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March 2023

March 08, 2023

The Truth about Creativity

Creativity today is usually associated with "thinking outside the box," inventing new ideas by throwing...

February 2023

February 22, 2023

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

Contrary to what we have been told, "Ring around the Rosie" is NOT about dying...

February 15, 2023

“A Perfect Hymn”

Church musician Jonathan Aigner calls "Of the Father's Love Begotten" a "perfect hymn." What does...

December 2022

December 22, 2022

My Christmas Presents to You

A Christmas custom at this blog is for me to give you, my esteemed readers,...

October 2022

October 24, 2022

5 Tips To Keep In Mind When Visiting A Lutheran Church

When I first attended a Lutheran service, like many other visitors, I was impressed but...

July 2022

July 29, 2022

“Gotta Serve Somebody”

Thaddeus Williams tells of discovering Nietzsche and his ideal of personal autonomy as a teenager....

June 2022

June 23, 2022

What the Gay Hymns Tell Us

A collection of hymns for LGBTQ worshippers shows their spiritual yearnings. But it also shows...

May 2022

May 27, 2022

Talking Music

Here is a haunting song from Simon Khorolskiy. What other new music would you recommend...

December 2021

December 25, 2021

Merry Christ Mass!

Christmas greetings from the Cranach blog!

August 2021

August 11, 2021

The Advantage of Using Hymnals

Worshipping with a hymnal has many advantages over projecting praise songs over a screen. And...

December 2020

December 24, 2020

Eerie Christmas Songs

Christmas is mysterious. The notion that the transcendent God of the universe has been born...

November 2020

November 27, 2020

Why It’s Hard to Worship with Pop Music Styles

Pop music is specifically designed for solo artists, which means that it does not lend...

October 2020

October 29, 2020

Blind Willie Johnson on Our Pandemic

Chris Gehrz writes about the 1920s bluesman Blind Willie Johnson, whose sang about the Spanish...

September 2020

September 30, 2020

Rolling over Beethoven

Beethoven is being canceled, not for being racist or sexist but because classical music is...

July 2020

July 29, 2020

Morality and Music

People used to sing at work, at play, and in their families. Music was not...

May 2020

May 12, 2020

Singing Is Unlikely to Spread COVID-19

Does singing in church risk spreading the coronavirus by projecting respiratory particles in the air?...

May 07, 2020

Church Decline Isn’t Reversed by Contemporary Music & Worship Styles

According to the new American Enterprise study of American religion, the decline in church membership and...

May 04, 2020

The Vocation of Weird Al Yankovic

Highlighting two profiles of Weird Al Yankovic, known for his parodies of iconic pop songs...

April 2020

April 23, 2020

Bob Dylan’s Two New Songs

Bob Dylan has released two new songs--his first in 8 years--giving them free to the...

March 2020

March 03, 2020

Listen to Music as It Sounded in the Hagia Sophia 500 Years Ago

Science and the arts have worked together to recreate what music would have sounded like...

February 2020

February 03, 2020

The Rapper Flame Becomes a Lutheran

Christian hip-hop artist Flame (Marcus Gray) has announced that he has become a Lutheran and...

December 2019

December 27, 2019

Christianity in 2019

My list of religious developments, focusing on Christianity, that took place in 2019 and that...

December 26, 2019

Looking Forward, Looking Back

The Julius Caesar's calendar began the year with January, named after Janus, the god of...

April 2019

April 15, 2019

Our Presence in the Events of Holy Week

The events commemorated in Holy Week, which began yesterday, are not just ancient history. We...

April 01, 2019

“In My Hour of Darkness”

I heard Gram Parsons' song "In My Hour of Darkness" on the radio the other day...

January 2019

January 09, 2019

How Bach Expressed His Faith Via Instrumental Music

Bach wrote liturgical music and choir cantatas built around hymns and Biblical texts. But he...

January 04, 2019

“And the Son now is one with our blood forever”

The song we've been learning over the Christmas season by singing it every service is...

December 2018

December 25, 2018

“Love Caused Your Incarnation”

We hear Christmas songs during Advent, so here is an Advent Song for Christmas: O Lord,...

October 2018

October 25, 2018

The Non-Angry Bob Dylan

Last week I was in Houston. While my wife was on an accreditation visit for...

July 2018

July 11, 2018

The Problem with Offering Multiple Worship Styles

Does your church offer multiple worship services, each with a different style? One traditional, one...