When you feel miserable inside, look at the cross and you’ll know what is happening. Suffering, pain, humiliation and feelings of loneliness are nothing but the kiss of Jesus; a sign that you have come so close that he can kiss you. Never put on a long face. Suffering...
Could the real pageant not be a play at all, but my lifeAs I take my gifts, my insecurities, my worriesTo the Christ Child, like the Magi took their gifts to the manger,And allow God to recreate within me a new life,A living pageant that does not end on Christmas Day,...
I personally know a family whose most meaningful Christmas truly embraced its spirit. [In 1986 this family thought of a needy family in their congregation that was struggling just to survive.] The parents and their two children discussed together how to help this...
Offering whatever you have and whatever you are is enough. Too many people don’t believe that, so they don’t get involved. Because we can’t do what we think would really make a big difference, we don’t offer our own gift—whatever that is. …Jesus taught his disciples...
A corollary to the fact that the congregation is the primary musical group in the church, is that the primary function of the choir is to help the congregation sing better. The choir is not to be a performing group where the musical elite of the church prepare and...
Make no mistake about it: the most important musical group in the church is the congregation. Worship is for all of God’s people; the New Testament doctrine of the priesthood of all believers calls for the saints to lift up their voices (whether musically gifted or...
What will be the judgment a century hence concerning the lorded works of our favorite composers today? Inasmuch as nearly everything is subject to the changes of time, and—more’s the pity—the fashions of time, only that which is good and true will endure like a rock...
The role of worship is foundational to the work of the church… God must be first in our private and corporate lives. If we have not placed our private and corporate relationship with God in first place, we cannot expect God to be active in our lives and church. Music...
The church’s song, like music itself, is a gift of God. Music is a joy and delight with which God graces creation. We do not bargain for it. We do not deserve it. It is simply freely given, there for the hearing, a joyous overflow of creation’s goodness. from The...
Music is a demanding art. To achieve excellence in it requires hard discipline and unremitting work. Yet with all his devotion to it a Christian musician must keep his priorities clear. God is the source of all talent. When God gives talent, including musical talent,...