Category: Life

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Art Beauty Faith Life Music

Hiraeth: A Lenten Mixtape (2017 Edition)

Songs for waiting.

“Hiraeth is a Welsh word for which there is no direct English translation. The word evokes a sense of homesickness tinged with grief or sadness over the lost or departed; a mix of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness, and an earnest desire for a place that is hereafter beyond one’s reach across the echoes of time.”

Hiraeth: A Lenten Mixtape (2017 edition)

01. Ólafur Arnalds – Þú ert sólin
02. Lowercase Noises – I Need Thee
03. Bifrost Arts – Psalm 126 (feat. Molly Parden)
04. Sufjan Stevens – Ah Holy Jesus
05. Young Oceans – Come to Us O Lord
06. Hammock – Hiraeth
07. Sandra McCracken – Have Mercy
08. A Rocha Arts – Tree of Life (feat. Andy Gullahorn)

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Art Beauty Faith Life

Come.

"And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.'" – Luke 2:10 (ESV)
 

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 ev’ry nation, joy of ev’ry longing heart.

Joy to those who long to see thee, Dayspring from on high, appear; come, thou promised Rod of Jesse, of thy birth we long to hear! O’er the hills the angels singing news, glad tidings of a birth; “Go to him, your praises bringing; Christ the Lord has come to earth.”

Come to earth to taste our sadness, he whose glories knew no end; by his life he brings us gladness, our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend. Leaving riches without number, born within a cattle stall; this the everlasting wonder, Christ was born the Lord of all.

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.

[audio:https://kenotic.net/wordpress/audio/RMC-ComeThouLongExpectedJesus.mp3]
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Life

1,095 days feel like a breath.

But I had hardly seen a thing
Until I gave that golden ring
To the one who gave her heart to me

And I became a world traveler
That’s the day I hit the road
I walked the hills of the human soul
Of a tender girl

I’m a world traveler
She opened the gate and took my hand
Led me into the mystic land
Where her galaxies swirl

So many mysteries I never will unravel
I want to travel the world.

– Andrew Peterson, “World Traveler”

Happy Anniversary, Mika.  I love you.

[audio:https://kenotic.net/wordpress/audio/WorldTraveler.mp3]
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Art Life Reading

Georg Trakl – Music in the Mirabell

Picked up a beautiful book of poems by Georg Trakl today. Highly recommended.

Music in the Mirabell

A fountain sings. Clouds, white and tender,
Are set in the clear blueness
Engrossed, silent people walk
At evening through the ancient garden.

Ancestral marble has grown grey.
A flight of birds seeks far horizons.
A faun with lifeless pupils peers
At shadows gliding into darkness.

The leaves fall red from the old tree
And circle in through open windows.
A fiery gleam ignites indoors
And conjures up wan ghosts of fear.

A white stranger steps into the house.
A dog runs wild through ruined passages.
The maid extinguishes a lamp,
At night are heard sonata sounds.

– Georg Trakl

Categories
Art Life

Wild Geese

A beautiful poem by Mary Oliver.

 

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.