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By James A. Tweedie After clicking 'Play', please wait a few moments for the song to load. Who, being a man, would choose to be a baby? Who, being a king, would choose to be a slave? Who, having might and majesty and power Would trade it all away for a cross and a grave? Who, being Divine, would choose to be a mortal? Who, being Life, would choose instead to die? Who, having angel choirs sing his praise Would trade it all away for a poor baby’s cry? “Only a fool!” Is what the world would say. Only a fool would give it all away. Only a fool would give up all he had. But the Lord gave it up . . . and I am glad. Only a baby lying in a manger; Wealth, status, power, have all been set aside. Costly the gift of love which knows no ending; For us a Child is born and for us Jesus died. “Only a fool!” Is what the world would say. Only a fool would give it all away. Only a fool would give up all he had. But the Lord gave it up . . . and I am glad. -- Music and lyrics by James A. Tweedie James A. Tweedie is an author, composer, performer and publisher.
The lyrics to 'Come and See' were first published in Crucifix Askew: Poems of Resurrection & Incarnation by James A. Tweedie (Dunecrest Press). They have been republished here with the author's permission. James' previous work on Foreshadow: Joseph's Lullaby (Music, December 2023) Lullaby for Jesus (Music, December 2023)
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By James A. Tweedie After clicking 'Play', please wait a few moments for the song to load. Baby Jesus! Baby Jesus! Do you know who you are? Angel choirs sing lullabies by the light of a star. Little baby in the manger, Are you sleeping tonight? Does the angel’s singing wake you? Does the star’s bright light? Son of God and son of Mary, Son of David, Son of Man; Born tonight, yet born forever; Born before all time began. Baby Jesus! Baby Jesus! You were born and you will die! You will rise and reign forever For poor sinners as I. Baby Jesus! Baby Jesus! (pause) Shepherds seek the Lamb of God See them worship Thee. (pause) Wise Men seek your Way, your Truth, See them bend the knee. Baby Jesus! Go to sleep (shhh!) Everything is all right. Snuggle warm within the arms of you mother tonight. Baby Jesus! Baby Jesus! Sleep and dream in your stall. You are King of kings forever; You are Lord of all. King of kings! Lord of lords! Baby Jesus! -- Music and lyrics by James A. Tweedie James A. Tweedie is an author, composer, performer and publisher.
The lyrics to 'Come and See' were first published in Crucifix Askew: Poems of Resurrection & Incarnation by James A. Tweedie (Dunecrest Press). They have been republished here with the author's permission. James' previous work on Foreshadow: Joseph's Lullaby (Music, December 2023) By James A. Tweedie After clicking 'Play', please wait a few moments for the song to load. Silent night, holy night; All is calm, all is bright. May’s child, newly born, Let me hold you close and warm. Mary sleeps, so should you. Jeus, close your eyes and I will, too. Tiny child, hush your cry. Hear your Daddy’s lullaby. Are you God’s? Are you mine? Are you human flesh? Or flesh divine? Miracle! Mystery! God’s most precious gift to me! -- Words and music by James A. Tweedie James A. Tweedie is an author, composer, performer and publisher.
The lyrics to 'Joseph's Lullaby' were first published in Crucifix Askew: Poems of Resurrection & Incarnation by James A. Tweedie (Dunecrest Press). They have been republished here with the author's permission.  After clicking 'Play', please wait a few moments for the podcast to load. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple, Google and other platforms. Listen to other Forecasts here. Musician James Bishop describes his journey five years ago of walking over half of the Pacific Crest Trail in California. Most of this time was spent in solitude, during which he emptied his thoughts and concluded that meaning in life only comes from the quality of one's relationships with others, the world, oneself and God; the greatest of all that remains is love. This five-month 1,400-mile hike inspired a collection of songs that he is releasing in June, and on this episode, he performs one song, 'Wrecking My Body', about the danger of being stuck in his mind and how that has impacted his participation in society and church.  After clicking 'Play', please wait a few moments for the podcast to load. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple, Google and other platforms. Listen to other Forecasts here. People are singing less in church, and that's a problem, writes Episcopalian priest Benjamin Crosby in his recent article in Plough. Jarel and Josh discuss Crosby's article in light of their experience making music and singing for worship among churches, whether with worship bands or choirs. They explore the tension between being relevant to the dominant culture and providing a life-giving alternative that challenges or discomforts. Then they describe what the hymns 'Be Thou My Vision' and 'What Wond'rous Love Is This?' and the song 'Instrument for Noble Purpose' suggest about vocation. Additional resources:
Art: Thomas Webster, The Village Choir, oil on panel, 1847 (Public domain) Jarel is a co-host of Forecast with a music emphasis.
Josh is the founding editor of Foreshadow and a co-host of Forecast. Please support us by sharing this post or buying us a book. By Josh Seligman Hymn tune: BUNESSAN ('Morning has broken') Jesus is risen! I will go with him Into the morning of the new day Sorrow to swallow, New paths to follow As the world opens in his new way. Jesus is risen! All the world, listen: Done are the days when death ruled as king Can you believe it? Will you receive him? Jesus the Lord fulfills everything. Jesus is risen! Let us rise with him To live the story death tried to close Praise with your laughter Praise with your whole life Praise like the first light when he arose! Josh Seligman is the editor of Foreshadow.
 After clicking 'Play', please wait a few moments for the podcast to load. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple, Google, Podomatic, Player FM and Deezer. Listen to other Forecasts here. Ryan Weiss speaks with Will about how he prioritises his responsibilities and callings, whether as a professor, a parent, a husband, a musician, a worship leader or a researcher. Each of his roles gives him the opportunity to connect with and nurture others. Looking back on his life, he observes how openings have forced him to ask who he really is and what he really wants to do, forming a path that has become his identity. He also describes how his faith in God and his work in science complement each other. This episode features music by Ryan's former band Tularosa. Below are highlights from today's Forecast. They have been lightly edited for clarity and concision. Different expressions The big scientists that I look up to have these other sides to them, whether they're artists or musicians or anything. I think it actually does play a yin/yang kind of thing. You're using both parts of your brain. Creativity is a huge part of science....I've always wanted to play music, but it's been in different expressions. Worship is a way to be involved in a church and really plug in and form relationships with people that I really care about and be encouraged by people in those environments and also connect to God.... Different responsibilities come and go and float to the top, and you have to take hold of that. I'm not perfect, but I'm trying to figure that out. Being a dad and a husband is the most important thing out of everything...How do you prioritise or balance it all but also still feel fulfilled and still feel like you're doing what you're called to do? Wearing different hats In terms of being fulfilled, I'm very lucky that i have a lot of things that do that every single day. A small example is coming home from work and hearing my daughter being like, 'Daddy!', and she comes down. She's only two years old, so I've only had two years of my life that I've had that. Talk about fulfilling, that's awesome just to be able to feel her happiness and see the whole family together. That's a small thing that happens daily that's very life-breathing. That's one hat that I love to wear, a new hat that I'm wearing. Also being a husband and figuring out how to be a parent with my wife....Stepping into these collaborations. That's at home, and then at work, I have a laboratory where we collaborate with a private foundation to discover a cure for this rare genetic disease....There's about one in 50,000 kids who are born with it, and they get these bone tumours that are really painful....So our passion in the lab is to try to identify a novel drug to help them. So that's something I'm really passionate about. That's a daily drive, but something that really compels me in science is not only discovering things, but can we find things that can actually help people tangibly? Called to enable others I've always enjoyed teaching a lot, and I get a lot of opportunities to do that throughout my career. As I started doing it, I realised that I really loved it and felt like I was called to do it, to enable people to find their calling or making something feel attainable to people. Even If I don't feel called to be a medical doctor, how do I enable people or encourage people to reach out to those things that they never imagined?....Just being able to impart that on younger people has always felt like something I enjoy doing....Even if I'm not the best or most successful scientist who discovers something that changes the world -- obviously that's a passion as well -- but how I approach it now is, can enable the trainees in my lab to go on to do great things? Opportunities A lot of things that happen in life, at least in my life -- it's like these little doors crack open, and they're like, 'Hey, here's this opportunity'. So maybe the inquisitiveness comes into that too. Looking back, these different decisions that I've made throughout life have presented themselves without even thinking that they would present themselves to me, but stepping into that with faith or with inquisitiveness has been a major blessing. It's pushed me to new places that I had never thought possible. Somehow, now I'm a professor when I was thinking about dropping out of grad school eight years ago with the band stuff. But then things happened in life at that time that really pulled the rug out, and I said, 'What do you really want to do?' and 'Who really are you?'....All you can do is make some decision and just do your best with that. Dr. Ryan Weiss is a professor in the biochemistry and molecular biology department of the University of Georgia. He is also a musician, a dad and a husband. You can learn more about his lab here.
Will Shine is a co-host of Forecast.  After clicking 'Play', please wait a few moments for the podcast to load. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple, Google, Podomatic, Player FM and Deezer. Listen to other Forecasts here. This Forecast is a mixtape of music by the podcast's co-hosts, some of which has been featured in clips in previous episodes, and some of which is new. Outline of today's Forecast
'Now Your Love Satisfies Me' by Josh Seligman Based on the Gerasene man from whom Jesus cast out an army of demons In the morning, I used to fear The strangers I had seen in my dreams They'd pin me down and change my name But now those voices never make a sound In the morning, I used to hide From the people who used to hide from me I'd bruise my face to try to get away But now I'm so glad to be around In the morning, now I sing In the morning, I used to cry That toil and trouble would follow all my days I'd break my chains, they'd clamp again But now they are nowhere to be found In the morning, I used to climb The hillside to jump into the sea But then I found you, when you found me And now I am sitting on the ground Now your love satisfies And when you asked my name, I couldn't say But when you come again, I'll find a better place Where you can stay In the morning, now I sing To tell of all the good God's done for me And if you hear me sing my song And if you know the words, then sing along In the morning, now I sing That now your love satisfies 'Cause now your love satisfies me. Josh Seligman is the founding editor of Foreshadow and a co-host of its podcast, Forecast.
Will Shine is a co-host of Forecast. By Scott Stevens  After clicking 'Play', please wait a few moments for the music to load. 'Depths' stemmed from an idea I've had since 2008, and it felt wonderful to finally record and add some permanence to it. There are two iterations of the piece in fact. One is the piano version you have heard. The other is a more orchestral variation of the theme that emerges here. - SS Below are excerpts from a conversation with Scott about his work as a composer. It has been lightly edited for clarity and concision. Listen to the whole Forecast here. Let's keep following the trail As an artist, what I really try and do is bear witness to things that are human. There's a scene in a movie that came out with Tom Hanks called A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood that's so emotionally rich and tense and nourishing, where a character who is aware that he's dying is scared of that, because I think it's pretty innately human to be scared of death. It's an unknown for a lot of people -- me included, I haven't died. But when the guy expresses fear, Mr Rogers' or Tom Hanks' response is, 'If it's human, it's mentionable'. I think that often times we try and suppress or hide or let emotions out that are really big. For me, with the EP, part of it was an exploration in some sounds that I hadn't dabbled in with as much focus or concerted effort, but it was an effort to be still and let ideas flow and not judge them too quickly. Maybe you or other people can resonate with this: when you're trying to do something creative, sometimes you put an idea out there and maybe it feels raw and vulnerable and honestly what you're feeling in the moment, but then when you listen back, you go, 'Nah, that's not it', and you just push it aside. When you do that, you might be discarding something that was really actually quite close to the mark. So for this EP that I started with that later became a full album, I was trying to not to judge too quickly or harshly, and that becomes a way of weirdly extending grace to yourself. Like, hey, it's OK if it's not polished the first time around, but let's keep following the trail. An authentic place One thing that's really stuck with me was a comment made by [composer] John Williams. He was talking about when he watches a film, his first reaction is a really valuable time, because he'll watch a film and then start writing pretty much right after. All of your reactions are going to be truest and most instinctive, I think, after that first viewing. Similarly, in our lives, a lot of times when we interact with social media or something, you end up seeing a very curated, very edited version of someone's life, where it could come across as more perfect, maybe, than yours. You know, 'Comparison is the thief of joy', and that's the time we live in. But when we think about our real life, it's not just perfect photos with filters, right? You're living a very authentic and sometimes rough-around-the-edges thing. In my art, I think it's important to try and put some polish on things, because when I'm writing for clients, they don't want to hear something that doesn't sound finished. But when I'm writing for me, I need for the music to come from an authentic place, and I think for me to try and polish it too quickly, it deprives the music of honesty in a lot of ways. A posture of reliance In her book Walking on Water, Madeleine L'Engle talks about how we experience time. There is chronos time, which is more linear, and then kairos time, which a lot of times is what we experience when maybe you've worked on something all day, and at the end of the day, you're not even aware of how much time has passed -- like, wow, that time flew! Or, you're having a lot of fun with someone and by the time it's over, it's like, 'Where'd the time go?' I think that's a really important part of the faith journey. I am someone who can acknowledge that I focus too much on my work at times, but I think in my best moments, I am aware -- if not in the creative surge, after the creative surge -- that it didn't just come from me...You're aware of the fact that not everything you did came from you, and there were connections that were made that were more than instinctive, if that makes sense. Which isn't to say that if I do a first draft on something and I feel like I had kairos time, then whoever's listening to it who's paying for it or cares about it should just be like, 'Yeah, this first draft was awesome, I can tell it's been divinely inspired!' I'm not gonna build myself up to that level. We believe in and serve a creative God who loves creating, and when we get to try and participate in the creation of something, if we're mindful of that, if we're in our spirit saying, 'God, you're here, and I'm recognising that. I'm not trying to do this work or create this thing apart from you. I'd actually really prefer that you participate with me and guide my mind', it becomes a necessary part of putting your spirit in a posture of reliance. I think the real trouble of a lot of the messaging I see these days is that there's a lot of pushing individuals do to things themselves. There's a lot of DIY -- learn these skills, you can do it, be the master of your fate -- and I think to pursue that becomes a very lonely message, a very lonely way to live your life. 'Don't die with the music still in you' I think there is a difference between an occupation and a vocation, but for some, there is a co-mingling of that. For me, making a living from writing music is both an occupation and a vocation. When I say vocation, that's when I start to try and distance that definition from just being a job. I feel like it's important for me to try and use something I'm so passionate about. Something that [filmmaker] Destin Cretton said really stuck with me, because I would really like to have kids someday, and he talked about the importance of his kids seeing him doing something that he loved. If there came a time where music was not seeming viable, or out of some sense of urgency I had to try and take some other work to support a family, then sure, that could happen, but as much as can, I feel so deeply within myself that I must create, and music is what I love creating the most, so to be able to write music for stories or write music for commercials or help communicate things is really important. The runner from Chariots of Fire said 'God made me fast, and I run to his pleasure', and the way I feel that in my life is, I feel like I was made for music. So much of my fibres, my nerves, my thoughts, my everything bends towards music. I'm curious and cherish it. It's basically like having toys. Music is a toy, and I like playing with music like a toy. But it's so much more than that. I know the way music makes me feel. I know the way that music makes other people feel. Something that [jazz musician and teacher] Dan Nelson said when I was a student under his tutelage was 'Don't die with the music still in you.' I think that could be a metaphor, and certainly that could apply to most other things. You could substitute it with art, painting, anything that's not even art related -- don't die with your passions still in you, that voice unexpressed. I don't want to die feeling like I wasn't a good steward of my joy for music. Stay the course There's been times where I've wanted to quit. Obviously never enough for me to actually quit, 'cause otherwise I wouldn't be talking to you today. But very early on, [music teacher and composer] Eric Schmidt said in an informational phone interview that I did with him, 'Just so you're aware, it could take you five to ten years before you hit anything that looks like sustainable work with film music and television music or commercial music.' And he was 100% right. Thankfully, I had some other mentors in my life as well as some books on film scoring that said similar things. At the start, I'd always hoped that it would be faster, that I would be further along than where I see myself today. It can feel a little bit like a war of attrition, where you send some stuff out as a composer hoping that someone will listen it and want to pare it with some sort of story or media. Often times, you won't hear back, or if you do hear back, then it's not what they need at the time, or some other thing was closer to what they needed, so you feel that you're just getting rejections. For me, the rejections are never pleasant. You don't actually want someone to reject your music. But I also had just enough doors open to where I felt, 'OK, I need to keep going', or I had enough mentors who could identify with that or who had similar experiences. To feel known and seen, to know your struggle is not unique to you. [The belief that your struggle is unique to you] I think is a lie that a lot of people start to believe. I don't mean friends or family members but that inner voice of doubt, which often is not you, but is the devil trying to get you off course. I think you just have to stay the course and be wise about if you do need to course-correct, but if you're listening, those promptings, those movings and thoughts you need to have will come. I've never felt anything except, 'OK, this may be hard, but you need to do this. This is still absolutely what you are made to do.' I don't say that out of some sense of pride or self-aggrandising. I'd be like if you just call me a screwdriver, it's like 'OK. I was made to be a screwdriver.' I might hear differently. I might need to be a ruler later. But right now, I'm a screwdriver, and I need to be the best screwdriver I can. Scott Stevens is a composer whose versatility stems from eclectic influences. His music (listen on Spotify) is featured in multiple independent film scores as well as ads for Toyota, Saatchi & Saatchi and Red Bull, among others. Scott holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Composition from Point Loma Nazarene University and a Master’s degree in Global Music Composition from San Diego State University.
Scott's other work on Foreshadow: - Dawn Will Prevail (Music, December 2020) - Perspective (Music, January 2021) - Forecast (Ep 4): Listening Inwardly (Interview, April 2021) - Forecast (Ep 10): The Strength of Gentleness (Compilation, July 2021)  After clicking 'Play', please wait a few moments for the podcast to load. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple, Google, Podomatic, Player FM and Deezer. Listen to other Forecasts here. Ken Deeks, an active therapist and the leader of a folk group, describes the importance of treating people not foremost as clients or numbers but as humans, people whose names and lives are remembered and cherished. For him, being a Christian involves having this attitude and taking Christ with him wherever he goes. Ken also performs the Scottish folk song 'Black is the Colour of My True Love's Hair'. Host: Josh Seligman. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of The Beech Band Tune Book, email [email protected] and Josh will put you in touch with Ken. Ken Deeks is an active therapist and folk musician based in Manchester, UK.
Josh Seligman is the editor of Foreshadow. |
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