Tag Archives: music

How Great Thou Art

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He was a new member of our choir when he offered a solo rendition of How Great Thou Art. The strong, mellow baritone voice filled the sanctuary with sonerous sounds and a feeling of awe.

On Friday a gathering of friends, family and church family sang this very hymn in honor of yet another of our members who left us to sing in Heaven’s choir, after many years of loyal service in our church.

Laurie will be so missed by so many and I, for  one, could feel his presence on Friday as we sang his favorite hymn, How Great Thou Art.

Matters of the Heart

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Matters of the heart can mean many things, one being an actual heart attack where the heart is physically endangered and/or damaged. It can also mean that from the heart flows life, not only physical but emotional life…and life is definitely an emotional experience.

Here is some biblical advice concerning the heart:

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23 NIV

Create in me a pure heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 NIV

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26 NIV

As water reflects a face so a man’s heart reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19 NIV

…love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Peter 1:22 NIV

There are so many more to do with loving the Lord and each other, but these few were weighing on my heart. There are so many lessons to be learned in life and I believe that having a loving heart opens us to each new learning experience whereas a closed heart, as the Bible says, a heart of stone, closes us to them.

 

 

Stand By Me

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On Thursday I attended another end-of-life celebration. A dear friend in her 95th year had been declining for a few years after breaking a hip which never completely healed. This robbed her of her active life and eventually landed her into a long-term-care facility where each year she longed to be closer to her Maker.

Not long ago as I entered her room for a visit she called out, “Oh, Pat. I’m still here and I don’t know what to do.” “Well, Carol,” I replied, “there is a long line of people waiting at the gates of Heaven and you will just have to be patient and wait your turn.”

Carol had been very active in our church and community for over sixty years and as one of our elders, cared deeply for those in her care. She, too, had been a comforting visitor to many people and had seen many of her friends climb that stairway to heaven.

I had the opportunity and pleasure of meeting her two sons and daughter on many occasions while visiting Carol. Their love for their mother was very evident in the way they each attended to her needs at various times. There was affection, gentle chiding, wholesome conversation and endless hours of just being with her. They were always standing by her side.

Yesterday I heard that wonderful song, “Stand by Me” and it brought tears to my eyes as Carol and her devoted family came into my mind.

Don’t we all need somebody to Stand by Me? Enjoy this rendition from many parts of our world and have a Happy Saturday.

https://youtu.be/oiPzU75P9FA

Need a Little Exercise?

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Yesterday I was treated to another show of birds in my yard but what really caught my eye was a very plump robin on the birdbath. He leaned in to take a drink and leaned back to swallow it. After a few seconds of watching this, a song came to my mind. You guessed it…Rockin’ Robin. I found it on You Tube and before long was getting a day’s worth of exercise. Oh, those birds bring me so much joy!

Need a little exercise? Just dance along with Rockin’ Robin and his feathered friends on Jay Bird Street, the buzzard, oriole, pretty little raven and the gang. Go ahead, enjoy the movement, and if you have bad knees, you can bop in your chair. Have fun!

…a time to mourn and a time to dance…Ecclesiastes 3:4 NIV

 

God Has a Sense of Humor

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God has a sense of humor…or at least some of his clergy do. We had a guest speaker for our men’s day service yesterday. This pastor also happens to be a wonderful saxophone player who often plays in the contemporary music part of our services. He did not play his sax yesterday but did make reference to human saxuality and sax appeal. You would wonder how that fit into a sermon but it did, much to the congregation’s delight…or at least most of us.

The choir was a special men’s group consisting of twenty-six gents of various ages including three youth, the youngest being twelve, our regular pastor, the guest pastor, and a trumpet player. The music was superb and a solo performed by one of our regular tenors was flawless, moving a couple of our ladies to tears.

Whether or not we believe God has a sense of humor we need only look at Psalm 126:2 Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy to describe our congregation yesterday.

God obviously has endowed our (dare I say saxy?) guest preacher with the gift of laughter and the ability to share it.