Tag: Christ

Good Friday

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Today is Good Friday, a day to remember the Sacrifice Christ Made on the Cross so that we might be saved.  The fun part of the celebration is Easter, when Christ Arose from the tomb, proclaiming victory over Death.  Today, we Christians reflect on the magnitude of His Sacrifice.

I’ll be spending this evening with Dr. Girlfriend, and we’ll be enjoying the Easter weekend together.  We are both looking forward to a relaxing and prayerful weekend after some very busy months.

Thank God that He Sent His Son to Die for our sins.  We don’t deserve it; Christ Did not deserve it.  That makes it all the more powerful.

Praise the Lord!

—TPP

TBT^4: Go to Church

The Portly Politico1 Comment

At present, it feels like the United States is experiencing a major Christian religious revival just below the surface.  It seems like being a professing Christian has become—dare I say it?—cool.  The desire for genuine connection with Christ and a body of likeminded believers ripples throughout the nation, potentially bucking the long, depressing trend of declining faith.

While Boomers seemed to embrace the excuse to stay home from The Age of The Virus—they left churches and never returned—at least some young people are realizing the benefits of church attendance.  It feels like something is changing, that the Holy Spirit Is Moving in mighty ways.

Let’s hope that feeling is correct!  Regardless, in good times and bad (especially bad), we should be going to church, engaging in the our Christian walk with fellow believers.  The Easter season is the perfect time to get back into the habit.

With that, here is 25 April 2024’s “TBT^2: Go to Church“:

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Open Mic Adventures CXV: “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains”

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The Sunday before the Inauguration I cheekily proposed to my pastor and our deacon that we should sing “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains” for our morning congregational hymn in honor of Trump’s then-upcoming Inauguration.  I had practiced the piece a bit Saturday evening, but with a pretty gnarly bout of sinus drainage, I found the high notes hard to hit.

Instead of singing the piece—a very old missionary tune by composer Lowell Mason, with words by Reginald Heber—either on my own or in church, I played it a few times as a bit of instrumental prelude music.

The melody for the piece is interesting, with a few suspensions and some unusual timing, like the long half-note pickup at the beginning and midway through the piece.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: 2024 in Review

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Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

2024 was one helluva year.  In some ways, it felt like three years in one, at least for me.

The first half of the year was a joyless grind.  The next quarter was a blend of summertime boredom and renewed purpose as the school year dawned.  The final quarter has been incredibly exciting and uplifting.

What a difference a few months make!  October and especially November felt like major turning points for the world, the United States, and even yours portly individually.

I’ve been thanking God for His many Blessings.  I though it would be appropriate, then, to glance back at the year that is nearly expired, and to celebrate what He Has Done.

To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

Monday Morning Movie Review: Ponty Praises: The Christmas Candle (2013)

The Portly Politico46 Comments

Good old Ponty is always bailing me out when I need it most.  Actually, I now have ample time to loaf about and enjoy the fun of Christmas Break, but that’s precisely the time I don’t want to be dreaming up films to review.

Cue Pontifex Maximus with a chestnut roasting over an open fire.  That chestnut is a faith-based film based on a story by Max Lucado that is, apparently, good.  Finally, Christians are making some good art!

It sounds like a lovely film, and a good antidote to the endless array of cookie-cutter Hallmark films out there.

With that, here is Ponty’s review of 2013’s The Christmas Candle:

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TBT^256: O Little Town of Bethlehem and the Pressures of Songwriting

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Pickup my newest release: Leftovers III!  Use promo code ziggurat to take an additional 20% off all purchases on Bandcamp!  Code expires at 11:59 PM UTC on Tuesday, 31 December 2024.

My students’ Christmas concert is coming on Friday, 13 December 2024, and we’re playing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” this year a la Frank Sinatra.  We’re starting in what I call the “Christmas-Eve-candlelight-service-at-your-grandmother’s-unheated-church” style, then shifting to a groovy swing.

I was thinking about the harrowing, last-minute nature of this song’s genesis while wrapping up Leftovers III, which I was getting done at the wire.  Somehow, October got so busy that I let a lot of my composing fall by the wayside, but I managed to wrap up the album in time to release it on Black Friday.

The next week will be similarly busy.  Tomorrow night is the school Christmas play, for which yours portly will be running sound.  Saturday I’ll be playing Christmas music for a local festival.  Sunday I’m rehearsing with my church for our Christmas cantata on the 22nd.  Monday is Council Meeting—and on and on and on.

Let’s all take a moment to remember the subject of this beautiful carol, and to reflect on the wonder of Christ’s Birth.

With that, here is “TBT^16: O Little Town of Bethlehem and the Pressures of Songwriting“:

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Nefarious (2023)

The Portly Politico20 Comments

It is rare for a modern film to catch and hold my rapt attention for 97 minutes, especially when I’m driving.  But amid my various Thanksgiving travels, I “watched” the 2023 film Nefarious.  Thank goodness it’s mostly dialogue, or I would have had a very difficult time of it.

The film is an adaptation of the Steve Deace novel A Nefarious Plot (Amazon Affiliate link; I get a portion of any sales made through that link, at no additional cost to you).  Steve Deace is a conservative writer and commentator, and Glenn Beck makes an appearance in the film, so that gives you a sense for the general messaging of the movie.

That said, while Nefarious is a Christian horror movie—which, I would argue, most horror involving the demonic is fundamentally Christian in some way—it is genuinely entertaining, and does not feel like heavy-handed propaganda.  Instead, it is an incredibly effective portrayal of the sheer wickedness of demons, and how Satan delights in our sin.

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Phone it in Friday LXXIII: YouTube Roundup XXIX: “CRAMPED!”; A Little Praise Report

The Portly Politico8 Comments

Yours portly is still playing catch-up this Friday, so I’m really phoning it in.  I’m actually writing this hasty post mere minutes before my usual 6:30 AM EST posting deadline, so I’ll doubtless be a tad late with this post.

There isn’t one particular reason why I’ve fallen behind a bit on posting (and several other things!).  Life is good and my schedule at work is very manageable.  It’s mostly a situation of having several things to get done at once, combined with some long days of lessons and errands.

But I am very blessed.  Wednesday evening I was out running some errands—I needed to pick up ingredients for a taco dip I bring to parties, as the teachers had a “Friendsgiving” potluck meal yesterday—and my car battery died in the Taco Bell parking lot (that wasn’t for Friendsgiving; that was for me).

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