Song for Sunday (Belated) Mary's Lullaby

 I tried to post yesterday, but had trouble with my computer.

This is the advent week dedicated to peace. What could be more peaceful than a lullaby?

What holiday song song speaks "peace" to you? 

Song for Sunday: God Help Me!

This song by Plumb is a reminder that faith and Christian life isn't all happiness and light. There are struggles, failures and difficulties. We all get sunshine, we all get rain. Faith doesn't protect us from the bad stuff. It was never meant to.


I cam across this song last week in the midst of a spiritual struggle. It helped a lot. I hope it can be of help to others.


Here's the link:

What songs help you? 

Song For Sunday (a day late): Oh That Will Be Glory for Me

I had been participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge and trying to revitalize this blog with a temporary theme of "Beginnings". Then a perfect storm of responsibilities, family needs and the like hit and this project took a back seat. But now I am trying to be back.

I heard this hymn for the first time yesterday at a funeral. It had been chosen by the deceased for use at her memorial service. It  touched me. It also fits where I am now, so it becomes today's Song for Sunday. May it inspire you!

Song for Sunday: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

We sang a version of this song in worship this morning, and it resonated. I sang it a lot with Bible study groups in college, so memory plays a part. Also,  it seems like a good reminder.

So, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus - an updated version --becomes today's Song for Sunday. May it be an encouragement to you.

What songs are resonating with you?

What songs help you worship?





I am participating on the October 2017 Ultimate Blog Challenge. A blog post every day in October. #blogboost 

This Year's Creche

Every year, I write a post about the creche Jordan puts together for our home. Since he was four years old, Jordan has set up the manger scene for us. We've had some interesting ones.

Jordan's Strange Creche
A Broken World ... Seeking Peace
Jordan's Creche for this Year 
Creche 2014 Edition
Jordan's Creche: 2015 Edition 

This year has another unusual narrative.

Mary and Joseph are in a small camp on one side of the room. They have lost the baby Jesus and are discussing how best to look for him.

Meanwhile, the manger is on the roof of the stable on the other side of the other side of the room. The donkey and the angels know where Jesus will be Christmas morning and are set to look after him, until his parents find him.









My son is definitely imaginative. This isn't the biblical Christmas narrative.


Then again, maybe what we should be doing this season is looking for the baby. Looking for Jesus.

A Very Merry Christmas 

to You and Yours!!

Song for Sunday: Mary Did You Know?

A link for enjoyment on this Advent Sunday of Joy. 

Blessings!!

Song for Sunday: I Wish You Peace

This second Sunday in Advent, according to my church’s liturgy for the advent wreath, is the Sunday of Peace.

In our world right now, peace is hard to find. There is war. There are people slinging names at each other across political divides, there are people doing violence to others because they are different. 

Part of the Christmas message, though, is peace. A peace granted by God to all of us because His favor rests on us. Simple as that. 

An ultimate peace will be found when Christ returns and His Kingdom is fully realized. May it be soon. 

In the meantime, let us wish each other peace. Not just in words, but in action. Not just to fellow Christians but to everyone. 

That’s why I Wish You Peace by  the Eagles  is today’s Song for Sunday,  Here;s a link for you to enjoy. 

May God’s peace be upon you!

Song for Sunday: For the Fruit of All Creation

Happy New Year!

Today, the first Sunday of Advent, is the first day of the Christian liturgical year. Baptists like me tend not to pay overmuch attention to such things, but I usually give  a nod to this new start.

And what better time than the beginning of a new year to begin again with my blog? I've neglected it for a while.

So, Song for Sunday.


At our Family Thanksgiving Service, we sang this hymn. The piece that stuck with me was the second half of the second verse:

"In our worldwide task of caring
for the hungry and despairing,
in the harvests we are sharing,
God's will is done."
                   ~Fred Pratt Green

It makes me think, how am I caring for the hungry and despairing? How am I sharing my harvest? How am I offering my body as a living sacrifice?

I volunteer, participate in service projects, and go on the occasional short term mission trip, but my life is comfortable. Am I supposed to do more?

I need to pray....


In the meantime, may the words of this hymn challenge you as well.

What has challenged you recently?

Song for Sunday: Make Me An Instrument of Your Peace.

The beautiful prayer of St. Francis.

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.


It's a translation, so some versions are a bit different. 


On this fifteenth anniversary of a national tragedy -- an attack on the nation-- how can we promote peace? How can we be channels of God's love and mercy?


The prayer offers thoughts on this for big national situations, small personal ones, and all in between.
Let us make it our prayer.

Here's a version to help focus prayer.

Blessings on your remembrances and your prayers.

Song for Sunday: If We're Honest

I danced to this with my young cousin in church today. We choreographed it ourselves, and danced it as a worship offering --"special music."

It's today's Song for Sunday, because these lyrics caught my attention.

Bring your brokenness and I'll bring mine
'Cause love can heal what hurt divides
and mercy's waiting on the other side,
If we're honest.....if we're honest. 

They seem apropos to a few situations I'm involved in just now.


Shall we pray for each other?



What song has held a message for you recently?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

Been a while. Glad to be back to blogging!

Song for Sunday: I Sing the Mighty Power of God

So early last week, especially during the full moon, a line kept coming to my mind: "The moon shines full at His command and all the stars obey." I knew it was from a hymn, but didn't recall which one or any other of the lyrics. 

Today at worship we sang Isaac Watts hymn. "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" and the line was there. So that hymn became today's Song for Sunday. It is a wonderful hymn, reminding us of God's sovereignty. 

Here's a link to an acapella version.

Have a blessed day!!

Song for Sunday: Three Little Birds (Every Little Thing Gonna Be Alright

I spent the weekend at my job for the School of Ministry. One of the students, Linda, offered a neat devotional on Bob Marley's song "Three Little Birds."

THe song reminded her of the passage in Matthew 6 that says:

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendorwas dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The two go very well together and the devotion was a much needed reminder.

Thanks, Linda.

Song for Sunday: Hark the Voice of Jesus Calling

I was at a school building yesterday for a competition my son was in. (Proud mom alert: He took the red rosette -- second in the state for his category of 4H visual presentations. Excuse me while I burst a button or two.)

Anyway...

At the school their were several signs like this one, reminding students not to make excuses about missed homework, shoddy work, inappropriate behavior etc.

                                                                                Today's Song for Sunday, a hymn from church this morning, reminded me of those signs and of the fact that Christian have no excuses for not working toward the kingdom of God.         

          

"Let none hear you idly saying,
'There is nothing I can do,'
While the multitudes are dying
And the master calls for you."

What songs have caught your attention lately?

Roads, Walls & Soldiers' Toilets: Reflections on History and Survival

Yesterday, we drove down a Roman Road. It was very straight and, after nearly 2,000 years, very usable.

Of course, over the milennia it has received maintenance, upgrades, paving and modern markings. All over Britain there are ancient Roman roads still in use.

We took that Roman Road to an ancient fort called "Housesteads." Really, a ruin. You can still see the outlines of many buildings. From an archaeological perspective, it is remarkably well preserved, but trust me, you don't want to use these toilets. Though the latrine was built to the highest level of sanitation technology known in the world at that time, it is now a curiosity, useful only to teach us about the past.

Preservation is a wonderful thing, as is learning about the past. Ruins are one way to recognize our history and to feel connected to those who came before.

But there is an even greater connection, a living connection, when we are still using the items our ancestors made. I have seen this in the castles, church buildings and cathedrals we have visited, too. Some are simply museums, showing old items and teaching facts -- often in creative and interactive ways. I love re-enactors!

Others are stil residences, places where people live, eat, laugh and cry. Or they house vibrant congregations who continue the tradition of worship. They don't live and worship exactly as their ancestors however. They have electricity, running water, projectors, updated language, new styles of music, different clothing, new forms of art and communication mixed in with the old. Historical, yet living. Renewed and transformed, yet connected to centuries past.

How is your church or organization? Is it a museum to the past or a living community? It's worth thinking about.








+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

CYC does a good job of balancing tradition with renewal. It's a 100 year old ministry to teens. Send your highschoolers along to this amazing two weeks in August on the southern coast of Maine. It's not too late to sign up for our 100th anniversary conference that starts August 2, 2015.  

Song for Sunday: Beauty for Brokenness

I have used this prayer for shalom or wholeness as a Song for Sunday before, but we sang it in church today and it grabbed my attention. God has been challenging me to remember, even identify with, the poor. This time around it is these lyrics that caught me:

Shelter for fragile lives 

Cures for their ills 

Work for the craftsman

Trade for their skills 

Land for the dispossessed

Rights for the weakVoices to plead the cause

Of those who can't speak

                                                 Graham Kendrick
                                                 Copyright © 1993 Make Way Music,
                                                www.grahamkendrick.co.uk

                                                          Graham Kendrick, author,  talking about this song. 


And a link to the song itself: 

What has God been calling your attention to lately?

How are you called to help the poor?

CYC (Christian Youth Conference at Ocean Park) is a two week leadership development program for high school students. It meets August 2-15, 2015 on the beautiful southern coast of Maine and is open to all teens ages 14 and up who have completed at least eighth grade. Check it out!

Thoughts on a Prayer Service

I attended Evensong at Westminster Abbey yesterday. Pretty amazing, eh? I am very blessed to have this 10 days of visiting family and seeing important historical and literary places in England with my son. We will then, with my husband,  get to visit family all over England with a few more educational trips thrown in.

This amazing blessing shows how much I have. Which brings me back to Sung Evensong at Westminster Abbey.

The general confession from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer was read in unison. It goes like this:

O God, Our Father, , we have sinned against in thee in thought, word, and deed:. we have not loved thee with all our heart; we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. Have mercy upon us, we beseech thee; cleanse us from our sins; and help us to overcome our faults; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Later in the service we heard this reading from the New Testament:

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
³¹ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”



The juxtaposition struck me, especially in light of my "wealth." (I am a lower middle class American by income.Globally, that's a lot of wealth.) From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Time for prayer and loving my neighbor more.





CYC is a two week conference for high school teens on the beautiful southern coast of Maine. August 2-15. Check it out here.

Song for Sunday: One Great Hour to Share

As aftershocks continue to wrack Nepal and over 2200 have died, I post a song about sharing

I heard it yeaterday, at The American Baptiist Churches of Masschusetts' Annual Gathering. We met to worship, to learn, and to honor our retiring executive minister. This song was sung (by the same people who sing it in the video linked below) I confess I was close to tears listening to it.

Part of sharing is sharing the gospel, but practical aid is also critical.
 "Faith without works is dead." ~James 2: 17. This song is a good reminder of that.

Words and Music by Leslie Lee and Steve Gretz 

What song is on your mind today?

This is my 25th post for the April 2015 Ultimate Blog Challenge. 

Glow in the Dark

I am at a youth retreat and the theme is "Glow in the Dark." This ancient prayer, especially the first few lines, fits in perfectly. We are talking a lot about transformation. We also had a Color Powder War, because why not?

Anyway, to help in your worship of God:

Look upon us, O Lord,
and let all the darkness of our souls
vanish before the beams of thy brightness.
Fill us with holy love,
and open to us the treasures of thy wisdom.
All our desire is known unto thee,
therefore perfect what thou hast begun,
and what thy Spirit has awakened us to ask in prayer.
We seek thy face,
turn thy face unto us and show us thy glory.
Then shall our longing be satisfied,
and our peace shall be perfect.
                                ~St. Augustine

Read more at: http://www.faithandworship.com/early_Christian_prayers.htm#ixzz3YNxwIGIp 
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution 
Follow us: @faithandworship on Twitter | faithandworship on Facebook


Are there any ancient prayers or writings that fit your life right now?




This is my 24th post for the April 2015 Ultimate Blog Challenge. 



Check out the Christian Youth Conference. Friends, fun, the beach, craziness and plenty of prayer. August 2-15 on the beautiful southern coast of Maine. For high school teens.

Song for Sunday: GIve it All

This song has come to mind a few times this week. It gets sung frequently at CYC, often at the girl's commitment night fire. It has comforted me countless times.





The second verse is:

"He never promised there'd always be sunshine, He never said there'd be no rain.

He only promised a heart full of singing at the very things that once brought pain."

In other words, he'll transform the tough things in our lives into beautiful things, though we aren't given a timescale. Could be Heaven for some things.










Anyway, enjoy this rendition of the song.

What songs bring you comfort?

This is my 18th post for the April 2015 Ultimate Blog Challenge.

We sing a lot at the Christian Youth Conference at Ocean Park, a quality discipleship training program and experience of Christian Community, held each August on the beautiful southern coast of Maine. Celebrating our 100th Anniversary! Send your teens!



Song for Sunday: One Love

One of the students at the school of ministry I serve as the registrar for offered devotions and included this song, reminding us that Bob Marley wrote several Christian praise and worship songs, despite some life choices that are often considered out of step with church culture.

We had a good time singing along to this. It has a fun beat and a and nice message. So it becomes my Song for Sunday.

What are some of your favorite praise and worship songs? Or religious songs?

________________________________________________________________________________

This is my 11th post for the April 2015 Ultimate Blog Challenge.

We sing a lot at the Christian Youth Conference at Ocean Park, a quality discipleship training program and experience of Christian Community, held each August on the beautiful southern coast of Maine. Celebrating our 100th Anniversary!