Music and Meditation for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Sunday, December 22, 2019 | The Fourth Sunday of Advent

"Breath of Heaven"
Words and Music by Amy Grant
Performed by Amy Grant in the Official Lyric Video (2019)

Text in the video and video description at YouTube

Readings

Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Jesus said to them, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

John 20:21-22

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.

The Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Music and Meditation for the Third Sunday of Advent

Sunday, December 15, 2019 | The Third Sunday of Advent

"He Who Is Mighty"
Words and Music by Sovereign Grace (2014)
Performed by Kate DeGraide and Rebecca Elliott in a studio session for the album Prepare Him Room (BMI, 2014)

Text is in the video description at YouTube.

Readings

And Mary said:

"My soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my savior,
for he has looked upon the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, all generations shall call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name."

Luke 1:46-48 (ESV)

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever, Amen.

The Collect for the Third Sunday of Advent

Music and Meditation for the Second Sunday of Advent

Sunday, December 8, 2019 | The Second Sunday of Advent

"Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus"

Words by Charles Wesley (1744) with new chorus by Laura Story

Music is the hymn tune HYFRODOL by Rowland Prichard

Laura Story sings on her album God With Us (Fair Trade Services, 2015)

Come, thou long-expected Jesus

Born to set thy people free

From our fears and sins release us

Let us find our rest in thee

Israel's strength and consolation

Hope of all the earth thou art

Dear desire of every nation

Joy of every longing heart

Born thy people to deliver

Born a child and yet a king

Born to reign in us forever

Now thy gracious kingdom bring

By thine own eternal spirit

Rule in all our hearts alone

By thine all sufficient merit

Raise us to thy glorious throne

Come now great Redeemer

Come Emmanuel

Bless the nations with your presence here

Born our souls to rescue

Born to save your very own

Long expected Jesus

Make our hearts your home

Readings

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ -- by grace you have been saved -- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-7 (ESV)

Almighty God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.

The Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent

Music and Meditation for the First Sunday of Advent

Sunday, December 1, 2019 | The First Sunday of Advent

"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
Words are a twelfth century Latin hymn translated to English by John M. Neale, 1851
Music is based on plainsong, with harmonization by Thomas Helmore, 1854

Anna Hawkins sings select verses in English and Hebrew from her album Divine (Southbound, 2015). Texts and translations in the video description at YouTube.com.

Readings

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it
With justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 9:2,6-7 (ESV)

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now and in the time of this mortal life in which your son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.

The Collect for the First Sunday of Advent

2019 MLB Postseason Predictions

My predictions are again this year based loosely on the competing teams' head-to-head records and factoring home field advantage. I still do not have a future as a sports journalist. And am very sad that my Chicago Cubs are not in the bracket at the start of October for the first time since 2014. But just for fun:

American League Wild Card: Tampa Bay Rays at Oakland Athletics
Prediction: Oakland Athletics

National League Wild Card: Milwaukee Brewers at Washington Nationals
Prediction: Washington Nationals

American League Division Series: Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics at Houston Astros
Predictions: New York Yankees in 5, Houston Astros in 3

National League Division Series: Washington Nationals at Los Angeles Dodgers, St Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves
Predictions: Los Angeles Dodgers in 5, Atlanta Braves in 5

American League Championship Series: New York Yankees at Houston Astros
Prediction: Houston Astros in 4

National League Championship Series: Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers
Prediction: Los Angeles Dodgers in 4

World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers at Houston Astros

Prediction: Houston Astros in 7

Review: Brightline, Miami to Fort Lauderdale (Return)

Earlier this week I needed to be in Fort Lauderdale to attend a workshop for my job. The start time was 9am, meaning I would need to fight rush hour traffic to get there. I thought about taking an Uber so at least I would not be the one doing the driving, but sampling fares at a similar time a few days before showed it was going to be quite expensive.

Then I realized that the workshop was just a half mile from Fort Lauderdale's Brightline station, and with the Miami station being just a 20-minute walk from my apartment, I decided to look at Brightline's prices.

I found a promo code, and within no time had booked a round-trip ticket for just $20.25 (in full disclosure, my employer will be reimbursing this expense, but even so it was less than reimbursing my mileage at the current IRS rate). The purchase process was simple, as was the post-purchase account creation and syncing my ticket to my account.

Most unfortunately, there were some issues the morning of my day to be in Fort Lauderdale. Brightline's reservation system was malfunctioning, meaning I could not retrieve my ticket via the app, the website, or the in-station self-service kiosk. It was only when I approached the agent at the turnstiles that I learned it was system-wide and not just me. She found my name on a passenger manifest and I was admitted to the passenger-only area. Security screening consisted of putting my backpack through a conveyor belt scanner and then I was free to relax in the departure lounge.

I had plenty of time to explore the lounge as my train was delayed some twenty minutes. In Miami, the turnstiles and lounge are on the second floor of Miami Central. Within the passenger area is a cafe, with pastries, packages snacks, and assorted hot and cold beverages, as well as gift items, available for purchase. There is assorted seating, with plentiful power and USB outlets, overlooking the street below. To the rear of the passenger area is the Select Lounge, for passengers on the first class fare, where they have complimentary beverages and snacks along with similar seating. Wi-Fi was free and useful throughout.

Boarding was announced, late as expected, and passengers rode escalators (elevators also available) up one level to the platform. I found my coach and my seat, which I realized was an accessible seat, and found it odd that I had been assigned to such a seat by the reservation system.

When the train began rolling a few minutes later, realizing the coach was not even half full, I moved to another seat. Seats were in a 2-2 configuration, with some facing another pair across a table, and others with a tray table available in the seat back ahead. I found a window seat of the latter kind and still had an empty seat next to me. Power and USB outlets were available for each seat.

A few minutes after departure, an attendant came down the aisle with a beverage cart. I declined as I had brought my own snack, and opened my laptop on the tray table and did some work during the 30-minute ride to Fort Lauderdale.

Arrival was announced a few minutes beforehand, giving me ample time to unplug and store my laptop and walk to the vestibule to be ready to disembark. I had a moment of trouble navigating my way to the exit (despite Fort Lauderdale being a smaller station than Miami Central), but a station agent kindly pointed me the right direction.

After the workshop, I had an hour before my return train (unfortunately I had missed my chance to change to an earlier train by just minutes), so after clearing security, I found a high-top counter and chair in the lounge and caught up on emails and phone messages. I checked the train status a couple times as well as the seat map. Noticing I had again been assigned an accessible seat, I reseated myself to a mid-car window seat.

Boarding was similarly announced and I once again found myself in a half-empty cabin. I mostly enjoyed the view on the return journey, including a nice view of the ramp at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport's Terminal 1.

All in all, a comfortable and convenient way to get between Miami and Fort Lauderdale (and there is one additional stop further north in West Palm Beach, with plans to extend to Orlando).

Five Months In: Reflections on Miami (and Chicago!)

It has been a busy four months since my last entry in this series, but as I have a quiet Friday evening ahead of me, it seemed a good time to continue these reflections.

Miami feels like home to me in many ways. I have found my favorite coffee shop, the original Wynwood location of Panther Coffee (recommended by a colleague). I have joined First Miami Presbyterian Church and just started to find ways to contribute my skills in music and business administration to the church. I know my way around many of the neighborhoods and suburbs -- Brickell, Coral Gables, downtown, Little Havana, Miami Beach, Wynwood -- without the aid of Google Maps but with the aid of the great free trolley system. I have enjoyed a few different events at the Arsht Center and the University of Miami Frost School of Music. All told, I have settled well.

My work at Seraphic Fire has also been an enriching experience these first five months. Our last program of the 2018-2019 season, May's Peace in Music curated and conducted by our Associate Conductor James K. Bass, was one of the most beautiful choral performances I have ever witnessed. This month of June has been focused on closing the books on our fiscal year that ended May 31 and preparing for our audit next month. This will be the first time I have been professionally involved in an audit and I am learning a lot in this process, and likewise with many other projects and assignments that are providing professional growth opportunities.

In the last five months I have interacted with many of our dedicated board members and donors, as well as develop strong and mutually supportive working relationships with my colleagues (I know many people have personally difficult work environments so I am truly grateful for the blessing of having supportive and enriching work environments both previously and currently). It has also been a special and meaningful experience to get to know the Seraphic Fire artists, and feel nothing but mutual appreciation for our presence in the organization.

On the side, I have found ways to begin contributing my professional skills in service of my new community. In May and June I had the opportunity to serve as a grant panelist with the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs. In reviewing the applications I learned a lot about some of the other arts organizations in the area and the panel discussion itself, my first experience of that kind, was personally satisfying.

All in all, this transition has gone well, praise God!

Even amidst all the successes of my work and life in Miami, I have not forgotten my original home in Chicago. I have been back twice now, briefly for Easter and for a longer stretch around Memorial Day, and both visits were refreshing. Needless to say I am grateful to live in a time with the communication and transportation technologies that make it easy to stay connected with my family and friends and former colleagues as well as with the Chicago area organizations that are important to me. And I will be there again next week for the Fourth of July! Hoping for a clear day in the Midwest so I can catch one of those beautiful views of the skyline on final approach, like I did on my arrival in May. I love being able to say that "I am from Chicago!"

Points, Miles, and Loyalty Programs: Starbucks Rewards

This is the first installment in what I hope will be on occasional series on various consumer loyalty and rewards programs. I follow a number of blogs on these topics and while I certainly do not anticipate competing with the folks who cover these programs full time, I hope to offer my own narratives as part of the conversation on these valuable consumer tools.

My Starbucks Gold Card (which I never physically use) indicates that I have been a Gold member since 2010 (my senior year of college). For most of the time since, I basically only went to Starbucks when it was a convenient place for a meeting with a friend or colleague or when, during my teaching years, I was gifted a Starbucks gift card and stopped on my way to or from somewhere else. But in the last year or so I have added some strategic additional visits.

In April 2016, Starbucks modified their loyalty program earning structure: every $1 in spend (not including sales tax) earns 2 stars. Upon reaching 125 stars, one earns a reward, which one can redeem for any menu item. (The redemption structure is changing later this month to group menu items into tiers with each tier requiring redemption of a different number of stars to redeem an item from it.) Around the same time, Starbucks began more frequent special star-earning promotions, everything from the basic monthly double star day, to bonus stars on particular menu items at particular times, to bonus stars for making multiple purchases in a given timeframe. I probably get an email from Starbucks with a special star-earning promotion once a week. I used to ignore them. No longer.

My argument is that one should always aim to earn more than 2 stars per $1 to get maximum value from the program. I probably take advantage of one out of every three special promotions. For context, my usual purchases are hardly ever basic coffee, either, except when in warm months I get an iced coffee. I go more for the food items and occasional fancy drink, both when paying cash and when redeeming rewards.

For example, two weeks ago there was a "Star Dash" promotion: visit two days in a row within the promotional period and earn 25 bonus stars, visit three days in a row and earn 50 total bonus stars, or visit four days in a row and earn 125 total bonus stars. 125, of course, is (for now) enough for any menu item, including the $8 protein boxes that make for a decent meal (especially on a day when I have concert duty and not time for a more robust dinner). A visit could be to purchase anything, from a tall coffee to a simple bakery item to a KIND bar (that I typically toss in my bag and forget about until I am digging at the bottom of my bag for something else two weeks later and rediscover it...). I spent a grand total of $9.95 over the four visits I made in the allotted timeframe, and now I will be able to grab one of those chicken wrap boxes, retailing for $7.95, when I have concert duty next Friday. That's an 80% return. Plus I have the base stars earned on the spend toward my next reward.

The math on the redemption side will change a bit when the new reward tiers come online next week, but my earning strategy should still be effective. Will be interesting to see what new special promotions are offered.

Three and a Half Weeks In: Reflections on Miami

I woke up at my parents' house in Oak Park on January 30 and the outside temperature was nineteen below. Not sure whether I scrolled down in the weather app to look at the wind chill value, but at that point is was just academic to me. Sixteen hours later, and by way of New Jersey because my original direct flight was cancelled, I went to bed at my Airbnb in Miami where it was 61 above. An eighty degree swing.

And that, dear readers, was the story I will always have about the day I moved to Miami.

Three and a half weeks later, and I am happy to report all is going well. I have been having a great time at my new job, meshing well with my new colleagues, feeling appropriately challenged by my new assignment, and making the most of my evenings and weekends to explore my new city.

Here is one fun fact that people not from South Florida might not know, because I did not: Miami and Miami Beach are two different cities. The City of Miami is the second largest city in Florida (counting the city proper only) and the commercial and cultural anchor of South Florida. The City of Miami Beach, just across Biscayne Bay, is the coastal resort city that forms most of what the popular imagination conjures on hearing the name "Miami." I am writing this sitting outside a Starbucks in Miami Beach, just around the corner from a view of the Atlantic Ocean, and I can report that Miami Beach and Miami are distinct places. But the iced coffee tastes just as good in both!

So far, in addition to three full weeks of work on the new job, including my first run of concerts, I have wandered around various neighborhoods and suburbs including Brickell (the upscale shopping are abutting the financial district), Coral Gables (adjacent suburb, Spanish revival architecture planned city wherein is the University of Miami), Downtown Miami, Little Havana (the Cuban neighborhood, where my Airbnb is), and Wynwood (industrial area turned indie arts scene), as well as seeing the Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and Naples just briefly while there for work purposes. I have connected with a few other Wheaton alumni in the area and hope to find more, as my brief search tells me that there are more of us!

I have also had the opportunity on my three weekends here so far to visit three different churches. I have not yet settled on one, but was very grateful to receive a warm welcome at each, especially since coming from being a church staff member, for better or worse I came with a lot of notions about local church culture.

And needless to say, I am sure I have not even scratched the proverbial surface of all that Miami has to offer. I have avoided reading too much written for tourists about this area, choosing instead to get ideas and tips from my colleagues and fellow Wheaton alumni and other new friends and acquaintances, people who actually lived here. So it may be a slower process to get to know the area, but I think it will be better and more authentic that way.

Will check in again in a few weeks! And please feel free to visit my Instagram (no login needed, for you non-Instagram users) where I have a few pictures so far from my wanderings in South Florida.

With Thanks

By the end of the month, I will have fully completed the season of transition from my life and work in the Chicago area to my new life and new work in Miami. If you missed my reflections on what led to this transition, see this essay. I spent a few days in Miami two weeks ago, including two full days in the office with my new colleagues, and am very happy to say I really like my new team already, received a very warm welcome, and am excited for the point when I can devote my full attention to my new assignment.

But in the midst of packing and finishing projects at my soon-to-be former jobs, I would like to offer several words of thanks, to Calvary Memorial Church, to Wheaton College, and to Chicago. I am sure I have forgotten many important aspects of my experiences with each but what follows it what comes to mind as I reflect at this juncture.

First, to Calvary Memorial Church, where I have served on staff for over six years and where I have attended, with brief pauses when I was in term in college, for twenty. I am thankful for the communities I found in my junior high and high school youth groups and then later in my young adult small groups and friend groups. I am thankful for the opportunity to apply my music degree right away as orchestra director and then acting head of worship ministries and then ministry associate of worship and music, and then the opportunity to learn essentially a whole new profession through service as church administrator and then director of finance and administration. I am thankful for the enduring support and encouragement I received from the leadership, especially Pastors Caleb, Gerald, Jonny, and Todd. I am grateful for the members of the orchestra who gave me the gift of being their director for six and a half years, which to date is the professional role I have held the longest.

Second, to Wheaton College, where I completed my undergraduate education, met the woman who is now my wife, and have served on staff for over five years. For the rest of my life I will carry special memories of my undergraduate years, and I am grateful for all the lessons I learned both formally and informally, and including the ones I had to learn the hard way. I am grateful for the lifelong friends I made there among my roommates and others. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as a staff member in the Conservatory, the same department in which I studied. I am grateful I was part of the move to the Conservatory's new home, for the inauguration of President Phil Ryken, for the beginning of the CSO at Wheaton College series, and for endless unique and enjoyable concert productions. And I am grateful for my colleagues, my boss Tony Payne, my dean Michael Wilder, and for the many students I was able to formally and informally mentor and support.

And finally, to Chicago itself. I would not trade the experience of growing up and spending the first decade of adulthood in Chicago for anything. I am honored that I can call myself a native Chicagoan and Chicago will always and forever be my hometown. Chicago has institutions that are among the world's best, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where I was pleased to offer volunteer hours for several years, and given its annual visits to Florida, I know I can continue to be an active patron. And it has been a very special last few years to be a Cubs fan. I will be bringing my small collection of 2016 World Series Champion-branded swag with me to Miami, no question. Of course, Chicago is not perfect. No city is. But Chicago, you have incredible potential. You do not have to be defined by the heartbreak and frustration that has plagued you and that comprises most of your national and global reputation. There are so many people, seen and unseen, working hard every day to make Chicago a better place, and I am glad to have been part of that place for my first thirty years. I look forward to visiting as often as I can, and in between I will be ordering those frozen Lou Malnati's pizzas to be shipped to Miami!

So thank you.

Journey to Miami

At the end of November, I accepted an offer to the General Operations Manager for Seraphic Fire, "Florida's Grammy-Nominated Vocal Ensemble," in Miami. I will be moving to South Florida at the end of January.

It has been an interesting journey that led to this move and change of jobs. Certainly when asked ten years ago as a college sophomore where I saw myself in ten years, I would not have answered with either of the current jobs I am leaving or the new job I am starting, though that of course is not at all unique to me among my Millennial peers.

Quick background: I have a bachelor's degree from Wheaton College in music education. I spent my first three years post-college as a middle school band director as well as side jobs as a church orchestra director and events manager for the Wheaton College Artist Series, with a little private trombone teaching and music supplies retailing along the way. Five years later, that church orchestra job has evolved through music ministry associate to church administrator to finance director, and the events manager job has evolved to production manager with a side of digital marketing. I have been now been part of four annual budget cycles and countless employee onboardings, vendor changes, and insurance claims in my church job (while still managing to keep up the orchestra directorship) and nearly fifty major public concert events featuring several Grammy winners and a move to a new music building in my Wheaton job. I just turned 30 this past October, and I am quite pleased with and immensely grateful for the breadth of professional experiences and opportunities I have had.

And yet, it was admittedly fatiguing to balance two demanding, events-heavy jobs, even though my bosses and colleagues at both fully recognized my obligation to devote half of each week's working hours to the other. So for several years I have been looking, with varying degrees of earnestness, to find a full-time role that would match by skills, experiences, and interests. It was a bit of a moving target.

At first, once I felt that I was not destined to be an active music educator, I found interest in the arts management profession, awakened no doubt by my work as the fledgling Artist Series production manager. So I followed arts management blogs and their respective job boards and have had probably dozens of at least first-round interviews with orchestras and presenting organizations around the country. Even had a few second interviews from time to time. Most of the roles I sought were in either the production or education departments of those organizations, thinking I was drawing on my experience as a producer and educator.

But then I had an interesting conversation with my then-executive pastor, Gerald, who was my immediate supervisor at church for almost four years until he moved to the senior pastorate this past summer. He affirmed my skills, and more to the point, giftedness, in financial administration and non profit management. And from that observation (which of course I recognized as true, I simply had never focused on that as a possible lead strength of mine), the thought occurred that perhaps I should look at serving in a finance management role with an arts organization.

And so that has been my main search in the last six months or so. Within a week of that conversation with Gerald I came across a very compelling opportunity to be the finance and administration director for a professional symphony orchestra, and was gratified to get all the way to the second round of interviews before receiving a rejection notice. But I kept at it. Late this fall I found myself interviewing simultaneously for two roles of that same type, one with a summer music festival and one with a Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble in Miami. I made it to the second round with both. But one made an offer first.

I have to pause here and speak again of Wheaton College, but in particular of my undergraduate education there. The professional music degree programs there are informed by the liberal arts context. As I have seen with stark clarity as I have accepted this new job, that liberal arts education ensured that I learned how to learn, and how to transfer my skills to different contexts, and have the potential to succeed in a wide variety of applied disciplines. My curriculum at Wheaton consisted of precisely nothing about the complex field of labor law, for example. And yet here I am as the human resources manager for a staff of 20+ at my church. Not a single lesson in four years about how to interpret a technical rider. And yet I have presented acts that came with technical riders running dozens of pages at Wheaton. And so forth. What I learned is how to learn those things that my eventual job(s) would require me to know.

And that, I think, is how I found my way, and flourished, in my two current jobs to the point where I am qualified to assume this new job, and of course to successfully apply myself to the new particulars of the new role. The view from this proverbial vantage point is as clear as it ever has been, and I see clearly all the pieces along the way I needed to be at this point to have this next step be available to me.

Of course, as I am a follower of Christ, I credit the placement of those pieces, and the fact that I took all the necessary steps along the way, to his grace and provision. The first few days after receiving the job offer were actually somewhat anxious, as the self-conscious part of me wondered whether I really had the skills I needed to succeed at my new job. But as I began onboarding and reviewing documents and files and conversing with my new boss, Rhett, I found everything was clicking. God has been calming my anxious heart, showing me that I have exactly what I need in the way of intellectual aptitude and the right hard-fought experiential knowledge, to succeed in this new assignment.