Because Christ...

All week long as Easter Sunday quickly approaches, I can't help but be grounded in the Scriptures that deal with the death, burial, and resurrection of our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ. One dominating thought kept going through my mind..."because Christ." Because of what Christ did for us, we don't have to worry about the clutches of sin. I brought a message Wednesday night from 1 Peter 2:21-25 that speaks of Christ's love for us and how he never reviled or fought back at his accusers, though there were many.

You can listen to the audio sermon here:


Or watch the video sermon here:


1 Peter 2:21-25

21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

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A Palm Sunday Message

This past Sunday I was blessed by having the opportunity to visit another church and preach. It just so happened to be Palm Sunday and the Lord allowed me to bring a message about it. I was both excited and nervous to get to be preaching somewhere I had never been before. You always wonder how you will be received and if the place you are going is the kind of church you are accustomed to. I shouldn't have worried one single bit. The folks at Walridge Baptist were very hospitable and they made me and my family feel right at home. Although we had never been there before we felt completely comfortable. I hope to be able to worship with those folks again in the future. You can watch a video of the message at THIS LINK or below:

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One down ten to go

We had our first Easter Cantata practice this past Sunday. I thought it went fairly well, all things considered. I chose one of Brentwood's "Easy 2-part" series for us to learn, The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference. It is a very easy arrangement if you can read music, unfortunately most of our choir can't read music. I have intended on having sight reading and shape note classes for them sometime but just haven't had time to do it. They do a great job of listening and following along with the music and always pick it up eventually. Still, it would be nice if they could read music.

Most of the songs were familiar to everyone except for, Always the Cross. It is a really beautiful song with great words but is just a little more contemporary than what we are used to. None of our youth were there for practice and I think they will probably like it the most. I think we will do alright on it and it may even become one of our favorites.

I had failed to give Barbara (our pianist) a copy of the music before our first practice so she was seeing it for the first time as well. We played the listening CD over the sound system and she played along with it. She did an outstanding job. I wish there was an accompaniment copy of the music because the books are difficult for her to turn the pages while playing. I will probably need to take a book apart, enlarge the print and place them in a notebook with plastic sleeves. We had the same problem with last year's Easter cantata too.

So, all in all it was a great start. I think once we get comfortable with it we will really enjoy it. We only have 10 more opportunities to practice!

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2010 Easter Cantata

It seems like only yesterday we were singing last year's Easter Cantata, AMEN. It was a fairly simple arrangement of songs based on 2 parts. After much careful consideration and prayer, an Easter Cantata has been chosen for this year. I placed an order for the books and listening CD today with Brentwood Music. The Cantata that has been chosen is called, "The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference." The songs in it are:

1. Opening Medley (There's Room at the Cross / Love Divine / Christ the Lord Is Risen Today)
2. Always the Cross
3. The Old Rugged Cross Made The Difference
4. There's Room At The Cross
5. Crown Him! Medley (Crown Him With Many Crowns, Grace Greater Than Our Sin, Amazing Grace)

The title song, The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference, is a song that our ladies trio already sings, so I plan to ask them if they will sing that selection by themselves.

This is another easy arrangement written for 2-parts. I don't think we will have any problems with it. I'm really excited about getting busy learning this cantata. We only have 12 Sundays available between now and Easter so we've got to get on it.

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Relieved, sad, and worn out

Well, all of the hard work and practice leading up to the Easter Cantata is finally over. We performed "AMEN" this morning during the Easter Sunday Worship service. I am relieved, sad, and worn out now that it's over. As I placed the cantata book into my choir bag after the service, it was like I was putting away an old friend. This cantata had a special meaning to me on so many levels. I dedicated the cantata in the memory of Mrs. Dockery. I thought of her many times today while at church. I missed her terribly but I knew she was having a much better Easter than I was. She is actually with the one that we were singing about! But, I was still sad as I turned to the front page of my book and saw her name written there. This was also the first "real" cantata that I had taught our choir. Always before it was just song selections that I had picked out and threw together, stuff that they already knew on some level. AMEN was pretty difficult for a choir such as ours. I was very proud of our members and how much they worked on this and put forth such effort. They are such a great group of people.

There was a nice turnout for the choir, not so much for the entire church. Many empty seats this morning. Things just aren't like they used to be when on Easter Sunday morning the church house would be packed full. I can remember services where you were lucky to get a seat. This morning you had your choice.

The low church attendance didn't effect the effort that we put into our cantata. I believe each and every choir member put forth 100%. I thought the sound was excellent. We only had a couple of small hiccups through the entire 30-minute performance. I brought the choir in 2-beats too early on one song and Barbara accidentally turned 2-pages instead of one during one of our songs. We kept going right along and didn't miss a beat.

Our opening song was the title song, AMEN. After we finished, everyone in the church began clapping. I'm not sure if it was because it was so good or because they thought we were finished. If it was the latter, they were in for a surprise. It is a pretty long cantata. If you actually listened to the words and the spoken parts in between numbers, you will hear about the entire life of Jesus, topped off with a salute to his power and majesty. I think my very favorite number is "Why Should He Love Me So?" It is so beautiful and so true. I cry nearly every time we sing it. I'll try to get the whole thing uploaded soon and post a link to listen. Songs include:

AMEN…...........Wonderful Words Of Life............Let The Song Go Round The Earth..............Why Should He Love Me So?......Alas and Did My Savior Bleed / My Faith Looks Up To Thee.....................Crown Him / All Hail King Jesus....AMEN (Reprise)

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Good Friday Communion Service 2009

I had been looking forward to tonight for several weeks. Our pastor began having Good Friday communion services last year and I really enjoyed it. I knew that it would just be our usual faithful few that would come out. I was pleased that we had about 29 people show up tonight. A few of our regulars weren't there because of prior commitments but we had a nice turn out. Just like last year, we all sat together in the center front section of the church. It felt good for everyone to be so close together, more like a family. I wish we would do that all of the time. Sometimes I feel like our church is so big inside and we all spread out away from each other and it seems cold and distant. I honestly feel that we would have better services if everyone would come together as one. At least move down toward the front and participate instead of sitting way back in the back like they have one foot out the door.

Last week, my aunt Barbara asked me if I would sing "Man of Sorrows, What A Name," during the communion service. I wasn't sure how people would react to it. It's not the "usual" Highland kind of hymn. The song was written in the 1800's by one of the greatest hymn writers in history, Philip Bliss. It tells the story of Jesus and is so touching. I didn't hear any feedback afterwards so I'm still not sure how well it went over. I love this kind of music. I also sang it more in the fashion of how I was trained to sing and it felt nice to me. You can listen to me sing this song with Barbara playing the piano, here:

Man of Sorrows, What a Name

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, Who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
Full atonement can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
"It is finished!" was His cry;
Now in heaven exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we'll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

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Wow, what a practice!

We are into the 2nd week of practicing our Easter cantata, AMEN. We have been singing along with the sample CD and I've been a little nervous about how well we would sound. My fears were dispelled tonight when as we were singing along with the CD, it all of a sudden stopped. We just kept right on singing and it sounded WONDERFUL! Now, I'm always the first to brag on our choir but I've got to say that those folks exceeded my expectations.

This is the first time that we have really split up the parts (men and women). That's the way that the music is arranged, for two parts. Our youth are really getting involved this time and it makes a big difference in the way we sound. I'm happy to see them getting more serious about the music ministry. They are a great bunch of kids.

We were really missing Barbara tonight. She is not feeling well and wasn't able to come to church this weekend. I know we will sound even better when we have her playing the piano along with us instead of the accompaniment CD. I'm really excited about this years Easter program!

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They're here, they're here!!!

The new Easter Cantata books are here!!!

Talk about fast! Lifeway really came through. Only 4-days after ordering the 20-books, they arrived at my front doorstep today. Now we can really get into things.

All of the songs are pretty simple and it is written for just 2-parts. Nothing fancy. At first, I had considered eliminating one of the songs in the musical, Let the Song Go Round the Earth, but after listening to it several times I have fell in love with it. I feel that all of the songs together tell the story of Jesus very nicely, and the reading parts along with scripture makes it the perfect Easter cantata. I think everyone that hears it will be pleased and blessed.

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A New Year, New Songs, New Challenges

We had our first choir practice of the year last night. It went very well. We started on some new music and discussed our upcoming Easter Cantata.

We started out with an old Vestal Goodman classic, "God Walks the Dark Hills." I have always loved this song and like I mentioned in my last post, I had a vision of our choir singing it. That vision came to light last night after I purchased a copy of the sheet music online and then presented it to the choir during practice. After a little gentle persuasion, Marilyn agreed to sing the verses while the rest of the choir joined in on the chorus. I thought it sounded fantastic, especially for our first try. I know Marilyn will do a great job on the solo parts.

Next, I had them try one of the songs that my previous choir (House Mountain) used to sing. It is a song made popular by my favorite group, the Kingsmen Quartet, called "I'll Live Again." What can I say but WOW! The choir really picked up on it quickly and we even opened up the service with it last night. I normally work on songs for several weeks before trying them in the service but I felt they knew if well enough to go ahead last night, and they did. I think it will become one of our favorites.

Finally, I introduced the Easter Cantata that I had picked out for this year. I got a few weird looks when I told them that the first song was, "Amen." But, I think everyone came around as we listened to the CD and sang along some. It is a well known song and Sis. Carol will be doing the lead parts while the rest of the choir backs her up. I know she is a little nervous about doing it right but I also know she will do an outstanding job. I don't expect us to sound like one of those 100-member choirs or anything, I just want us to have fun and spread the Gospel.

As you know, I was in a dilemma over purchasing the cantata books. I was pleased that most everyone agreed to pay for their own copy. Last night I went ahead and ordered 20-copies from Lifeway. They gave me a huge discount, only $4.76 a piece plus shipping! So it was just a total of $106.20. That's much better than the $126 that I thought it would be. I'm excited about getting into this new book and seeing how well the choir will sound. Only 13-more practices until Easter! YIKES!!!

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The Music Budget

...or lack of.

As I mentioned before, I am a non-paid Minister of Music at my church. We are not a huge church and we don't have budgets for a lot of things. So, that means I do not have a music budget. I'm always told by our deacon board to get whatever I need and the church will pay for it, but I just don't feel right about doing that. I know that we need every penny that we get to pay the bills, pastor's salary, association fees, missions, etc. So I very rarely ever ask for anything.

Every year at Christmas, all of the officers of the church are presented with a check of $25.00. I normally just put it back in the offering plate. However, this year I cashed it and used it to buy a new bookshelf for the choir room. I felt bad about cashing it but was really grateful to get a new shelf. I've already filled it up and could use another one but that's beside the point.

It is coming up on Easter time and I've been looking at different Easter Cantata music. A few months ago I was at the Evangel Christian Book store and bought a dozen or so used cantata books for $2.00 each. I sorted through them and found one called, Amen, that I thought would be good for our choir to learn. I went back to the Evangel yesterday and found 2-more of the same book. It is produced by Lifeway and retails there for $5.99 a piece. I usually get at least 23-copies of music to go around, 20 for the choir, one for me, one for the pianist, and one for the organist. Some folks end up having to share but it works out good. So I am 20-copies short right now. To purchase enough books I will need $120.00. Where will that money come from? Should I ask choir members to pony up and buy their own copy? Should I ask the church to pay for them?

Tonight while I was at my parent's house we were discussing church budgets. They attend a different church than I do and they have several more members and a pretty large budget. I noticed they have over $6,000 allotted for choir music! Wow, what I could do with that! I guess I just need to turn it over to God and trust Him to work things out for me. He always does but it sure would be nice to not have to worry every time I need new music!

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