Spinning something great from a small kernel of truth...

Play and read:

The video above is perhaps one of the most sublime moments in Bach's Passion According to St. John, followed by one of the most dramatic moments from the work. Let's take the beginning of the "scene" which comes after the drama of the arrest, crucifixion and death of Jesus. Listen to the very simple cello line accompanied by continuo (organ). Believe it or not, this entire 4 1/2 minute aria is spun from the first 15 seconds of music you hear. Bach uses a simple orchestration underneath the gentle, lilting voice of the "Soul", the bass soloist. The Soul is having a conversation with Jesus.

Mein teurer Heiland, laß dich fragen,

My beloved Savior, let me ask you,

da du nunmehr ans Kreuz geschlagen und selbst gesagt: Es ist vollbracht,

since you have now been nailed to the cross and said yourself: It is accomplished,

The choir gently comments with a familiar text and tune in Bach's time:

Jesu, der du warest tot, 

Jesus, you were dead,

lebest nun ohn Ende, 

you live now for ever,

The Soul inquires about what has taken place and the meaning of it all. The music turns darker with the first query:

bin ich vom Sterben frei gemacht? 

am I from death made free? 

Kann ich durch deine Pein und Sterben das Himmelreich ererben? 

Can I through your pain and death inherit the kingdom of heaven?

The choir responds with:

in der letzten Todesnot 

in the final agony of death

nirgend mich hinwende 

nowhere else I turn

In these days of medical miracles and medicines, it's easy for us to overlook how painful death was for most people at the time this was written in the 18th century. Every day life was hard enough for commoners, and even the simplest malady, like an infected tooth or a simple cold, could turn into a life-threatening catastrophe that could not be soothed with morphine or other chemical assistance. Families were forced to sit in horror while loved ones died horrible, painful deaths. Both the fear and welcome of death was tangible, which makes the many texts we read about "sweet death" and looking forward to the "freedom" of death more understandable. People often relied on their faith to give them assurance that once their earthly journey had ended, another would begin free of pain and fear.

The music takes a turn to brighter tones when the Soul then asks the larger question, giving particular emphasis on the word, "Erlösung" (redeemed):

Ist aller Welt Erlösung da? 

Is all the world redeemed?

And the choir responds:

als zu dir, der mich versühnt, 

but to you , who have redeemed me,

O du lieber Herre! 

O my dear Lord,

The conversation ends as the soul answers his own question. Notice how Bach gives particular emphasis to the word "Schmerzen" (pain):

Du kannst vor Schmerzen zwar nichts sagen; 

You cannot speak for pain;

doch neigest du das Haupt und sprichst stillschweigend: ja 

but you bow your head and silently say : yes!

The choir affirms the Soul's thoughts with:

Gib mir nur, was du verdient, 

give me only what you have won,

mehr ich nicht begehre! 

more I could not want!

What strikes me about this particular recording is the bass, Stephen McLeod. He strikes the perfect tone of humility and innocence in his interpretation, which, ironically, takes an enormous amount of maturity in a musician.  The aria is a very difficult one to sing, but he sings it with incredible simplicity.  I encourage you to check out some of his other work - a fantastic artist.

The final part of the recording includes the dramatic telling of the rending of the temple curtain in two, the earthquake, and the opening of graves after the death of Christ. Definitely take the time to watch the video as the musicians play. Bach gives us drama in the words and in the physical music making. 

This drama accompanies the next thoughts well. I encountered the following a few places on the Internet this week:

First, I laughed.  Then I thought, well, I bet this makes some people pretty angry - but why?  In the context in which I read this, it was not a joke - whoever wrote it was serious.  How sad it is that there are a large number of people who can characterize their encounter with Christianity as spoken above.  I would imagine the dramatic scene of the earthquake and bodies rising from the grave as told in the Gospel of John is just proof of how unstable we crazy Christians really are.  Bodies rising from the grave???  Give me a break - bring on the zombies!  Well, okay.  I suppose that may be a little hard to swallow.  But hey, why not believe in the existence of a little supernatural power?  There are plenty of people out there who believe that there are healing powers in crystals, or that positive thinking can actually change the chemical makeup of our bodies enough so that we could heal ourselves.  Why can't we then believe that there is a Power that created ALL these things that is capable of doing anything, even raising the dead?  

This weekend I was in on a conversation with a couple of people who admitted to leaving the institutional church (Catholic and Protestant).  They had either gone to church as children and fallen away as adults, or had never been exposed to a faith community of any kind and were now searching for ritual and mysticism in their lives.  Guess what?  They weren't finding it in the institutional church.  

Here's the happy truth - many of the things "seekers" are looking for - ritual, mystery and a place to explore the greater questions of life - can all be found within the Christian faith.  The sad, sad truth is that many Christians don't know enough about their faith to help people "seekers" find what they are looking for.  We beat them over the head with dogma, shove them into a box with literalism, belittle them with legalism, or confuse the hell out of them with new age theology that is explained with big words and fuzzy ideas that are impossible to understand.  No wonder they "seek" somewhere else.  This isn't true everywhere, of course.  There are churches and communities out there who manage to bridge the gap of traditionalism, mysticism, and relevance (a word I hate in regards to the church, but it seems to resonate with many people) and attract those who are seekers AND those who found what they are looking for years ago.  But I don't think these places are the majority.

In my understanding of the Christians faith, the core of the faith is love personified in the teachings and sacrifice of Jesus.   Why can't we just take that simple idea - love - and create an incredible bond of community and purpose?   There's certainly nothing wrong with traditional dogma or new ideas (hey - I love a good creed to chew on) but sometimes we get so lost in our ruminating and codifying and conceptualizing that we forget the kernel of truth from which all our ideas are spun.  And when we can't even agree on what that kernel of truth is, well then, we have an even greater problem.

Enter stage left: The Modern Church.