Latest Tracks
These recent tracks are a mix of immersive Scripture readings, spoken word reflections and other experiments in listening created by and for our community of faith. Thanks for lending your ear.
This Week’s Audio
This week we share an office recording from John Jay to preview a less known Christmas lullaby ahead of the Candlelight Carol Service.
A Prayer for All That Breaks Our Hearts
In light of the ongoing tragedy and injustice we are witnessing and holding in our hearts, we also created a meditative prayer track based on the prayer that Grace shared on October 29th in worship. The piece is layered with banjo and other samples from the liturgy, and ends with the choir song, “Give Me Jesus.” For days when prayer feels hard and our cries feel unheard, we hope this track helps you to engage with the Spirit and your church community in a way that will ground you in the love and heart of Christ.
Below is a set of selected recordings from our community to serve as encouragements and reminders.👇
A Theology of Sound
So much of our culture privileges sight as the primary way to understand the world, and to express the self. Yet in the Bible there is a great caution placed upon the visual, with ancient awareness of the ways that the visual can turn into idolatry. Hence God’s prohibition against human attempts to “capture” the divine in images and statues. Christianity speaks of Jesus as the WORD of God. In Judaism we inherit a preference for the way God is heard in the world. The central confession of Israel found in the Torah is known as the Shema, which translates as “Listen up!”
In our community we have nurtured the soundscape that surrounds and envelopes us. When we join together for worship in our visually stunning sanctuary, the sounds of our community (singing, praying, reading, giving thanks) are the gifts with which we fill the space. Below you will encounter a few of those sounds, reset for this medium. Most of these are recorded from our Sunday gatherings, and the musical score is also incorporated from the same Sunday service. The music and words form a new conversation with time, and invite the listener to consider how the hum of the universe might echo something of the divine voice. God is always speaking. We just have to learn to listen a little closer.