What a sweet day!

It's been a good day. Other than a touch of digestive upset, which I'm hoping isn't the onset of a bug that's been going around, it was mostly delightful.

First of all, being at church, with loving, mature Christian people, is always a good thing. Sundays tend to be the best day of the week for me, the long hours and hard work notwithstanding.

Early service went well, the singers and players "syncing" better than usual, though the medley was more of a popular than a theologically super-solid offering. (I don't pretend we do great music, particularly at this service. The medley was "More Love, More Power" with "Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord.")

One troublesome thing was that my adult assistant for the youth handbell ensemble never showed. She also missed last week's rehearsal with no notice, and hasn't returned messages left for her. I am concerned.

But with some last-minute fill-ins, we managed to pull it together pretty well. The kids rang as well as they possibly could have, and it's only their second time ever to ring in public. I was very proud of them, and grateful to the substitutes.

So once the ringers had rehearsed and I'd warmed up the choir, so began the second service. The hymns were pretty good and the congregation sang them enthusiastically. The choir had, I thought, got the anthem's two troublesome rests ironed out in warm-up, when several people sang through them due to not watching. Blast if we didn't have an unintentional "soloist" and "small group" do the same thing during the actual presentation of the anthem, though! Still, the singing was remarkably good (other than the unobserved rests). It didn't hurt that it was a very good anthem, Lloyd Larson's "My Savior's Love." Overall, I was very pleased.

The sermon was even better than our pastor's usual excellent. It was easily the best sermon I've ever heard on John 4:5-42 (the Samaritan woman at the well), and I've heard quite a few (and preached that text once myself).

I had a meeting immediately after worship, with youth and their families. Was able to "plug" the youth handbell ensemble and I think I may get to welcome another player or two in the near future.

My voice student then had her final lesson prior to her college program/scholarship audition. She will be transferring in and I'm very proud of her. She's a very young singer and isn't totally a "natural," which means she's had to work hard to accomplish all that she has. Together we chose a fairly ambitious pair of audition pieces for her and she stepped up to the challenge. I wish I didn't have to wait until Saturday to hear how it goes!

Then followed our brief evening service and meal, then time for pre-school choir. Only two of our potential six little ones showed up, but those two were delightful and sang their precious hearts out. I can hardly wait until next Sunday,when they'll sing for the first time this calendar year. Then off to activities they went, and my school-age bunch arrived. I pinch myself every time I hear this group. When they're all there, there are ten of them. Tonight I had eight. Every one of them matches pitch extremely well. They could rival any premier children's choir I've ever heard for purity of tone and pitch accuracy. They will be singing in two weeks. They're preparing "Wade in the Water," and it sends chills up my spine how good they sound.

And it didn't hurt that, as we gathered for our prayer circle at the end of rehearsal, the adult leaders prompted them to sing "Happy Birthday" to me before we began sharing prayer requests. I don't know how I managed not to cry; maybe it was the their much-loved addition of "And many more on Channel 4 . . . (I always forget what follows for Channel 2 and Channel 9)" at the end. And as usual, prayer time with both choirs proved the best moments of the evening. Their tender little hearts trust God SO much, and they love to pray for others.

It was a good day to start my 50th year on, I think. God IS good!

Third Sunday of Lent

Scripture: Psalm 42

"As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. . . . By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. . . ."

Hymn: "Spirit Song" UMH 347
John Wimber, 1979

"O let the Son of God enfold you with his Spirit and his love.
Let him fill your heart and satisfy your soul.
. . . Jesus, O Jesus, come and fill your lambs."

Prayer:

This sacrifice, O Lord! When will it ever become a hunger for you, rather than a hunger for the petty things I choose to give up? I want to want you! Do you really honor the attempt as much as you would honor a complete victory? Will I ever know for certain?

Ah, Lord God, this day, I choose you. This hour, I choose you. In this very moment, I choose you. Fill me with your Spirit, I pray.

A Musical Journey to Easter

Dear readers,

This has been a blessed week. At every point, the week has been marked by powerful music. Here is a re-tracing of the steps we took together at my church.

Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! We sang "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna" as our opening hymn on Palm/Passion Sunday while the children waved palm branches. The choir sang the "Palm Processional" from our upcoming cantata (April 15), Benjamin Harlan's "Wondrous Love" (the movement combined "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna" and the refrain from "The Holy City"). After our pastor guided us scripturally from the palms of Sunday to the Friday cries of "Crucify him!", we closed the service with "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross."

Thursday we gathered again for Maundy Thursday communion, with our "informal service" music group (minus our lead singer, whose husband suffered a heart attack on Wednesday--doing well, praise God) singing "The Wonderful Cross" and our pianist providing exquisite communion musical meditation. The service ended with the hymn, "Go to Dark Gethsemane," as we did a ceremonial removal of Lenten purple and draped the communion table cross in black.

Our Good Friday was an evening service, so the sanctuary was fully draped in black. We have a very large central wooden cross on the front chancel wall, over which was displayed a black banner with a stark silver-gray outline of the suffering Savior in crown of thorns. It was visually stunning. We had diminished lighting and seven votive candles on the draped communion table, which were distinguished one by one during the final Scripture reading. Earlier readings were punctuated with several hymns, including "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" and "Jesus, Remember Me." The choir sang a dramatic piece by Don Besig and Nancy Price, "Within the Shadow of the Cross." The opening verse was done as a solo by a nearly ten-year-old girl, who sang absolutely perfectly (we were very proud of her; it was only her second time to sing a solo in public). The her solo's final phrase, "A little child, like me," which was echoed by the choir at the end of the piece: "A child of God, like you and me." The entire congregation filed out as we sang, "Were You There?" and gathered (shivering) on the sanctuary porch, where the pastor chained and padlocked the doors until Easter morning.

During the Easter Vigil, we offered a Catacombs service. The pastor and I were not actually in attendance, though we were able to listen at a distance. The simulation is that the church leaders had been arrested and all printed resources destroyed by "the authorities" who had declared Christian gatherings--and the faith itself--illegal. Those who attended this service had a combination of worship and discussion focused around how to keep the faith alive amidst persecution, when the only worship and study resources are the memories of the saints. We listened as the group of twenty or so people sang hymns of their own choosing ("Amazing Grace," "Jesus, Remember Me," "I Love to Tell the Story," and "Jesus Loves Me"), shared various memorized Scripture passages (including the 23rd Psalm and John 3:16-17), and recited the Apostles' Creed together. Testimonies were shared. There was excellent discussion about the difference between what Americans tend to call "persecution" and true persecution of faithful Christians. After 50 minutes, the "lookout" (pastor) gave a signal door knock to warn that the "patrols were on their way into town," and after closing with a prayer circle and ending with the Lord's Prayer, the group dispersed by ones and twos to return home.

I was still at church, working on final details for this morning's services, when the final scheduled on-site vigil prayer partner, a high school senior boy, finished his "shift" at midnight. He knocked at the office door to tell me he was leaving. I wished him a happy Easter and told him I'd see him later in the morning. He smiled as he realized it was technically a few minutes into Easter morning, and made my whole day by offering me the ancient greeting: "He is risen!" Of course, I replied, with joy in my heart, "He is risen indeed!"

Our liturgical dance group presented the sunrise service, which was once again reluctantly moved indoors because of our area's snow storm (no lie!) much of the day yesterday. It was near freezing this morning; in our part of Texas, that's not considered "outdoor weather." It is done entirely by school-age children and junior and senior high youth. They re-enact the entire passion and resurrection story in their unique combination of dance and American Sign Language. It is stunningly beautiful. As the Lord Jesus (one of my youth handbell ringers) was taken down from the cross and cradled by his mother (a high school girl), there was no one I could see who was not in tears. They perform to recorded music, which included
"Via Dolorosa," "At the Foot of the Cross," and "Was It a Morning Like this," among several other pieces.

We broke "new" ground with our informal group at the 9:00 service. We have had only piano/keyboard accompaniment until about a month ago, when a good guitarist joined us. Still, this means we don't have a complete rhythm section for the more energetic songs we do. Nevertheless, we presented a passable rendition of "My Redeemer Lives" this morning, greeted by more enthusiastic "Amens" than normal. People sang the chorus (many times) with gusto. (Though this is far from a favorite of mine, there's something to be said for people singing "My Redeemer lives! My redeemer lives!" with conviction.) At both the 9:00 and 10:45 services, the pastor preached on 1 Corinthians 15, focusing on "if" Christ had not been raised from the dead and looking at the reliable evidence passed on to us of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We were challenged both to believe the evidence we have received, and to testify to our own experience of the risen Christ in our own lives. Powerful!

At the late service, our handbell choir rang "Come Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain," which is one of the best efforts we've had all year. They also rang on the first hymn, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." The children of the church, including several of the many young guests we welcomed today, sang "He Is Exalted" and did a superb job. I've "come around" on the appropriateness of "In the Garden" at Easter; this is our prayer hymn through the rest of April. The choir took it a little easy, given our scheduled cantata next week, and sang Hal Hopson's arrangement of a William Boyce work, which Hopson calls "Let the Praise Go 'Round" (actually, it consists of a three-part canon to the primary text of "Hallelujah," which made it very appropriate for Easter). We closed with one of my personal least-favorite Easter hymns, "He Lives," but here again, it's hard to argue with "He lives...you ask me how I know...he lives within my heart."

Bells. Children's voices. Piano. Keyboard and guitar. Choral music. Enthusiastic hymn singing (we ARE Methodist!). All in worship of the One who suffered, died, and rose from the dead, for us.

Christ is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!

Lent: Day 24

"Blessed Be Your Name"

Text and Music: Matt Redman

This current worship song favorite is one of the better ones, at least theologically. Musically, it has a more interesting melody than many, and a strong though predictable harmonic structure and beat. People like singing it, I think because it points beyond us and to the Author of life. The message is that, in all of life's circumstances, we praise God's holy name.

You can find the full text of the song here. Here's an excerpt of the text:

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering,
Though there's pain in the offering,
Blessed be your name.

Every blessing you pour out
I'll turn back to praise;
When the darkness closes in, Lord,
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord,
Blessed be your name...

Lent: Day 8

Lamb of God

Music and Text: Twila Paris (from the Kingdom Seekers album)

This is one of those remarkable songs that I wish everyone could hear and know. I'll be singing it this Sunday. Here is the second verse:

Your only Son, no sin to hide,
But you have sent him from Your side
To walk upon this guilty sod
And to become the Lamb of God.

The refrain is a prayer that I might be washed in "his precious blood, my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God." And in the final verse, there is a sense of wonder that despite my lostness, the Lamb-also-Shepherd calls me to his side to be called "a lamb of God."

Whatever else we may presume to be, the fact is, we're all simply lambs in the flock of God's perfect Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world.

Misere nobis.

Note: Twila Paris doesn't have "freebies" available for either the recordings or the texts, so I don't have a link where you can see the full text for "Lamb of God." If you're interested in purchasing it, it appears you need to buy an album. While this song is available on several different albums, I'd recommend A Heart That Knows You, which can be ordered through her official website here.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the liturgical season of Lent. As I begin my own observance of Lent, I have decided to at least try to post something each day out of my personal experience of the season.

We had a simple service that included the Imposition of Ashes this evening. Our Informal Service music team presented "Above All," and as the service ended, I sang the late Rich Mullins' "Jesus." Here is an excerpt of the lyrics:

. . . .
Jesus, they say You spoke and calmed an angry wave,
That was tossed across a stormy sea;
Please teach me how to listen, how to obey
'Cause there's a storm inside of me

Jesus, write me into Your story;
Whisper it to me,
And let me know I'm Yours
. . . .

I encourage you to follow the link above; scroll down past the "advertising" to the actual text of this remarkable song. If you have never listened to Mullins' last project, the "Jesus Record," buy it (download or CD). I'm not a huge CCM fan, but this album is one of my favorites of any genre. The texts and music (though not necessarily all the performances) are that good.

The song begins by asking Jesus to teach me how to walk as he did, because I want to walk with him. That, above all else, is my prayer this Lent. And as I see it, that's a thoroughly dangerous prayer, if I really mean what I say. I can't pray to walk as Jesus walked, without being changed.