cantus firmus

For those who are not musicians and might ask what is cantus firmus, Wikipedia defines it thus:

"In music, a cantus firmus ("fixed song") is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition."

Or, even more plainly stated:

"The tune of the cantus firmus was taken from Gregorian chant; it would move very slowly underneath more rapid vocal or instrumental lines above it."

A musical textbook for form and analysis uses the work "Poplars in Spring" to give a visual analogy to the musical form concept:

"The poplar's trunk (detail to left) unites the ground to leafy canopy and sky above. The tree is analogous to a preexisting melody stitching the elements of a composition together. In music, we call this melody a cantus firmus. "

So why am I thinking about this now? It strikes me that it bears much similarity to my walk of faith these last few years. A place deep inside me hears that plainsong, that chant that is the core of my reason for being and being uniquely me. The more profound that trunk of revelation, the more it can get lost in an awful lot of branchwork. How many layers of counterpoint can God paint into my life before I utterly lose track of the foundational melody? It seems to be the question my life is about right now.

What's more, that form can be more broadly viewed as transitioning between A and B segments in a variety of arrangements. The textbook continues to draw analogies between the painting and the musical form: "Monet's detail to the right might be considered a binary, with sky at the top being part "A" and leaves at the bottom being part "B." The Lutheran chorale typically subscribes to an extended binary in which section "A" (called the Stollen) is repeated and followed by a section "B" (the Abgesang) which is not repeated. This AAB schematic is known as German bar form."

Here we get to the heart of the matter. My life does indeed feel like it glides through German bar form...with me being called to believe right now that the repeat of section A is closing and that section B will indeed commence. How will I receive the beginning of the Abgesang? Will I even believe that the Stollen could ever end? Or to use the painting's analogy, after my eyes climb 2/3 of the piece seeing branches, will they accept the trunk in a bare sky for the top of the work?

The Hem of His Robe...

...an aside from the series started by the last blog--for the sake of record-keeping. What is my latest "assignment"from God? Hems. I read of the border of the garment of the priests being a thing they "enlarged" all to make much of themselves before the people. It captured my attention in a new way during that session of Bible-reading. A few more references to hems gave the topic even more significance, until I recognized You were specifically directing my attention toward it. But I was busy and did not make a study of it while a few days passed. Then in the midst of a homeschooling session, my youngest came to me with his language workbook and asked, "Mom, is hem a noun or a verb? What does it mean?" He had to mark its function in a sentence--the moment was a palpably leading question to the spiritual student in me even as it was a functional one to the natural teacher in me. I went ahead and prioritized a Biblical study of hems and hemlines.

Here is what I found in an online concordance, from Blue Letter Bible's website from Vine's:
the extremity or prominent part of a thing, an edge. It could also be a tassel that Jews attached to their mantles to remind them of the law.

It is also one of those areas that is full spectrum in its potential meaning--as is so much of the truly prophetic message that comes from You. Your leadings are so awe-inspiring in that they ever respect the potentiality of free will, for it can be "good" in the sense that both the bleeding woman and others were healed if they so much as touched the border of Your garment. But it is also an example image used by You in Your list of woes for the scribes and Pharisees, as their enlarged fringed hemlines were in truth a sign of pretense that--along with other indicators--proved their works to be motivated by a worldly drive to receive the praise of men.

I also think of that dream I had about standing before You, and You fastened a mantle upon me, and all over the back of it were hands reaching upward out of its fabric. And when You had it fastened about my neck, I took off into the air in flight. And the mantle was miraculous in that its hem never left the ground, but rather expanded to fill all the sky behind and below me with those hands reaching up toward Your domain. Is it time for that dream to find some sort of human world realization? Help me understand Your leading, O God.