Forecast (Ep 10): The Strength of Gentleness

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Jesus said, 'Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.' But in a culture that prizes strength and often overlooks meekness (or gentleness), what is the value of gentleness? ​ This Forecast is an arrangement of writing, music and conversation, some of which have been published on Foreshadow and some elsewhere, connected by their witness to the strength of gentleness. 
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Outline of today's Forecast, including links 
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• 00:00 -- ​Introduction
• 01:37 -- Behold the Mandalorian: Meekness and Masculinity in Star Wars by Josh Seligman, cultural commentary published in Plough
• 12:50 -- Scott Stevens on composing music for Sometimes I Shake (from Forecast Ep 4: Listening Inwardly)
• 17:14 -- Perspective, music by Scott Stevens
• 19:54 -- The Holy City, non-fiction written, narrated and sung by Sam Seligman
• 33:20 -- A reading from Psalm 37

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Below is an excerpt from the clip with Scott Stevens featured in today's Forecast. It has been lightly edited for clarity and concision. 

When you suffer from the symptoms of Parkinson’s – the shaking of your limbs, of your digits, your head, your feet, your hand – that’s a fairly fragile and vulnerable thing to experience…When I was thinking about the shakes in terms of music, I started thinking that this needs to be a story that’s very vulnerable and offers some very thin and fragile sounds. Jared, at the very start, said, ‘Scott, I need you to think broken instruments, discarded instruments' – which isn’t to say I broke a piano and lit a guitar on fire or anything – but trying to feature very fragile sounds…
 
Dan’s life followed that arc in a very interesting way in that, as his body became more frail, as it became more susceptible to all kinds of things – even though some might look at that as a decrescendo, the twilight of his life, on his way out, getting quieter – the intentionality with which he lived his life became much more focused, and the things he accomplished – helping establish an orphanage in Rwanda and trying to make reparations, reconciliations with people, trying to be more soft-hearted than he’d been – to me it felt much more like a crescendo, like even as your body’s growing more and more weak, the force and faith and intentionality of your life is growing. 

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Scott Stevens is a composer whose versatility stems from eclectic influences. His music 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)
Listening Inwardly (Interview, April 2021)

Josh Seligman is the founding editor of Foreshadow.