Village Voice review 2006, Best of

Best (only) reason to go to church - 2006

Bach at Noon

Being raised in a born-again Christian household left a bad taste in my mouth: One Good Friday, when I was 10 years old, my mother forced a heaping tablespoonful of horseradish down my throat, just to make sure I'd never forget how much Christ had suffered for me. There were other "lessons" too. Anyway, once I turned 18 and my sentence ended, I swore I'd never enter another church or have anything to do with religion ever again. But I broke my vow recently: While walking down Broadway, I was drawn into Grace Church by some of the most moving, beautiful organ music I had ever heard. As I sat beneath the mile-high cathedral ceilings, sunlight streaking through the stained-glass windows, I realized that there was a being greater than me, greater than all of us—Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach at Noon organ meditations (every Tuesday through Friday, 12:20 to 12:50 p.m.) allow you to briefly transcend the ugliness of the world and connect with the good—without the distractions of forced ritual and a yammering preacher. They're also only 30 minutes long, so your ass doesn't get too sore from the pew, and there isn't an ounce of horseradish in sight.