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...
Last Sunday, we stood for a hymn. I opened my mouth to sing and found a sob. Soon, I was weeping from the sheer joy of being there, my wife and son on one side, three friends on the other, and around us good-hearted and faithful people drawing close to God. I am sure...
We encounter the sweet and the bitter; together they make up a mixed song that we sing to God.
No matter how corrupt, greedy and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religions and charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful… Let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS...
The acceptance of the fact that Christian existence is based on and permeated with God’s forgiveness in Christ through the Holy Spirit strikes simultaneous deathblows to attitudes which can be described as musical legalism and musical lawlessness. Musical legalism can...
We image God in the music we make and perform. When the program is hit-or-miss, we show forth a God who lacks purpose and direction;…when our performance of music lacks vitality or artistic grace, we portray God as inert; when our musical choices revolve around taste...
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,...
At times a choir may sing to or for a congregation of worshipers, but God remains the ultimate audience. However, a presentation from a choir can qualify as Christian proclamation every bit as much as a sermon. Intended as a gift to God, such a musical declaration is...
Has it happened yet? Has the music of your skill and practice unlocked the music of your heart? We’ve all had moments when the music of our heart has seeped out and been a part of a performance. But have you been able to access that music and use it in praise and...
Glory is to God what style is to an artist. A painting by Vermeer, a sonnet by Donne, a Mozart aria—each is so rich with the style of the one who made it that to the connoisseur it couldn’t have been made by anybody else, and the effect is staggering. The style of an...