As an organist, the spring equinox inevitably brings up J.S. Bach, who was born on March 21, 1685. To celebrate, I took to the console and binged on Bach's organ works for about an hour last Thursday. Afterwards, I thought, what is it that makes this music so wonderful, grand, and powerful? One can always point to his masterful contrapuntal writing (considered never surpassed by music scholars), but to me it's much more. It's the intent. Two quotes from Bach sum it up well: 

“I have always kept one end in view, namely ... to conduct a well-regulated church music to the honor of God.” 

and

“The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”

The Doctrine of the Affects was a popular theory of aesthetics in music during Bach's life. Based on ancient  principles of rhetoric and oratory, the composer sought to embody concepts such as joy, sadness, or sorrow into their music through the outward constructs of notes and rhythm. Bach's intent of channeling the divine through his music then was given a viable path to our ears. For myself, playing Bach is always an experience where new ideas for interpretation happen each time I revisit a work of his. And I look forward to those opportunities in the new works I undertake. It is because he has given us all so much to decipher in the notes and rhythms themselves, waiting to be discovered and released. 

But now on to you, the listener. While music is no doubt subjective, there is a remarkable amount of consistency in our reactions to most music. This Lent I have offered music that is slightly more introspective during this penitential season. Perhaps no one has consciously noticed, but it is true. The big reed stops during the postlude have taken a leave of absence and the choir anthems include more serene and sublime selections, such as the Maurice Duruflé Kyrie on Lent I. All of these approaches signify a new affect in Lent, one that will be soon replaced with the joy and ecstasy of Easter. 

Music is a potent and reliable partner in our journey through the liturgical year. Bach and generations of church musicians after have understood this but it is nothing if it is not shared with those who wish to listen. Soli Deo Gloria.

​Mark Heiskanen
Director of Music/Organist 

If you were at Plymouth last weekend, you saw some different-looking things in our sanctuary: a root-structure art installation along the rear wall and tree roots emerging from the base of the cross above the chancel. These and other pieces were produced by your fellow Plymouth members (even me!) during the Lenten arts retreat led by our visiting theologian/artist, the Rev. Linda Privatera. (Kudos to my colleague, Jane Anne, for orchestrating the whole weekend!)

All of this art was a theological reflection on our 2019 congregational theme: Go Deeper. All of us are rooted in the soil of Christian spirituality, but to get down into the richest nutrients and the aquifers of the Spirit, we need to go deeper in our faith. And Lent is a great time to do that!

Many of us in the Protestant traditions of the Christian household are less familiar with spiritual practices beyond daily Bible reading that will help us to go deeper in our sense of God’s presence in our lives. What’s more, we often don’t know where to turn. And even though I often hear from our members that they want deeper spiritual lives, we are seldom overrun by crowds when we offer spirituality workshops and retreats.

Want to try it out on your own? That’s certainly a place to start during Lent. One entry point is the UCC Lenten Devotional that our deacons are offering to you each Sunday…it’s available between services with a suggested donation of $5…but if you don’t have the five bucks, don’t sweat it!

Sometimes, I wonder if, as Anthony de Mello suggests, “People would rather have a definition than an experience.” However, definitions won’t help us go deeper in our faith. Another resource for you to read (and most people at Plymouth love to read!) is from UCC author and clergywoman Jane Vennard, who formerly taught at the Iliff School of Theology (and she was my spiritual director, too!). Fully Awake and Truly Alive: Spiritual Practices to Nurture Your Soul is a fantastic volume that will help you explore spiritual practices that will allow you to go deeper. Maybe you want to dip your toe into Centering Prayer at Plymouth (Mondays, noon – 1:30 or Tuesdays, 5:30 – 6:30)…it’s a great way to enter the quiet center! Or drop by our outdoor Labyrinth and walk anytime it’s not covered with snow!

Whatever your spiritual practice this Lent, I hope that it deepens your relationship with the Holy One, who is there to meet you, befriend you, and guide you.

Lenten blessings!

Dear Plymouth,

I did not grow up with the tradition of Lent. I came to it when I moved into the United Church of Christ in the 1980s. Since then I have learned layers of meaning for the season and traditions of Lent. 
 
Lent – derived from the Old English word meaning “spring season” and the Old German word meaning “lengthening of days.

Lent – a penitential season of 40 days in the Christian liturgical calendar; in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th century church, a time of final examination and catechesis for those wishing to join the faith at the Easter Vigil.

Lent – a time of fasting, study and penitence; also a season to explore new avenues of prayer.

Lent – a faith journey from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday; a time to travel wilderness paths of spiritual reflection; a time to go deeper putting our faith roots down into the soil of God’s love.
 
Lent – a time ....

To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear;
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion. ...
From “Eagle Poem” by Joy Harjo

The proverbial Lenten journey is what we make of it each year. It can be a time to add a spiritual discipline to your life in a search for spiritual renewal. It can be a time to abstain from an activity in order to have more time for just Being. It can be a preparation time for the new life of spring, a time to plant seeds literally and metaphorically. A time to till the earth, spread compost and start the garden as a spiritual action. It’s a time for listening in new ways to our souls, to God’s wisdom that lives within us as well as in scripture and tradition. 
 
I invite you to plunge into Lent this year through Plymouth’s worship services, through spiritual growth classes and retreats, through deepening relationships in Christian fellowship. Check out:

• the upcoming Intergenerational Art Retreat, Going Deeper: Putting Down Soul Roots, Friday and Saturday, March 8-9
• the Rev. Dr. Mark Lee’s Tuesday evening class, Experimental Theology, March 19-April 23, 
• our ongoing Sunday morning Christian Formation classes for all ages at 10 a.m.
• our youth group activities for middle school and high school students
• the Congregational Life Bingo Night, Friday, 3/15. 

Find more info on all these activities in Plymouth’s Thursday “Overview” email. 
 
Above all this Lent find a way to call your spirit back from aimless wandering. Call your spirit to an intentional journey following Jesus the pioneer and model of our faith in God.

... Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control.
Open the door, then close it behind you.
Take a breath offered by friendly winds. ... Give it back with gratitude. ... 
Call your spirit back. It may be caught in corners and creases of shame, judgment, and human abuse.
You must call in a way that your spirit will want to return.
Speak to it as you would to a beloved child.
Welcome your spirit back from its wandering. ...
From “Calling Your Spirit Back From Wandering the Earth in Human Feet” by Joy Harjo

With you all on the journey,
Jane Anne

...unless you really want to, of course. But it's not the only option for Lent.

​The opportunities below can help you GO DEEPER in your spirituality this Lent (with or without chocolate):

• Take Nothing With You, the UCC Lenten Devotional for 2019 (copies available for purchase on Sundays)
• Ash Wednesday, March 6 - 6:15 p.m. soup supper and 7 p.m. service (childcare provided for service)
• Lenten Art Weekend Retreat, March 8 and 9, with the Rev. Linda Privatera (click to learn more and to register)
• Lent Photo-a-Day Challenge from Rethink Church
• Bread for the World online devotional (click the link)

Find the event or practice that allows you to make Lent a time to deepen and connect with God and community. And, of course, see you at Sunday worship, March 10 through Easter Sunday, April 21.

Dear Plymouth,
 
Spring and Lent are coming! Even though as I write this to you it is snowy and 21 degrees according to the thermometer on our deck! Still deep under the frozen ground, the roots of our trees and perennials are growing and the seeds we scattered in the fall are germinating. There is life deep down! 
 
Life is always stirring deep in our souls as well, no matter the outer state of our lives. This Lenten season (which begins Ash Wednesday, March 6, with our annual 6:15 p.m. soup supper and Ash Wednesday service at 7:00 p.m.) we are “Going Deeper.” As a faith community, I invite you to join with me and with one another as we put the roots of our faith deeper within the soil of God’s love in all our worship, formation, outreach and fellowship activities. 
 
To further your Lenten journey, please join your Plymouth family in a time of reflection, creativity and fellowship at our first Plymouth intergenerational art and spiritual retreat, Going Deeper: Putting Down Soul Roots, March 8-10.  We will explore and follow the life of trees through art projects for ALL ages and ALL art experience levels, reflection on poetry and scripture, prayer, fun and fellowship. Friday evening, 3/8, from 6:30-8:30 and Saturday, 3/9, 9:30-11:45 and 1:00-3:00, led by our artist/theologian-in-residence, the Rev. Dr. Linda Privitera.
 
Do you know what trees and people have in common? The “giveaway” answer is that both function much better in community. The recent NY Times best-seller, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, tells us that isolated or solitary trees do not live as long as those in a forest. Sustenance comes from a network now being studied by researchers about how trees communicate, warn of danger, feed, sustain and nurture even the weaker members of the forest. 
 
With this background knowledge from the science of creation, our retreat time with Linda will function on the assumption that making art is an intuitive and concrete way of knowing. Engaging in a variety of art experiences around the theme of trees, all designed for fun, we will also engage reflective processes to help us listen to the journey of the soul, deepening our understanding of how God’s Spirit is working within us individually and communally. 
 
Our artistic and spiritual retreat journey this weekend will be grounded in Jesus’ time in the “wilderness,” which is the traditional gospel lesson for the beginning of Lent. Expanding on the traditional view of wilderness time as a time of trial, we will journey with Jesus in a soul-enriching time, thinking about what he might have gained from his time in nature. It is no surprise to us here in Colorado and particularly in our community, rich in environmental scientists, that God’s creation has so much to teach us about what really matters in this world. 
 
Our artistic and spiritual work will culminate with an Lenten art installation of trees, roots, and connections created by YOU under Linda’s leadership and direction. The plan is that together, adults, youth and children, will create a network of roots connecting our individual art pieces of trees and roots, and linking it all to the base of the cross in the sanctuary which will “grow” a large system of roots joining everything together. Come and see what you can create with zip ties, twisty wires, braided heavy twine and raffia! How will hot glue guns, stencils highlighting the work of Gustav Klimt, rocks, and your own creativity shape a forest of spiritual connections that deepen the roots of our faith community? Come and find out!
 
Sign up now by clicking this link.........or registering at the “Going Deeper” Art Weekend table in Fellowship Hall, February 23 and March 3 before and after worship times. 

College students, youth, and kids are free! (But please register so we know you’re coming.) Adults, $35.00 and Families with two adults, $60.00. Don’t let finances get in the way...assistance is available...just talk to me or send me an email.
 
Blessings on our journey together deeper into God’s love,
Jane Anne