where we came in, anyway - three hundred years ago - and actually worse? (i.e.:

"The catalogue of eighteenth-century ecclesiastical decay is long and harrowing. Baptismal fonts were used as umbrella stands; farm animals were housed in chancels. The Eucharist was rarely celebrated more than three or four times a year, and even then with a minimum of ceremony. Bishops did not visit parish churches and rarely entered their own cathedrals. This being the case, confirmation had to be administered every three to seven years to crowds so large that the bishop sometimes did not bother to lay hands upon his flock. Incumbents avoided their parishes whenever possible, farming out the work to underpaid, overworked, and often inept curates. This same indolence afflicted the Church in the American colonies, especially in places like Virginia where incompetent priests served at the pleasure of arrogant and indifferent vestries. Why enlightened men and women, however heretical, would tolerate such corruption is puzzling until we recall their spiritual blindness. Eighteenth-century rationalists decreed that there is no mystery in heaven or on earth. They thought this a blow for human dignity, but it eviscerated life of both vision and passion. Sanctity, whether human or divine, was a closed book to them.")

"Anti-gay attacks on rise in Iraq"

From BBC News:

Gay Iraqi men are being murdered in what appears to be a co-ordinated campaign involving militia forces, the group Human Rights Watch says.

It says hundreds of gay men have been targeted and killed in Iraq since 2004.

So-called honour killings also account for deaths where families punish their own kin in order to avoid public shame.

The report says members of the Mehdi Army militia group is spearheading the campaign, but police are also accused - even though homosexuality is legal.

Witnesses say vigilante groups break into homes and pick people up in the street, interrogating them to extract the names of other potential victims, before murdering them.

Human Rights Watch says it was told that Iraqi security forces had sometimes "colluded and joined in the killing".

Recently, posters appeared in Sadr City - a conservative, Shia area of Baghdad - calling on people to watch out for gay men and listing not only their names but also their addresses.

One gay man in Baghdad described the killing campaign as a witch hunt.

Nearly 90 gay men have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of January and many more are missing, local gay rights campaigners say.

The report, called They want us exterminated: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq, says horrifically mutilated bodies of gay men have been left on rubbish tips.

Sometimes their bodies are daubed with offensive terms such as "pervert", or "puppy" which is a hate word for gay men in Iraq.

"We've heard stories confirmed by doctors of men having their anuses glued and then being force-fed laxatives which leads to a very painful death," says Rasha Mumneh, one of the authors of the report.

When questioned in the past, officials in Iraq have condemned the killings, but the BBC's Natalia Antelava in Baghdad reports that gay men there say nothing has been done to protect them.

"These killings will continue, because it has simply become normal in Iraq to kill gay men," said a gay Iraqi man who did not want to be named.

Mehdi army spokesmen and clerics have condemned what they call the "feminisation" of Iraqi men and have urged the military to take action against them.

The report said many gay men have fled to other countries in the region, despite consensual homosexual activity being illegal there, because the risk of victimisation is reduced.

HRW says the threats and abuses have spread from Baghdad to Kirkuk, Najaf and Basra, although persecution remains concentrated in the capital.

Officials say part of the problem in dealing with the attacks is that victims' relatives seldom if ever provide information to the police.

"They consider talking about the subject worse than the crime itself. This is the nature of our society," ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.

"On Reinhold Niebuhr and the American Present"

Here's a good video, from NPR's "Speaking of Faith."

It's a discussion about Reinhold Niebuhr (called here "Obama's theologian," because I guess Obama named him as influential on his own thinking); it's (SOF host) Krista Tippett's "public conversation with David Brooks and E.J. Dionne."

About 85 minutes total.

The Well-Tempered Clavier

Here's an interesting site, called "Well-Tempered Clavier: analysis, scores, and digital sound."

You need the most recent Shockwave player to view it, but it's worth downloading, I think. Run your cursor over the piano keys or the menu, and the list of fugues from the WTC will start scrolling on the page. Click on one of them, and you can listen to a little snippet of that particular fugue; click "Play Movie" in the little image that pops up, and you can listen to the entire fugue - and watch a visual analysis of what's going on in it as it develops, too. And there is a bit of English analysis included on the page as well. [EDIT: The same person has created a site that does all this for the Goldberg Variations as well - although it does seem to have some errors.]

The choirmaster and I were just gushing over Mr. Bach yesterday in fact - the incredible prolificacy of the man, and the amazing technical genius! - so this does seem a propos to me, in any case. And I do have a Bach label on this blog, after all - and how could anybody not like this site, I ask you? I love the way the web allows (and encourages!) obsessions of this kind, anyway - so, enjoy.

Another problem with the RCL

As if anybody needed more problems with the RCL. Check out the Psalm prescribed for Proper 11, July 19th, to go with the "consecutive" reading:

Psalm 89:20-37 Page 715, BCP

Tunc locutus es

20
"I have found David my servant; *
with my holy oil have I anointed him.

21
My hand will hold him fast *
and my arm will make him strong.

22
No enemy shall deceive him, *
nor any wicked man bring him down.

23
I will crush his foes before him *
and strike down those who hate him.

24
My faithfulness and love shall be with him, *
and he shall be victorious through my Name.

25
I shall make his dominion extend *
from the Great Sea to the River.

26
He will say to me, 'You are my Father, *
my God, and the rock of my salvation.'

27
I will make him my firstborn *
and higher than the kings of the earth.

28
I will keep my love for him for ever, *
and my covenant will stand firm for him.

29
I will establish his line for ever *
and his throne as the days of heaven."

30
"If his children forsake my law *
and do not walk according to my judgments;

31
If they break my statutes *
and do not keep my commandments;

32
I will punish their transgressions with a rod *
and their iniquities with the lash;

33
But I will not take my love from him, *
nor let my faithfulness prove false.

34
I will not break my covenant, *
nor change what has gone out of my lips.

35
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness: *
'I will not lie to David.

36
His line shall endure for ever *
and his throne as the sun before me;

37
It shall stand fast for evermore like the moon, *
the abiding witness in the sky.' "

That is 17 verses of one Psalm. Lots of people sing 'em - but apparently the compilers of the RCL don't, and are therefore clueless about how long it takes (both to practice and to sing).

Not the first time, either - and I'm sure it won't be the last. See? They're forcing Protestant habits on Episcopalians (and others)....

Beatam Me Dicent

This is the Communion song for The Feast of St. Mary the Virgin, August 15 (which will be celebrated tonight at 6 p.m. Solemn Mass at St. Mary the Virgin).

Beatam me dicent omnes generationes, quia fecit mihi magna Qui potens est.

All generations shall call me blessed, because He that is mighty hath done great things for me.

Here is the chant proper, in a YouTube video:



Here's an mp3 from the Benedictines of Brazil, and here is the chant score:





Here's a really dramatic piece of Assumption art, from Francesco Botticini and the 15th C.:





I like the "Dormition" theme a lot better, though. This one is from Gherardo Starnina of Florence (c. 1404-1408), and now hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art:





And this one is part of the "Grudziądz Polyptych", in the National Museum in Warsaw:

Say Goodnight, Chet

Here's the transcript of part of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" from last Sunday, April 9; the topic was Health Care reform, and the panelists were Howard Dean and Newt Gingrich.

The "I kid you not" section is bolded below by me:

STEPHANOPOULOS: And with that, let's have our own debate with two men at the center of the conversation, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Vermont Governor and DNC Chair Howard Dean, also the author of a new book, "Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Health Care Reform."

And, Mr. Speaker, let me begin with you. I wonder, are you comfortable with the tone of these town meetings? As you know, Democrats have said that a lot of this grassroots activity is manufactured AstroTurf, and they say the goal is to shut down conversation, not encourage it.

GINGRICH: You know, I -- I spent 20 years doing town hall meetings. I once had 800 machinist members on an Eastern strike for three hours, and they got to shout all they wanted. I thought Senator Tom Harkin was the model this week. His staff got nervous. They wanted to close down the meeting. And Harkin said, no, these are Americans. They have every right to talk. And he just listened, and he engaged, and he conversed.

People are very, very upset. They're upset because the stimulus was passed unread. They're upset because, at 3 o'clock in the morning, Pelosi introduced a 300-page amendment for an energy tax increase and voted on it at 4 the next afternoon. They have this sense of a thing -- of a machine running over them. And so there's -- there's a substantial number of people who are genuinely upset. The American way is let it hang out, talk to them. Members ought to go back home, hold as many town hall meetings as you have to, let people get it out of their system. And by September, we could have a genuine dialogue in this country.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And I know your allies, Governor Dean, have been -- have been saying that this is just all, you know, paid for, people recruited by lobbyists here in Washington, but you can't create -- you can't force people to go out to a town meeting. You can't manufacture that kind of anger, can you?

DEAN: Well, there actually is a lot -- there is a lot of orchestration. There's the Brian MacGuffie memo, which actually tells people to do -- do what they're doing, which is sit in the front, jump up and interrupt. You know, one -- one thing...

STEPHANOPOULOS: He's got like 23 friends on Facebook, though.

And that's the way it is: Sunday, August 9, 2009.

(And why it turns out that losing all my channels during the switch to digital TV, except for 3 of them, was a really Good Thing....)

"Wish you weren't here: The devastating effects of the new colonialists"

In the Independent:

Thousand of protesters took to the streets, waving the orange flags of the opposition. Before long, looting began. Buildings were set on fire. But the turning point came when a crowd moved from the main square towards the presidential palace. Amid the confusion, someone panicked and gave the order to the troops guarding the palace to open fire. Scores died. The leaders of the army decided they'd had enough and stormed the palace, causing the president to flee.

A typical African coup d'état? Not quite. Certainly there were allegations of corruption in high places. The president had bought a private jet – from a member of the Disney family – for his own personal use. He was accused of unnecessary extravagance, of mismanaging public funds and confusing the interests of the state with his own. But something else had whipped up the protesters in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, earlier this year, when the government of Marc Ravalomanana was overthrown in the former French colony.

The urban poor were angry at the price of food, which had been high since the massive rise in global prices of wheat and rice the year before. Food-price rises hit the poor worse than the rest of us because they spend up to two-thirds of their income on food. But what whipped them into action was news of a deal the government had recently signed with a giant Korean multinational, Daewoo, leasing 1.3 million hectares of farmland – an area almost half the size of Belgium and about half of all arable land on the island – to the foreign company for 99 years. Daewoo had announced plans to grow maize and palm oil there – and send all the harvests back to South Korea.

Terms of the deal had not originally been made public. But then the news leaked, via the Financial Times in London, that the firm had paid nothing for the lease. Daewoo had promised to improve the island's infrastructure in support of its investment. "We will provide jobs for them by farming it, which is good for Madagascar," a Daewoo spokesman said. But the direct cash benefit to Madagascar would be zero – in a country which can barely produce enough food to feed itself: nearly half of the island's children under the age of five are malnourished.

The government of President Ravalomanana became the first in the world to be toppled because of what the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization recently described as "landgrabbing". The Daewoo deal is only one of more than 100 land deals which have, over the past 12 months, seen massive tracts of cultivable farmland across the globe bought up by wealthy countries and international corporations. The phenomenon is accelerating at an alarming rate, with an area half the size of Europe's farmland targeted in just the past six months.

To understand the impotent fury that provokes in impoverished farmers, consider the reaction if something similar happened in Britain. The international development policy consultant Mark Weston has a vivid image to help: "Imagine if China, following a brief negotiation with a British government desperate for foreign cash after the collapse of the economy, bought up the whole of Wales, replaced most of its inhabitants with Chinese workers, turned the entire country into an enormous rice field, and sent all the rice produced there for the next 99 years back to China," he suggests.

"Imagine that neither the evicted Welsh nor the rest of the British public knew what they were getting in return for this, having to content themselves with vague promises that the new landlords would upgrade a few ports and roads and create jobs for local people.

"Then, imagine that, after a few years – and bearing in mind that recession and the plummeting pound have already made it difficult for Britain to buy food from abroad – an oil-price spike or an environmental disaster in one of the world's big grain-producing nations drives global food prices sharply upwards, and beyond the reach of many Britons. While the Chinese next door in Wales continue sending rice back to China, the starving British look helplessly on, ruing the day their government sold off half their arable land. Some of them plot the violent recapture of the Welsh valleys."

Change the place names to Africa and the scenario is much less far-fetched. It is happening already, which is why many, including Jacques Diouf, head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, has warned that the world may be slipping into a "neo-colonial" system. Even that great champion of the free market, the FT, described the Daewoo deal as "rapacious" and warned it is but the most "brazen example of a wider phenomenon" as rich nations seek to buy up the natural resources of poor countries.

The extent of this new colonialism is vast. The buyers are wealthy countries that are unable to grow their own food. The Gulf states are at the forefront of new investments. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar – which between them control nearly 45 per cent of the world's oil – are snapping up agricultural land in fertile countries such as Brazil, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Egypt. But they are ' also targeting the world's poorest countries, such as Ethiopia, Cameroon, Uganda, Zambia and Cambodia.

The amounts of land involved are staggering. South Korean companies have bought 690,000 hectares in Sudan, where at least six other countries are known to have secured large land-holdings – and where food supplies for the local population are among the least secure anywhere in the world. The Saudis are negotiating 500,000 hectares in Tanzania. Firms from the United Arab Emirates have landed 324,000 hectares in Pakistan.

But they are not the only buyers. Countries with large populations such as China, South Korea and even India are acquiring swathes of African farmland to produce food for export. The Indian government has lent money to 80 companies to buy 350,000 hectares in Africa and recently lowered the tariffs under which Ethiopian agri-products can enter India. One of the biggest holdings of agriculture land in the world is a Bangalore-based company, Karuturi Global, which has recently bought huge areas in Ethiopia and Kenya.

Food is not all the new colonialists are after. About a fifth of the massive new deals are for land on which to grow biofuels. British, US and German companies with names such as Flora Ecopower have bought land in Tanzania and Ethiopia. The country whose name became a byword for famine at the time of the Live Aid concerts has had more than 50 investors sign deals or register an interest in the cultivation of biofuel crops on its soil.

From Ethiopia's point of view, the economic logic is straightforward: the country is an importer of oil and is therefore vulnerable to price fluctuations on the world market; if it can produce biofuels it will lessen that dependency. But at a cost. To keep the foreign biofuel investors happy, the government doesn't force any companies to carry out environmental impact assessments. Local activists claim that 75 per cent of the land allocated to foreign biofuel firms are covered in forests that will be cut down.

More at the link. HT TOD.

"A (Moral) Crossroads for Conservatives"

In National Journal and Independent Gay Forum today. Not that I care about the "Crossroads" issue in the slightest; let 'em marginalize themselves, I say:

Last October, Bill Meezan, my cousin, left his home in Columbus, Ohio, for a business trip to Philadelphia. Bill is the dean of Ohio State University's College of Social Work, and he travels quite a bit. In Philadelphia, he thought he felt an old cold coming back. Then he developed a nasty cough. On October 31, he went to the hospital.

He remembers nothing of that day, but Mike Brittenback recalls sharply how doctors in Philadelphia called him in Columbus to say they suspected pneumonia. Mike, an organist and choirmaster, is Bill's partner of 30 years. A few hours later that Friday, they called back to confirm the diagnosis. Mike was concerned but not alarmed.

At 3 a.m. the next day, the phone woke him up. It was a doctor in Philadelphia. Mike needed to come to Philadelphia immediately. Bill had gone into septic shock and might not survive more than a few hours.

* * *

"Here's the key principle," Peter Sprigg, a gay-marriage opponent with the Family Research Council, said in an April radio interview on Southern California's KCRW. "Society gives benefits to marriage because marriage gives benefits to society. And therefore the burden of proof has to be on the advocates of same-sex marriage to demonstrate that homosexual relationships benefit society. Not just benefit the individuals who participate but benefit society in the same way and to the same degree that heterosexual marriage does. And that's a burden that I don't think they can meet."

Can't they?

* * *

Having just been told, at 3 a.m., that his partner of three decades might die within hours, Mike Brittenback was told something else: Before rushing to Bill's side, he needed to collect and bring with him documents proving his medical power of attorney. This indignity, unheard-of in the world of heterosexual marriage, is a commonplace of American gay life.

Frantic, Mike tore through the house but could not find the papers. He would need to retrieve them from a safe-deposit box. Which was at a bank. Which did not open until 9 a.m.

Somehow Mike made it through the next six hours, "crying and frantic and all kinds of awful things running through my mind," fetched the documents, and got on the road. By some higher mercy, those lost hours did not cost Bill his life. When Mike arrived in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon, Bill was still alive, though in grave danger.

Mike had packed clothes for a week.

* * *

National Review has a cover story this month by Maggie Gallagher, a prominent anti-gay-marriage activist, subtitled: "Why Gay Marriage Isn't Inevitable." She is right, in a sense. Most states explicitly ban same-sex marriage, often by constitutional amendment, and the country remains deeply divided. The national argument over marriage's meaning will go on for years to come.

In another sense, however, she is wrong. Never again will America _not_ have gay marriage, and never again will less than a majority favor some kind of legal and social recognition for same-sex couples. The genie that gay-marriage opponents still hope to stuff back into the bottle is out and out for good.

Oddly, Gallagher, Sprigg, and other gay-marriage opponents don't understand why this has happened. It comes down not to demographics (young people are more likely than their elders to favor gay marriage, but the demographics are changing quite slowly), nor to liberal elites' cultural influence (Gallagher's explanation). It comes down to Mike and Bill.

* * *

At the hospital, Mike found Bill in an induced coma, attached to so much equipment that the only place Mike could touch him without touching a tube was on the forehead.

A vigil began. Mike spent days at Bill's bedside and nights at a hotel. His career and personal life mostly stopped while he fielded queries from friends and relatives, kept in close touch with Bill's anxious parents, and dealt with mail and household business from Columbus. Above all, he managed Bill's care.

Bill had repeated setbacks. Two cardiac arrests. The dialysis machine kept failing. Thrush spread to the lungs. Heart arrhythmia. Hallucinations. Trouble removing a breathing tube. In person by day, on the phone at night, doctors huddled with Mike.

Days stretched into weeks. Thanksgiving came and went. Six weeks passed in Philadelphia. "I never missed a day," Mike recalls. "I felt he needed me there. I really felt he knew I was there. He would smile when I came in, even when he was in an induced coma."

* * *

Peter Sprigg and Maggie Gallagher are cut from different cloths in some respects—Sprigg condemns homosexuality, whereas Gallagher accepts it—but they have in common what they offer to couples like Mike and Bill: silence. The same is true of nearly all other prominent opponents of same-sex marriage. (David Blankenhorn of the Institute for American Values is an honorable exception.)

If gay couples can't be allowed to marry, what _should_ they be able to do? Asked this question, cultural conservatives say, in the words of Tom Lehrer's song about the German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, "That's not my department." Effectively, conservatives are saying that what Mike and Bill do for each other has no significance outside their own bedroom.

But what happened in that hospital in Philadelphia for those six weeks was not just Mike and Bill's business, a fact that is self-evident to any reasonable human being who hears the story. "Mike was making a medical decision at least once a day that would have serious consequences," Bill told me. Who but a life partner would or could have done that? Who but a life partner will drop everything to provide constant care? Bill's mother told me that if not for Mike, her son would have died. Faced with this reality, what kind of person, morally, simply turns away and offers silence?

Not the sort of person who populates the United States of America. If Republicans wonder why they find themselves culturally marginalized, particularly by younger Americans, they might consider the fact that when the party looks at couples like Mike and Bill it sees, in effect, nothing.

* * *

By Thanksgiving, Bill was stable enough to be brought out of sedation. As he drifted in and out of consciousness, he formulated a plan. Tubes and a tracheostomy prevented talking, but almost as soon as he could write on a whiteboard, he scrawled a message for Mike. "Will you marry me?"

Mike broke down. "I cried. It was tears of joy."

In January, now back in Columbus, Bill was finally released from the hospital, his weight down by more than a fourth. Over the next few months, he underwent weeks of physical therapy, and Mike developed post-traumatic stress disorder, and Bill's mother died, and Bill decided not to renew his deanship. In the press of events, the marriage proposal seemed to recede. In conversations with Mike, Bill equivocated about when to tie the knot.

* * *

Conservatives have a decision to make. They can continue pretending that the bond between Mike and Bill does not exist, is of no social value, or has no place on conservatives' agenda. Doing so would be of a piece with their retreat to economic Hooverism, their embrace of cultural Palinism, and, in general, their preference for purity over relevance.

Or they can acknowledge what to most of the country is already obvious: Whether the nation finally settles on marriage or on something else for gay couples, Bill and Mike are now in the mainstream and the Republican Party is not. If cultural conservatism continues to treat same-sex couples as outside the social covenant, the currents of history will flow right around it, and future generations of conservatives will wonder how their predecessors could ever have made such a callous and politically costly mistake.

* * *

This month, Mike and Bill will vacation on Cape Cod. Mike is expecting to relax. Bill has been shopping, secretly, for wedding rings. His equivocation, of course, is a ruse. Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts. On August 20, without warning Mike, Bill will produce the same whiteboard that he used in the hospital last year, and on it he will again write, "Will you marry me?" Four days later, they will be married in a small ceremony with friends.

"When I asked him to marry me in the hospital," Bill says, "I have never seen a smile on his face like that. I have never seen that kind of joy. Ever. I want to re-create that. And that's why I want this to be a surprise."

And so it will be, reader, if you can keep a secret.

A "Music at St. Mary's" note

From The Angelus, the St. Mary the Virgin weekly newsletter, referring to this Sunday, August 9:

FROM THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT . . . The prelude at Solemn Mass this Sunday is the Prélude from Suite pour orgue, Op. 5, by Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986). The Suite, composed in 1932 and first performed at Saint Mary’s in 1946, is one the most magnificent works from the relatively small corpus that Duruflé published. The entire Suite will be performed as the prelude to Solemn Mass on the Eve of the Feast of the Assumption, Friday, August 14. The offertory hymn, “Come, risen Lord,” is sung to the tune Rosedale by Leo Sowerby (1895-1968). Sowerby was one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century, and is commonly referred to as the “dean of American church music.” Early recognition came to him through his orchestral compositions, but it was during his tenure at Washington National Cathedral that he produced many of his church compositions. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1946. The Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei are sung to settings by Ruth Cunningham (b. 1956). At the ministration of Communion, Ms. Cunningham sings her setting of the Marian hymn O lilium convallium (“O lily of the valley”), to an accompaniment by Mr. Kennerley. James Kennerley

If you're in New York, you could do much, much worse than go hear Ruth Cunningham sing her own chant settings at Solemn Mass. (I think he's talking about Sunday, August 9th; it's a bit hard to tell if he means that, or the Friday following, the Feast of the Assumption - but that mass seems to have a different mass and motet associated with it, so I think it is indeed a reference to the 9th. Ruth Cunningham has a lovely, distinctive singing style - and her own music is always stunning.)

Pánis, quem égo dédero

This is the Communion song for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time - or, for Proper 14, the 10th Sunday after Pentecost, August 9th (even in the RCL!):

Pánis, quem égo dédero,
cáro méa est pro saéculi víta.

The bread that I shall give
Is my flesh, for the life of the world.

Here's the mp3 from the Benedictines of Brazil; here's the chant score:





The Offertory is In te spervi, from Psalm 31:14-15:

14 But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.

15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

Here's the mp3; here's the score:

The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, August 6: Candor est lucis æternæ

A beautiful Alleluia for Transfiguration (this Thursday, August 6):

Candor est lucis aetérnae, spéculum sine macula, et imago bonitátis illíus. Allelúia.

The text comes from Wisdom 7:26:

For she is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God's majesty, and the image of his goodness.

"She," being Wisdom, in this case; I do always like the tying-together of Wisdom with the transcendent Christ - which also of course happens in John's Prologue.

Here's the mp3 from the Benedictines of Brazil; here's the lovely, melismatic chant score:





Here's Olivier Messaien's version, from La Transfiguration de notre seigneur Jésus-Christ. I'm not a fan, but maybe somebody is?



The Office Hymns for Transfiguration, posted last year, are here.

Here's the entire 7th Chapter of Wisdom, via the lovely Douay-Rheims translation, for context:

1 I myself am a mortal man, like all others, and of the race of him, that was first made of the earth, and in the womb of my mother I was fashioned to be flesh.
2 In the time of ten months I was compacted in blood, of the seed of man, and the pleasure of sleep concurring.
3 And being born, I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, that is made alike, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.
4 I was nursed in swaddling clothes, and with great cares.
5 For none of the kings had any other beginning of birth.
6 For all men have one entrance into life, and the like going out.
7 Wherefore I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me:
8 And I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her.
9 Neither did I compare unto her any precious stone: for all gold, in comparison of her, is as a little sand; and silver, in respect to her, shall be counted as clay.
10 I loved her above health and beauty, and chose to have her instead of light: for her light cannot be put out.
11 Now all good things came to me together with her, and innumerable riches through her hands,
12 And I rejoiced in all these: for this wisdom went before me, and I knew not that she was the mother of them all.
13 Which I have learned without guile, and communicate without envy, and her riches I hide not.
14 For she is an infinite treasure to men: which they that use, become the friends of God, being commended for the gifts of discipline.
15 And God hath given to me to speak as I would, and to conceive thoughts worthy of those things that are given me: because he is the guide of wisdom, and the director of the wise:
16 For in his hand are both we, and our words, and all wisdom, and the knowledge and skill of works.
17 For he hath given me the true knowledge of the things that are: to know the disposition of the whole world, and the virtues of the elements,
18 The beginning, and ending, and midst of the times, the alterations of their courses, and the changes of seasons,
19 The revolutions of the year, and the dispositions of the stars,
20 The natures of living creatures, and rage of wild beasts, the force of winds, and reasonings of men, the diversities of plants, and the virtues of roots,
21 And all such things as are hid, and not foreseen, I have learned: for wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me.

22 For in her is the spirit of understanding; holy, one, manifold, subtile, eloquent, active, undefiled, sure, sweet, loving that which is good, quick, which nothing hindereth, beneficent,
23 Gentle, kind, steadfast, assured, secure, having all power, overseeing all things, and containing all spirits: intelligible, pure, subtile:
24 For wisdom is more active than all active things; and reacheth everywhere, by reason of her purity.
25 For she is a vapour of the power of God, and a certain pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty God: and therefore no defiled thing cometh into her.
26 For she is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God's majesty, and the image of his goodness.
27 And being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in herself the same, she reneweth all things, and through nations conveyeth herself into holy souls, she maketh the friends of God and prophets.
28 For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom.
29 For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of the stars: being compared with the light, she is found before it.
30 For after this cometh night, but no evil can overcome wisdom.

Here's a Transfiguration, by David, that I haven't posted before:

Anglican Chant, the second installment

This time, it's the Westminster Abbey Choir singing Psalm 67, and chant of Edward Bairstow:



The Coverdale version of Psalm 67:

God be merciful unto us, and bless us *
and shew us the light of his countenance, and be merciful unto us;
That thy way may be known upon earth *
thy saving health among all nations.
Let the people praise thee, O God *
yea, let all the people praise thee.
O let the nations rejoice and be glad *
for thou shalt judge the folk righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.
Let the people praise thee, O God *
let all the people praise thee.
Then shall the earth bring forth her increase *
and God, even our own God, shall give us his blessing.
God shall bless us *
and all the ends of the world shall fear him.

Here, too, are "The Responses" - also from the Westminster Abbey Choir, and for Mattins - although it doesn't give a composer:

"Gay Israelis rally after shooting"

From BBC Online:

Hundreds of Israelis have joined a rally organised by the gay community after shootings at a gay youth centre.

Two people died and at least 11 were hurt when the gunman opened fire at the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association before fleeing.

The city's Mayor, Ron Huldai, said the motive was unclear and police declined to comment except to say a Palestinian link was not suspected.

But the protesters condemned the attack as Israel's worst hate crime.

"I fear that if the man who did this is not found, the consequences to the gay community might be far-reaching - they might live in fear," said 47-year-old lawyer Arnon Hirsch.

The attacker, wearing a mask, opened fire indiscriminately with a pistol inside the centre on Nachmani Street.

The two people he killed were a man aged 26 and a 17-year-old girl.

Survivors described how the attacker kept firing as visitors to the centre dived for cover.

"I took cover with someone under a table, and he kept firing," said one injured teenager, Or Gil.

"When I got up it was horrifying, I just saw blood."

Gay rights activist Mike Hamel criticised religiously-driven hatred of homosexuals.

"Beyond the pain, the frustration and the anger, we are facing a situation in which the incitement to hate creates an environment that allows this to happen," he said.

One worker at the centre said some parents of the teenagers did not know their children were gay until they received phone calls telling them their children had been injured.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to bring the killer to justice.

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who attended the rally, said the attack should strengthen young people who wanted to come out of the closet.

People from the gay community are allowed to serve openly in the military, and couples are given a measure of legal recognition.