It's Friday the 13th...are you nervous? I know that these days come around on a regular cycle, given the calendar, yet the only other one this year was in September.
Things do run in cycles though. Remember the big deal about biorhythms some time back? What about Strauss & Howe's 80-90 year saeculum cycles?
The church universal celebrates a yearly cycle (and in many cases 3 year lectionary cycle). At the very least almost every Christian church celebrates Christmas and Easter...and that recurring cycle drives an overwhelming number of music and worship decisions over the course of a year.
We're in the Christmas cycle big time right how, of course. Yet, in my rehearsals I'm mixing in not just Epiphany music, but also Lent and Easter music as well. As leaders, we are almost constantly living in the present but preparing for the future.
Yet one inexorable aspect of cycles that is often dismissed as irrelevant is remembering the past. I'm not a stick-in-the-mud, but from my perspective, the church often forgets about non-lectionary history, and ends up paying for it, thereby cyclically reacquainting itself with both the good and bad.
P.S. yes, my title is a Blood Sweat & Tears reference, so pat yourself on the back if that's what you guessed...
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