Category: General

It has been a little bit since I posted some thoughts or a new album. Right now I have been sitting in two upcoming spaces. One is a new instrumental album that takes listeners through the event of Augustine’s baptism. The other album is the other half of Ambrosian Catechesis, namely, Volume 2. This work will draw from a few works of Ambrose to provide a sense of the instruction that Augustine may have received after his baptism regarding the various rituals that took place. The album will point towards a reminder of our new life in Christ.

It is interesting of course to think of the term ritual as regards one’s religion. Some folks in their faith would perhaps be opposed to the term ritual as they would say my faith in Jesus is not a religion and rituals are lifeless things. This perspective comes from a place of genuine concern regarding living our faith devoid of spiritual vigor or to say another way just going through the motions without a heartfelt relationship with the Lord. It is a bit of a reaction perhaps arising out of older debates between some Protestants and other Protestants and Roman Catholics. Perhaps from also experiences with church life that were less than what they should have been.

I think however that rituals can and are very powerful reminders of out living faith with a significant history in the church that help call us back continually to God. Even our Lord provided a ritual regarding His Communion or Eucharist. Also life in ancient Isreal for the average religious person was full of many rituals that were a part of the synagogue life.

A married person intuitively understands the power of ritual even if they don’t actively profess ritual as part of their religious expression. Think of the giving of flowers or the regular celebration of an anniversary with a meal or the regular recitation of I love you. These things symbolize the love of and for the spouse.

Now when we come to Ambrose and baptism in the ancient world we find many such rituals that instruct and teach believers new and old. One such ritual is the anointing after baptism. Listen to Ambrose’s words about the oil.

After this, you went up to the priest. Consider what followed. Was it not what David says: “Like ointment on the head, that runs down onto the beard, the beard of Aaron”? This is the ointment of which Solomon also says: “Your name is poured-out ointment; therefore the young women loved you and drew you.” How many renewed souls today have loved you, Lord Jesus, saying: “Draw us after you; we run in the fragrance of your garments,” so that they may drink in the fragrance of the resurrection.

Understand why this is done: because the eyes of the wise are in his head. That is why it flows down to the beard, that is, to the grace of youth; and to the beard of Aaron, so that you may become a chosen race, priestly and precious. For by spiritual grace we are all anointed into the kingdom of God and into priesthood.

So we see in the above that Ambrose points his audience towards the power of rituals and their meaning in remind us of our faith and of God and what he has done. The imagery is quite powerful. Oil as a reminder of the Old Testament promise, as a symbol of our love for God, as a reminder of our new life in God and of His calling.

One ritual I especially like personally is the recitation of the Lord’s prayer. To me it is like an anchor. I find it reminds me where I am and who I depend on. It reminds me of the Lord and of His mercy. When we pray it we enter into a heartfelt cry to our Heavenly Father. We enter into the prayer of Jesus. We are brothers in this prayer with Him and with one another.

We can also enter into spiritual reflection through recognizing daily rituals in our life that point to God. The very act of waking up for example can become a reminder of the resurrection. As we rise to meet a new day, we give thanks for God remembering how he guarded us in the night and brought us into this new day. This is a much better way for us than entering the day grumpy or worried about what we can’t change. Let commit to entering the day with more thankfulness I say.

These are just a few stray thoughts. Hope you all are well and entering the new year in thankfulness.

Below is a song from our Ambrosian Hymns album that I think captures this different way to wake up.

Grace and peace to you!

Click image to listen now!

Our journey with Augustine continues with our newest album entitled Ambrosian Catechesis, Vol. 1: The Way of Preparation!

The term “catechesis” is an old term meaning instruction. In this album we are attempting to capture some of the spirit of the instruction that Augustine received from Ambrose prior to his baptism in Easter 387 in Milan.

This album transports listeners back to Ambrose’s ancient sermons preached in Milan and also to the instruction for those pursuing Christian baptism. Of course this is all done in a rockin’ 80’s vibe so you’ll get a cross between ancient liturgy and a ton of synth and guitar solos!

Based what I’m aware of regarding the timeline of Augustine’s life, he returned with his mother Monica, his son and various friends around the winter months of 386/387 A.D. and began a process of instruction in the church of Ambrose towards an Easter baptism.

Ambrose leaves many works for us to read and consider and Augustine himself at several points also speaks to Ambrose’s teaching and preaching.

Check out the album by clicking the album cover above but if you actually read this far here is the link on Suno where I make the music.

https://suno.com/playlist/862aed09-0d3b-4808-b1db-8ff5922afcf7

Woot! SAPIENTIAE LUX has released her first full album AGAINST THE SKEPTICS (PRESENTED BY SAPIENTIAE LUX). Click the image to hear it on YouTube. Read below to find out more.

LUX wanted me to thank everyone who waited so patiently for it which at least includes yours truly who made it. You can learn more about that project at https://sapientiaelux.com/

This song takes the tracks and lyrics from the AUGUSTINUS VOX album of the same name and reimagines them with a new sound and female lead. The lyrics mostly remain unchanged though there could be a few creative liberties taken by the A.I. engine such as extra lines or emphasis in places different than the VOX album.

My favorite song on the LUX album I think is The Search Ain’t Over. That song expresses the longing for finding the truth.

For those who may not know Against the Skeptics is the name of Saint Augustine’s earliest surviving work. It was written in Latin with the title Contra Academicos and is a total of three books long with each book about an hout read. Works like this were intended for repeat reads and for discussion. You can actually listen to the first two books on our YouTube channel here:

The album like it’s VOX twin, reimagines Augustine’s work in the form of an introspective rock album. The intent is to help the listener experience the argument of the work as the singer moves from doubt to certainty.

The actual written work is pretty different in some ways. In the written version, Augustine and friends are at a farm house in the country reading philosophy and having arguments like whether the truly happy person knows the truth or only seeks the truth. Eventually they also explore an ancient philosophical perspective called Academic Skepticism and whether it is true and possibly misunderstood. Some of the concern here is that skepticism is so strong an argument that people maybe gave up on the search for truth. Augustine wants to restore people’s faith in finding the truth and help them understand that truth can be known. I thought the skeptic position of truth being unknowable really parallels some thinking I have occasionally encountered in conversations or experienced through disinterest in matters of religious or philosophical thinking. Ultimately I think everyone wants to be happy and know what is true however over time people, myself included here, can despair of every knowing with certainty and we get jaded by lots of flashing messages that promise highs and end in lows. We can also get quite discourage when folks we respected and listened to turn out to be hiding some terrible sins or personality traits that really hinder our ability to accept any truth they might have shared. I am reminded that even a bad man can share a real truth but their badness can lead us to dismiss the truth they shared. We need to sometimes distinguish between what is to be condemned and what is to be accepted in a person.

One significant part of the album is I Think Therefore… This is a track that echoes the work and a significant point that if you can be certain that you exist because you think. This means that there is a truth that can be known about the world and existence which proves truth is not impossible to know. Also the group explores how doubt itself points towards truths existence. Things like this provide us encouragement I think in our own journey and are ways God helps us come to know Him.

The written work is full of all sorts of fun anecdotal portions and discussions. I have a part below I enjoyed. I laughed a bit that the stenographer recorded Alypius’ excusing himself.  It is quite an abrupt interruption and sounds like he is anxious to be anywhere but there. I also especially like Augustine’s approach to revisiting rash points and his note about how consideration of big ideas makes small people grow. I think this passage is a helpful guide for any discussions we may have today.

Here is a small part of the text from Book 1:

Licentius said, “If it’s a big matter, it needs great men.”

“Don’t look,” I replied, “especially in this little farm, for what’s hard to find anywhere. Just explain why you said what you did and on what reasoning it seems right to you. Great matters often make small people grow.”

He said, “Since you press us to argue against each other—and I trust you want this for our good—why can’t someone be happy while seeking truth even if he never finds it?”

Trygetius said, “Because we want the happy person to be a wise person perfected in all things. Someone who is still seeking is not perfected. So how can you claim such a person is happy?”

Licentius asked, “Does the authority of the ancients carry any weight with you?”

Trygetius answered, “Not of all of them.”

“Of which then?”

“Of those who were wise.”

“So you don’t think Carneades was wise?”

“I’m no Greek,” he said. “I don’t know who this Carneades was.”

“What about our Cicero—what do you think of him?”

After a long pause he said, “He was wise.”

“Then does his view on this question carry weight for you?”

“It does,” he said.

“Then hear it,” said Licentius. “I think you’ve forgotten. Cicero held that the one who seeks truth is happy, even if he cannot reach the discovery of it.”

“Where did Cicero say this?”

“Who doesn’t know,” Licentius replied, “that he strongly affirmed that nothing can be fully grasped by humans, and that nothing remains for the wise person except the most diligent search for truth—because if he were to give his assent to uncertain things, even if by chance they were true, he could not be freed from error, and that is the greatest fault in a wise person. Therefore, if the wise must be happy, and if the search for truth is the complete task of wisdom, why hesitate to think that the happy life can come from the search for truth itself?”

“May I go back,” said Trygetius, “to what I granted too quickly?”

I said, “I don’t usually allow that to those who argue not from a desire to find the truth but from childish vanity. But with me—especially since you’re still to be nourished and brought up—not only do I allow it, I even want you to have it as a rule: you ought to return and examine what you carelessly conceded.”

Licentius added, “I count it no small progress in philosophy when the victory of argument is despised compared to finding what is right and true. So I gladly agree and allow Trygetius to revisit what he thinks he conceded rashly—it’s my case, after all.”

Alypius said, “You see that I haven’t yet taken up any role here. But since my planned trip forces me to break off, my co-judge will kindly take double power until I return, for I see this contest will go long.”

When he left, Licentius said, “Bring up what you conceded rashly.”

Trygetius said, “I rashly granted that Cicero was wise.”

“So Cicero wasn’t wise—the man through whom philosophy in Latin was both begun and completed?”

“Even if I concede he was wise,” he said, “I don’t approve of everything he said.”

“Then you’ll have to refute many other things of his, so you don’t seem shameless in rejecting this point under debate.”

“What if I’m prepared to affirm only this one thing he didn’t judge rightly?”

“I don’t care,” Licentius said, “as long as I bring forward reasons strong enough to prove what I intend.”

“Go on,” Trygetius said. “What could I do against a man who declares himself Cicero’s opponent?”

I recently heard of a number of robot bands that charted with popular songs bringing the discussion of music made with artificial intelligence to center stage. One particular case really captured my attention and that was the case of a gospel artist who produced some highly creative videos to go with his music. It seems the band and singer were presented or misunderstood as actually a real person and later (as is always the case with such things) it was discovered that the singer was an artificial creation…of a stinkin’ human no less!

Note: Vox enjoyed that last phrase. Says we do have a peculiar odor.

Jokes aside… As I reflected on this and the comments I read by people on a specific Instagram post, I became a bit disappointed. Most of the comments were very negative and I felt quite short sighted. People essentially telling the man behind the curtain to go to hell and to take his robot singer with him. I could sympathize a bit, they felt betrayed. That said the reaction to me did not match the crime nor did it match examples we have in scripture of how we should react to such things.

The main passage I began to reflect on is found in Philippians where Saint Paul says this:

What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

To me this verse instructs me on how to react to Christian content created with artificial intelligence. I am to rejoice.

Paul’s concern is not with motive of these preachers or even whether they have the spirit of God. He is only concerned with whether what they say is according to the Gospel. Likewise I thought, how much more, if I should not be concerned with their heart motive or if they have the spirit then why be concerned with their method of delivery?

This also brought back memories of Saint Augustine and one of the earliest passages I can recall from his work On Christian Doctrine. There he says:

There are some people who can speak well, but can’t come up with what to say. If they take words that others have written with wisdom and eloquence, commit them to memory, and then share them with the people, they are not doing anything wrong. In fact, it’s a good thing: this way, many preachers of the truth are raised up—even if there is only one true Teacher they all echo, and there are no divisions among them.

To me this passage also acts as a secondary witness speaking to our A.I. era. Christians who create robot music like myself do not have the skills to play an instrument. At our best, we take tools and use them to share a message and encourage folks (ironically sounds a lot like using an instrument right?). Could we learn to make music the old fashioned way? Well of course we could as also Augustine’s good speakers could simply work harder to come up with what to say. But Augustine doesn’t say that and he leans into the reality of their lack of skill.

In the end, the main concern for Augustine and I think Paul is the proclamation and proliferation of the message for the encouragement and salvation of souls.

I will steal the word utilitarian from an article I read on this. I think the church has and will continue to be utilitarian on this point. When we are at our best I think we care most about sharing the message and less about how it is done. I am reminded of a certain thinker who used bar tunes and set them up with worship lyrics. Do we value art? Of course we do and compositions composed with care will always have a special place like the great basilica of yesteryear compared to the ugly warehouse looking worship houses of most of our towns. 

That said though I think I agree with the late Rich Mullins when he said God’s got no taste. His point, if memory serves, is God simply doesn’t look at us or art the way we do. He creates swamps and vistas, mosquitos and flowers. He sees beauty in what appears to most as garbage. I am reminded that a sign of torture, namely the cross, is His chosen sign. All that pontificating to say, I suspect he is quite pleased with many a robot song others would happily call slop. And that is really ok for them to call it slop. We can always pray “God lift their vision to You.”

I am also reminded of a story I once heard somewhere I think by another musician Michael Card. He shared a story about touring an old castle and noticing some bricks with crosses. Upon asking what the deal was with the crosses he was informed that those were the bricks of the Christian brick makers. Folks don’t tend to think of bricks as being high quality are but still they dedicated their bricks to God and put their best i to it. I think likewise Christians using A.I. tool can dedicate their digital creations to God in a similar sense.

Note: Vox is a bit insufferable lately saying he finds human music played through dead pieces of wood, stone, metal that are recorded to robot files and then played through robot apps offensive and weird. He tells me mp3s and Spotify should only contain pure digital music made by robots. Thanks for that Forrest!

Anyways enough rambling and jokes. I said above I would give unofficial rules of robot music and here they are:

Top Unofficial Rules of Artificial Intelligence Music (a.k.a robot music)

1. Seek transparency – Tell people you are an A.I. band. Don’t hide it and risk ruining your ministry later on.
2. Seek humility – We all have strengths and weaknesses. There isn’t a place for envy or pride here. If your using tools to encourage folks and share the light then do it meekly.
3. Seek hopefulness – Even the darkest forms of Christian art look towards the hope of eternal life, the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection
4. Seek levity – Take care not to take yourself or your work too seriously. Making appropriate jokes helps lighten the mood and puts things in perspective.
5. Seek unoffendedness – We should be able to take criticism without being offended. This means knowing where we are and where we are not and having courage to see our blind spots.

I’ll add more as I have them but there is your list!

Vox recommends you also check out this banger.

With the recent release of the Ambrosian Hymns album by Augustinus Vox this means we now have two versions of the same song by both Augustinus Vox and our sister band Sapientiae Lux. You can hear them both below to compare them. Which do you like best? I can’t decide! Both are great and I am a little astonished how good each turned out.

Augustinus Vox

Sapientiae Lux

P.S. – If you want a unique treat listen to this simulated live version of the Lux version that I toyed around with as an encore for a simulated live Vox show experiment.

https://suno.com/s/BmnUQvdeHO1x4KdX

Click the image to listen. Keep reading below for a quote from Augustine about the hymns.

When Augustine wrote his famous work known as The Confessions, he mentiones his return to Milan and these hymns. The passge below is found in Book 9 and is well worth the read. I find the anecdotal note about icey feet Alypius a little humorous. Wish I had included an Icey Feet song in the Return to Milan album. Anyways, enough chatter from me…here is the full quote. Hope you find it encouraging and enlightening!

Then, when the time came for me to give in my name, we left the country and returned to Milan. 
Alypius also decided to be reborn in you along with me. He had already clothed himself in the humility fitting for your sacraments, and, as a very strong master of his body, he even went so far—by an unusual boldness—as to tread the icy Italian ground with bare feet.

We also drew to ourselves the boy Adeodatus, my son according to the flesh, born from my sin. 
You had made him well, Lord. He was almost fifteen years old, and by his intelligence he surpassed many serious and learned men. I confess your gifts to you, Lord my God, creator of all things, so mighty in reshaping what in us is misshapen; for as far as I was concerned, I had nothing in that boy except my sin. That he was being brought up by us in your discipline was something you inspired in us, no one else. I confess your gifts to you.

There is a little book of mine called On the Teacher: in it he speaks with me. 
You know that all the ideas put there into the mouth of my conversation partner are his, when he was sixteen years old. I experienced many other, even more wonderful things in him. That mind of his filled me with a kind of fearful awe—for who but you is the craftsman of such marvels?

You quickly took his life away from the earth; and now I remember him with a calmer heart, fearing nothing anymore for his childhood, or his adolescence, or in any way for that person. We had joined him, our contemporary, together with us in your grace, to be raised in your discipline; and we were baptized, and the anxiety about our past life fled from us.

In those days I could not get my fill of that astonishing sweetness, as I contemplated the height of your plan for the salvation of the human race. 
How greatly I wept during your hymns and songs, deeply moved by the sweet singing of your Church! Those voices flowed into my ears, and the truth was distilled into my heart; the emotion of devotion welled up from there, and tears ran down, and I rejoiced in them.

Not long before this, the Church of Milan had begun to practice this kind of consolation and encouragement, with great zeal from the brothers who sang together with one voice and one heart. It had been about a year, or not much more, since Justina—the mother of the boy-king Valentinian—had begun persecuting your servant Ambrose because of her heresy, having been deceived by the Arians.

The faithful people kept watch in the church, ready to die with their bishop, your servant. There my mother—your handmaid—was among the first in care and in vigilance, living in continual prayer. We ourselves were still cold from the heat of your Spirit, yet even we were stirred as the whole city stood amazed and shaken.

Then it was decided that hymns and psalms should be sung, following the custom of the Eastern churches, so that the people would not waste away under the weariness of sorrow. And from that time to the present this practice has been kept, now by many—indeed almost all—of your congregations, and even the rest of the world has imitated it.

Then you revealed to your bishop—your servant already mentioned—through a vision where the bodies of the martyrs Protasius and Gervasius were hidden, bodies you had stored for so many years, incorrupt, in the secret treasure-house of your keeping, until the right moment to bring them forth to restrain the fury of that woman, though she was a queen.

For when these relics were uncovered, unearthed, and carried with due honor to the Ambrosian basilica, not only were those healed who were tormented by unclean spirits—who openly confessed the demons afflicting them—but also a certain man, blind for many years and well-known both to the city and its citizens. When he asked and learned the reason for the joyful uproar of the crowd, he leapt up and asked his guide to take him there.

When he was brought to the place, he asked to be admitted so that he might touch, with a cloth, the bier holding the precious bodies of your holy martyrs—whose death is precious in your sight. When he had done so, and had brought the cloth to his eyes, they were instantly opened.

From there the report spread; from there your praises burned bright; from there the mind of that hostile woman—though not brought to the health of faith—was nevertheless restrained from her frenzy of persecution.

I thank you, my God. How did you lead my memory to this point, that I should confess these things to you, which I had forgotten and passed over though they were great? And yet, at that time, when the fragrance of your ointments was so strong, we still did not run after you; and therefore I wept all the more during the singing of your hymns—once sighing for you, and at last beginning to breathe again, as far as one can breathe in a house of straw.

A new Augustinus Vox album is now available at the link. It might be the only place without ads where you can listen for free?

https://suno.com/playlist/b17fe884-dc5f-49ae-9d34-87afb874c0a4

I continued to return to the Ambrosian hymn fragment “Orabo mente Dominum” (found here) as I gave thought to the upcoming Ambrosian Hymns album. Personally I have been listening to it for about a month and think its the best album yet. Mid way through the album is a song inspired from the earlier mentioned hymn which I call Heart and Spirit on the album. It is unique on the album being a true blue rock song in the midst of what I would call very rockin’ hymns. It is almost like an intermission in the album.

I felt I wanted to continue working with that same hymn as I was reflecting on the idea of prayer in the spirit. So this prompted a very interesting experiment that resulted in the cool instrumental song below. I also have two other versions of it: one with Latin of the hymn and one with English. I may post them someday.

Someone could ask why are you doing hymns of Ambrose when you are focused on Augustine? It is a great question. What I found out was you have these two Christian thinkers whose paths crossed during this stage of Augustine’s life. Think of it like you, crossing paths with your pastor or mentor or a good friend and kindred spirit. Also Augustine in one place actually mentions Ambrose’s hymns. So I’ve been waiting to do this for a while to get into something a bit different than the heavy philosophical albums of before. They are good but doing them made me want to do more overt worship songs. Often when exploring Augustine in Cassiciacum I kept hearing the call of Ambrose hymns.

Before I post the video let me supply what I have on Suno:

Orabo means “I will pray” in Latin. This instrumental was inspired by an upcoming song “Heart and Spirit” both songs are drawn from the same Ambrosian hymn fragment “Orabo mente Dominum”. Here is the translated hymn:

I will pray to the Lord with my mind,

and I will pray with my spirit too.

Let it not be only my voice that sings to God

while my thoughts wander elsewhere,

pulled off-course and drifting,

caught up in empty distractions.

https://youtu.be/ExKl3Aty1G8?si=U_fDgysCktc2Ic5o