The Beginning of Advent: Musical Preferences

Posted by Ben

This morning while working on a sermon from Luke 1:5-25, I listened for the first time this season to a favorite CD. A Midwinter Eve by Nathan Clark George and Mark Stoffel is a wonderfully relaxing and meditative selection of familiar and not-so-familiar Advent songs.  George plays an acoustic guitar, and occasionally Stoffel joins him on the mandolin.  It was cold outside, but not snowy as in the picture.  The music was a calming delight.  I can smell the coffee right now and so I may listen again at this late hour as I return to my labors for tomorrow's message.

Nathan Clark George is a talented musician and a dedicated Christian, husband, and father.  He is also the grandson of one of the 20th century's great Christian thinkers:  Gordon Clark.  A teacher of philosophy, Gordon Clark paved the foundations for Christian scholarship for many Christians.  He wrote books on philosophy, historiography, science, and theology.  He had as students, such men as Carl F. H. Henry and Ronald Nash.  He has influenced such folks as Ruth Bell Graham, John Frame, R. J. Rushdoony, R. C. Sproul, Henry Wood, and me.  God's covenantal faithfulness to the Clark family is a testimony to what God can and does do with all faithful believers.

Below is George's most recent CD.  I am chomping at the bit to get the chance to order it.

Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men.

By Nick.
While at Goodwill the other day, I picked up a few CDs. Goodwill is sort of a musical grab bag. There are good finds there, but you have to wait for them to come in. It's sort of like hunting, only you don't have to sit in a deerstand for hours in the cold.

How Strange, Innocence by Explosions in the Sky. The first album by the instrumental rock group. I keep wanting to call them Explosions in the Sky with Diamonds.

Alison Krauss, bluegrass diva. Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin's lead singer. T.Bone Burnett, the guy who produced about a million country albums, including the O' Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack. And they're all together on one record. The only downside? No bluegrass rendition of "Stairway to Heaven."

Currently Listening: Raising Sand, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.