The Fifth Sunday of Easter

The Prophet Amos
Gustave Dore / 1865

From Psalm 33.

Response:

Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.

Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.

Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.

Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

This Weekend: April 18, 2008

Modern till Midnight -- Well, this was last night. But this spring and summer the Modern Art Museum has evening activities, including docent led tours, music, food and drinks. And some of them like the occasional Modern til Midnight are out-of -doors. The Moderns calendar:
http://www.mamfw.org/calendar.html
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New Eagle Mountain Lake Park

From the Star Telegram:

"The pristine parkland -- purchased from the state for $9.6 million with donations from the Tarrant Regional Water District, Tarrant County, foundations, corporations and citizens -- features hiking trails and scenic overlooks. Visitors are encouraged to study the park's natural beauty, but leave their motorbikes, dogs and horses at home."
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Central Market's, Thrill of the Grill
Do some grill meat, taste-testing this weekend at the Central Market on Hulen. April 18 - 20.
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Dallas Farmer's Market
Okay, it's Dallas, but it is a real live Farmer's Market. As summer approaches the fruits and vegetables get better. The flowers are out and it looks good.
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Main Street Arts Festival (ouch)
I started this post to remind everyone of the Arts Festival, then last night got in a hurry to get the wife on an airplane and forgot to mention it. Thanks to Jason, (see comments) I was reminded to include one our best annual events. Don't miss it and pray for a (no) hail of a good time. (Sorry, Andrew).

Maybe it's True . . .

It seems beauty really can save the world, or at least a part of it.

60 Minutes reported on a man in Venezuela who has been teaching poor and at-risk city youth, boys and girls, how to read music, play instruments and perform in a symphony. And not just any music, they are learning classical composers like Beethoven and Bach. The program is called El Sistema, started in 1975 by José Antonio Abreu, and now consisting of 300,000 children, the best of whom perform internationally under the direction of conductor Gustavo Dudamel, himself a former student of Senor Abreu and El Sistema.

The phrase, "Beauty will save the world," taken from a Dostoevsky novel, has been quoted and interpreted by hundreds of writers including Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who said this,

. . . there is a special quality in the essence of beauty, a special quality in the status of art: the conviction carried by a genuine work of art is absolutely indisputable and tames even the strongly opposed heart. One can construct a political speech, an assertive journalistic polemic, a program for organizing society, a philosophical system, so that in appearance it is smooth, well structured, and yet it is built upon a mistake, a lie . . . and one has faith in them—yet one has no faith.

These at-risk youth were never persuaded as to what constitutes a good life, they fell in love with something good, which is what beauty is, and now it seems a couple hundred thousand kids are doing something well and loving it. And in a way experiencing a good, or at least a better, way of life.

The report is worth seeing, especially the little 14 year old girl who plays the trumpet, or the blind boy that plays the violin at the end. If that doesn't get you, you're not breathing. It's all pretty good stuff.

The 60 Minutes report:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/11/60minutes/main4009335.shtml

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Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
John Keats / Ode to a Grecian Urn

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