A Different Kind of Day

Happy Leap Day! It's a DIFFeRnT kind of day. Did you know that a year is actually 365.242216 days long? So every four years (I'm sure you already know all of this) we add a leap day. The only exception to the every four year deal (you can find them by finding years divisible by 4) is Century years when the year has to be divisible by 400. As you can see high math skills were necessary before computers did our math for us.

And guess who added leap day to our calendar. That great calendar guy, Julius Caesar!

What a perfect lead in to day 13 of our Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play countdown. Alex has learned the entire script. He says, "Bow before the image of Caesar you brown dog."

A dIffERENt kind of day reminds me... have I mentioned that the Passion Play is DiFFERunT this year? People say, "oh, I'm glad it's DIFFaRENt. It was the same for years." and then in the next breath, "this is where we do this" followed by a nice description of previous Passion Plays. Let me gently say one more time. The Passion Play is DIFFERENT this year. Don't be looking for a white horse in the last scene!

Our drama rehearsals have been going wonderfully. The actors are great! I know you are going to really like it. It's different!

Construction Crew

Today is day 14 on our countdown. Can you feel the excitement in the air?

Take a look at this great construction team! You probably recognize Neal (our foreman - he knows where everything goes!) and Curtis as construction guys, but look who else showed up - Mark and Dan (and of course yours truly was there - it's too cool getting to wear the yellow hat to not be there)

The Joel Osteen Theory

I've been accused a few times - or flattered - of looking like Joel Osteen. There's a lady at the meat and three in Joelton who asks me to pray for her every time I go in there because she thinks I'm him.


Here's a note Tony got a few weeks ago from one of his friends who was here for our DiscipleNow weekend.




"Lyndel Littleton Joel Osteen



coincidence? i think not. i believe your music minister is joel osteen in disguise!

i hope you get as much of a kick out of this as i did.

kurt"

Recording Session

Scott and I will be working on a recording that we will use for Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play 2008 tonight at about 6:30. If you are in the area and want to see what we are doing (and maybe sing a note or two) come on by the choir room. There aren't any other activities happening at church tonight, so if you drop by, use the side door on the office side of the building.

Blame the Groundhog!

I've always been one to poke fun at those who look to rodents for their weather forcasts. http://hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/2008/02/happy-groundhogs-day.html

And if I were a superstitious kind of person - which I am not (This would be a good spot to put in a mini sermon about Christians being superstitious, but I'll spare you this morning.) - anyway, if I were superstitious I would say I messed everything up when I bad-mouthed the groundhog.

It's 8:30 and it's still snowing here in the holler. I'll brave devil's elbow in a minute and head to Clarksville...

Here's a picture of devil's elbow after the blizzard in '51. Yes, for you younger readers, they had cameras back then.

http://www.joelton.com/history/blizzard.htm

Check back later today for more news about rehearsals.

Snow Day Again?!?!?!

Oh my! I'm watching Fox 17's 9:00 news on Comcast (that's our cable company here in the holler) and Cheatham and Robertson have already cancelled school for tomorrow! But so far Montgomery is holding out. It's kind of funny to think that while I am praying that we WILL have school there are hundreds of students AND TEACHERS who are praying that we will have a snow day.

We realllllly don't have time to miss another Wednesday before Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play 2008. I'm going to bed. I can't watch, it's too scarey!

Set Construction Continues

Day 16 of our Bow the KneeHilldale's Passion Play countdown.
Make sure you check the rehearsal schedule on yesterday's post.


Updates:

We really have a very nice set. Even though it is in the early stages of being put together you can tell what a great set it will be when completed.


We have a donkey! I'm sorry I don't know her name. She even has experience in this line of work. She's owned by the guy who owns the camels. (He told me that he doesn't have any camels able to work right now. I think the older ones retired and the younger ones will still kick and spit - which most audiences find rather annoying. So, sorry, no camels this year. Maybe next year.)

We have two tiki torches. Have you looked in your garage to see if you have one we can use?

Don't forget we are recording tomorrow night. There will be a big Hilldale Hoops celebration tomorrow night in the Sanctuary, but that won't affect us. If you have a child getting abasketball award you should go see that. But don't feel like you have to stay and watch the illusionist.


Can you find the piano?

Charter Thinks I'm SPAM

I just sent an e-mail to the choir. You know, one of my famous "e-inchoirers" and all of the Charter mail came back. It said my e-mail was identified as SPAM! Hmmph. Now I don't know what to do. It will take me all day to send those out one at a time. I guess if you have Charter internet you'll have to check the blog more often. Of course the e-mail was telling you to check the blog. Maybe that's why it thought it was SPAM.

Charter! I'm OK! I promise! I won't try to sell you drugs!

As Easy As 1 - 2 - 3

A helpful set of information for all participants in Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play 2008 (still on day 17). Non-choir actors need to be here for scenes that they are in. They will recieve that informaion in the mail. Choir members need to be here as often as they can (except the two rehearsals that say "no choir"). I know that life goes on and you have things you must do, but it will help all of us - and you will be better and more comfortable - if you can be here as often as you can.

1. First, you need to know the scenes and songs.


Scenes 1-3 - Opening, Crowd Scenes and Healing - One Day Every Knee Shall Bow, Miracle Man
Scene 4 - In front of the temple - When I Fall Down
Scene 5a - Triumphal Entry - Everybody Sing Hosanna
Scene 5b - Last Supper - Remember Me
Scene 5c - Marcus confronts Anthony
Scene 6 - The Garden - So All Alone
Scenes 6b-8 - Arrest, Pilate's Court, Crucifixion - They Cried Crucify, Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed, Bow the Knee, Surely
Scene 9 - Resurrection - I Will Arise
Scene 10 - The Empty Tomb - Celebrate the Victory
Scene 11 - Heaven - One Day Every Knee Shall Bow





2. Then you need to know the schedule.


Day & Date – Time – Scenes
Wednesday, February 27, 6:30 - recording
Thursday, February 28, 6:00 - scenes 6, 7, 8 (no choir)
7:30 - scene 5b (no choir)
Saturday, March 1, 9:00 - scenes 1, 2, 3, 4
10:00 - scenes 11, 6, 7, 8
Monday, March 3 6:00 - scene 5a,
6:30 - scene 4 (main characters in costume for pictures for newspaper)
7:00 - scene 2
7:30 - scene 9, 10, 11
8:30 - scene 6, 7, 8
Wednesday, March 5 - 6:00 All scenes
Thursday, March 6 - 6:00 Whichever scenes need the most work
Monday, March 10 - 6:00 Whichever scenes need the most work
Wednesday, March 12 - 6:00 Straight run through
Thursday, March 13 - 6:00 Dress Rehearsal
Friday, March 14 - 6:00 call
7:00 - performance
Saturday, March 15 - 6:00 call
7:00 - performance
Sunday, March 16 - lunch right after 10:30 service
2:00 - call
3:00 - performance





Wednesday, March 19 - NO REHEARSAL!





3. Then you need to show up as often as you can.

Easy as 1 -2 -3!

Tiki Torches and Other Fun Stuff

Did you know that it is too early in the season for Wal-mart to carry tiki torches? Did you know that we need some. Five would be good. Do you have an old bamboo tiki torch wasting away in your garage? Can we borrow it? Let me know!

How are the costumes coming? Since we are on day 17 of our countdown I'm guessing your costume is ready to go. Some of you have said, "I have a costume." Does that mean you have one in your closet? Or does it mean you have one upstairs that you figure you have always worn and so therefor it is yours? If you are planning on using a costume upstairs you will need to talk to the costume lady THIS WEDNESDAY!

We have a lead on a donkey. Yeah! (not Brenda. You can read her story here Brenda's story .)

The next post will have a detailed rehearsal schedule. It's time to kick into high gear!

Bow the Knee Update

We're on day 17 of our Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play 2008 countdown. Whew! Eu tenho muitos coisas para fazer! Oops, sorry, I've been listening to my Portuguese CDs too much. (See earlier posts about the upcoming Rio mission trip.) Rio Mission Trip Information, click here

Here's an update on what's happenin' 'round here.

Today was set delivery day. All the stuff is in the Sanctuary.

Tomorrow is set construction day.

Wednesday's rehearsal will start early and end late. Look for info coming in the mail about extra rehearsals. I'll post them here later today or in the morning.

A Good Day

It's day 18 on our countdown. We had a few technical difficulties, but those kinds of things happen. Some of those issues will be more easily avoided when we get our new in-ear hear system for the band and praise teams. But worship isn't - or shouldn't be - determined by whether or not the sound is perfect or whether the Worship Pastor picked your favorite songs, or whether the sermon was what you wanted to hear. True worship happens when you spend time in God's presence, hearing from Him, telling Him of your love... The music, the sermon, the prayers, fellowshipping with friends and family - these all help provide an atmosphere for worship, but worship happens in our hearts and minds as we worship "in spirit and in truth."

The Holman Christian Standard Bible
John 4:23-24 "But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Read This Chapter

Be looking for a note in the mail with a detailed rehearsal schedule. We will need to have some extra rehearsals. I'll spread them out on different days so in case you can't come to one perhaps you can come to another. AND THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT SNOW AGAIN THIS WEDNESDAY!!! AAaaaaarrrgh!

I found this picture titled "Why People Move South".

I'll be looking for everyone in choir Wednesday night!

New Poll - Old Poll Results

We just closed our old poll - Your Favorite Old Hymn. Here are the results.

39 people voted in our poll.

At the Cross came in last with only 1 vote. That doesn't mean we don't like it, just that it isn't our favorite.
To God Be the Glory was a little ahead with 4 votes.

Victory in Jesus had 6 and Amazing Grace had 8.


But the runaway winner with 20 votes was It Is Well.


Now we have a new poll.


CCLI is the service we use that give us permission to put the words to the songs we are singing in worship up on the big screens. They track song usage and post the top songs. (Shout to the Lord beat out Forever in February so it is the one in our poll.)


How Great Is Our God has been at the top of the list for months - I think even over a year.

Handbell Festival - Day 19 PPCD

Our handbell choir at the MTBHBF at FBC, Mt. Juliet. (We're the group in the white shirts.)

Our Celebration Bells handbell choir played at the Middle Tennessee Baptist Handbell Festival this weekend. We had a great time. Tim Waugh, the clinician, was wonderful. We learned a lot. But probably what we enjoyed the most was hearing other handbell choirs. It was very inspiring.

We loved the way the choir from Tulip Grove Baptist Church played. Mrs. Nancy commented, "even if you were deaf you would enjoy that choir" because they move their bells so beautifully as they play.

We played four songs with all of the choirs - very beautiful songs that you will probably hear for offertories soon - and we played one song by ourselves. We were a bit nervous since it was our first time to ever attend a bell festival, much less play for judges. The judges had very nice things to say about our playing. (I knew they would.) Here's some of their comments.

"very well presented"

"very worshipful"

"good energetic first measure"

"good contrast in dynamics"

"you look great - it's OK to smile at the beginning and middle just like you did at the end" (I told you we were nervous.)

"this piece has very complex synchopation which was executed exceptionally well"

and there were more, but I don't want to brag too much...

After the festival we ended up at Olive Garden for lunch - yummmm!

oops, sorry, picture is a little blurry

By the way, it is day 19 of our Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play Countdown.

20

The Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play countdown continues bringing us to day 20. Twenty days before dress rehearsal, March 13.





Food, friends and good times is what's ahead for us! We already have almost 200 signed up for lunch on March 16 (cast, choir and families). We'll worship together that morning, then have a nice lunch together and then it will be time for the final performance. Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play is going to be a great weekend for us. I'm trusting God to do great things in and through us!

Right now, however, I'm actually sitting at the McDonald's in Rivergate while my car is sucking thousands of dollars out of my wallet at Firestone: Oil pressure issues - have to take the axel off to get to some gadget or piece of a hose or some other money eating device that does something with - I don't remember now, worn tires (too much time on I-24), wiper blades at $100 each (I may be exageratting a bit) and PT Cruisers have three of them... Oh well, at least the car is paid for. Maybe while I'm spending $$$ on it I should do something like this!






So I found this fun picture to cheer myslef up. (the twenty goes with today's countdown number - 20 days) You can print it off and color it if you would like.





More importantly, however, is that you sing through your rehearsal CD and memorize Miracle Man and Surely. (Tomorrow I will suggest that you memorize I Will Arise and One Day Every Knee Shall Bow.)

Sunday's Music - February 24

Sunday's choir anthem - Bow the Knee from (duh) Bow the Knee.

Help needed!

Don't forget that I need your help clearing the stage Sunday night after church so we can begin set construction Monday morning.

Did I mention it was a really big set?

41A Bypass Billboard

Here we are on day 21 of our super-duper Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play countdown. We want to thank Traci for pointing out during rehearsal last night - what was it, 50 times? - that we were on day 22. I think my stomach did a flip every time she said it.

While I'm thanking people, my thanks again to the alto section for finding a band-aide for my paper cut. I never realized how talking with your hands could be hazardous - well, I guess I've noticed that while driving. You have to keep at least one hand on the wheel which sometimes totally messes up expressing oneself properly.


driving with no hands - no children were harmed in the making of this photo

Speaking of driving. Have you ever thought about highway 41A? Does that mean there is a 41B? I don't think I've ever seen it if there is...

Here's the billboard over there on the 41A Bypass. Doesn't it look great?
The billboard people have to do their own artwork, but they used the design made by our very own Julie who does such a fantastic job with all of our publications.

Everlasting God

Enjoy this video of a friend of mine who leads worship in Texas. Actually, many, many years ago, before I was a full-time worship pastor I taught school at a Christian school and Mark was one of my students. (But he's just a few years younger than me.)

Bless the Beasts and the Children

Anyone reading this old enough to remember 45 records - the ones with the big hole in the middle and you flipped your record player to 45 instead of 33 (if you had a big stereo)? Remember how you would go out and buy the latest hit single of your favorite performer or group and then on the "B" side there was another song?

The Carpenters had a hit song in 1971 called "Superstar". "Don't you remember you told me you loved me baby?" Well, the flip side had a song called "Bless the Beasts and the Children".

This of course just popped into my head as I was thinking about Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play 2008 - which is now 22 days away from the dress rehearsal (for those of you watching the countdown).

I have a couple of goats lined up to join us but we're still looking for Brenda or a Brenda stand-in. (Click here if you are behind on the Brenda story Brenda's Story )

As far as children, I know many of you are planning on having your children sing the first few songs with us, but I need to know who they are as I plan staging. So tonight in choir we'll have a sheet for you to let us know about children.

Handbells

I love handbells!

I don't know if I've mentioned that lately. What brought it to mind just now is that I just got a box a new handbell gloves in the mail today. Mmmmmm, new gloves feel sooo good on your hands. I bought black - very classy. Perhaps we'll try another color next time.




We're going to the Middle Tennessee Baptist Handbell Festival this Friday and Saturday. It's at FBC, Mt. Juliet again this year. (I'm going to offer our fancy new Family Life Center for next year.) We'll be playing an arrangement I wrote of How Great Is Our God.

I ran across a handbell choir playing one of my arrangements on YouTube. You can see it here http://bearhollowmusic.blogspot.com/

The 23rd Psalm

If you've just joined us in our countdown, let me catch you up. We are now 23 days from our dress rehearsal for Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play 2008. So to help pass the days in a calmer way (rather than in full panic mode) we have a fun countdown going.


So today, being day 23, took my mind to the most famous 23 ever - Psalm 23. We hear this Psalm so many times at funerals, but it is soooo much more than a funeral Psalm. The last verse is really the only part that has to do with eternal life. The rest is a great testimony to God's goodness now.



Psalm 23 - KJV 1611

Here's a cool thought. Psalm 23 was David's testimony of God's goodness to him, but God is still in the same business. You could write Psalm 23 yourself - you just have to pay attention to what God is doing. Let me encourage you today to look for all the ways that God is comforting you. See how He is leading you on a path of righteousness. What green pastures and still waters have you had in your life today?

My favorite hymn (which I had in the poll but I didn't know it only listed the first five when I created it) is Great Is Thy Faithfulness. It is a modern day Psalm 23.

"Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me."



Let Psalm 23 encourage you today. Look for it's truths in your life.

And listen to your rehearsal CD! The real reason for our countdown!

Jeff Gordan's Car, I-24, 2 Dozen Eggs and You

What do Jeff Gordan's car

and I-24

and 2 dozen eggs

have to do with you?

It's the number 24!

What's so important about the number 24????

Passion Play Countdown Gets Serious

We are no longer counting weeks, we are counting days! We are now down to 24 days before the Dress Rehearsal, March 13, for Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play. You read that correctly - twenty-four days!

Billboards are going up. Drama rehearsals are in full swing. More stuff has to happen ("stuff" is the official technical term for "oh, my! there are a thousand things to finish up!") The set is going up next Monday. AND IF IT SNOWS!!!! I will unofficially be in the choir room on any scheduled choir or drama rehearsal evening for anyone who wants to brave the "oh look, the snow all melted by noon" streets of Clarksville.

I'm getting excited! See you Wednesday!

A Taste of Oklahoma

Ooooooooo ok-lahoma where the wind comes sweepin' down the plains...

We sure had wind today in Clarksville. Driving on I-24 from Bear Hollow to Clarksville was a trick too. I had to work at keeping the old faithful PT Cruiser on the road.

Here's a cool thought - it's from Amos (a book in the Old Testament)

4:13
He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth-- the Lord God Almighty is his name.

Most of us already think it's really incredible that God created the mountains, and perhaps it's kind of neat to be reminded on a windy day that He creates the wind. But here's the part that I think is most amazing in that verse "and reveals His thoughts to man."

1 Corinthians 2 explains it a little more
1 Corinthians 2:6-16
9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

Wow! I think if we could ever totally grasp the truth that God, who created the mountains and the wind wants us to know His thoughts... I think it would totally transform how we live and how we worship.

You can find out a whole bunch of God's thoughts spending some time each day reading your Bible. That is the main way His Spirit will reveal His thoughts to you.

People would pay big bucks to know the thoughts of God. You can find out for FREE!

How awesome is that?

Now, go, get off the silly computer and read your Bible. :)

Your Favorite Hymn - New Poll

It's very difficult to choose just one, but of the list (over there, on the left) of the hymns on our new poll, which one is your favorite?

It's very possible that I didn't list your favorite old hymn. Feel free to leave the name of your favorite hymn in the comment section.

In my search for a picture of an old hymnal I came across this article. You might get a few laughs from it. Overhead to Powerpoint Proposal Creates Firestorm in Local Church