When you can’t sing in Portuguese

I go to three churches. It’s not because I think I’m holier than other people and I need three spaces to contain my glory. In fact, sometimes I worry that I help out at all three churches because I’m so unholy that I need to do things to salve my conscience. I [...]

Heritage and Accessibility

Over the past few weeks I have been swamped with schoolwork. I spent my spring break studying, taking exams and reading books. (Of course, since I live in Florida I was doing all of that by the pool but it was tedious nonetheless.) One of the books that I had the pleasure [...]

Bach Cantata BWV 54 – Stand Steadfast Against Temptation

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his cantata BWV 54 – “Stand Steadfast Against Temptation” for the third Sunday in Lent, 1715.
For more information on the cantata, go to bach-cantats.com.
To listen to the cantata in its entirety, go to http://www.irih.de/ihcounter/seine_musik.htm.
The text of the cantata is by Georg Christian Lehms.
1. Aria (A)
Stand steadfast against transgression,
Or its poison thee [...]

Ash Wednesday 2006

“For Lent, I’m giving up sex, drugs and drinking,” remarked one of my suitemates with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. I was in my second semester at the University of Houston and living on the first floor of Taub Hall.
“Gosh, that’s rude,” I thought to myself. (And I probably used really [...]