Easter Music!

I Corinthians 14:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. NASB

There are so many great songs for Resurrection Sunday - aka. Easter.

Here are the ones we'll be singing - with orchestra: brass, woodwinds, strings, and band: guitars, drums, bass...

Alleluia! Alleluia! (exciting, jazzed up version)
Christ the Lord Is Risen Today! (again, a great new arrangement)
He Lives!

and one of my new favorite resurrection songs

Alive, Forever, Amen!

"Why do you seek the living among the dead?

He is not here, but is risen!"

Colossians 1:18 NIV And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

Revelation 1:4 NIV Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,

The Passion of Christ - Memory Monday

Passion week is the perfect time to read Isaiah 53.

I would also suggest you read the Passion of Christ this week. Not from someone's retelling, but get out your Bible and read.

Matthew 26 & 27
Mark 14 &15
Luke 22 & 23

John adds some of our favorite teachings of Jesus in his telling of the last events of Jesus' life. The last supper is told in John 13.
Here are some favorite verses from John 14-17
"Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
"I will pray the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever - the Spirit of Truth"
"If anyone loves Me he will keep My word"
"I am the vine, you are the branches"
"This is My commandment, that you love one antoehr as I have loved you."
"Great er love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."
"when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth"
"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace"
"And this is eternal live, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent"

Then we see John's account of Christ's Passion in chapters 18 & 19.

If you can't wait until Sunday to read the exciting ending, read Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 or John 20!

Our Memory Monday verses have been from Isaiah 53 which is his foretelling of Christ's Passion. We've learned (or at least read) verses 3 & 4. Here are verses 5 & 6.

5.But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities ; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.


6.All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way ; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
 

Memory Monday on a Wednesday

I guess you can tell it's Passion Play time and many things are vying for my attention.
Some time in the night last night I realized that I never put up a verse for Memory Monday this week.

We've been memorizing some verses from Isaiah 53
We've learned part of verses 3 & 4. Today we are going to add verse 5.

3.He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.


4.Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried ; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.

5.But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities ; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
 
We have made crosses into beautiful things. (And that's OK.) I have several ornate metal crosses in my office. Many wear beautiful gold crosses on necklaces.
 
But in reality, the cross was a horrible means of execution.If we were to actually witness someone dying on a cross we would be horrified - even if the person had committed terrible offenses we wouldn't want to see him die that way.
 
But it was that horrible death - spoken of in Isaiah 53 - that brought our forgiveness - our healing.
 
5.But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities ; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
 

Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy - Sunday's music - March 21

Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy

I have come to find out that many in our office have never heard this beautiful old hymn.
The words were written in 1759 by Joseph Hart. The music is a pentatonic early American folk melody that seems to have first appeared in 1835 in Walker's Southern Harmony.
"What is a pentatonic scale?" you may ask.  Pentatonic has the same root word as Pentagon (five sided shape) and Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible) So have you figured out that a pentatonic scale has only 5 notes?
Brethren We Have Met to Worship is another tune based on a pentatonic scale.

Here's what it looks like on the staff and on the piano keyboard.

Here is a beautiful recording of Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy with scenes from "The Passion of the Christ" movie.


Sunday, March 21
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
You Are God Alone

Choir Anthem – Cover Me
     Duet – Traci K and Mark B

Fellowship Song – At Calvary

The Wonderful Cross

Special Music – Brenda Radford

Message – Dr. Larry D. Robertson

Invitation song  – Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy (I Will Arise and Go to Jesus)

Haha! Watch this one and you'll get a nice "Riverdance" version.


And since "Come Ye Sinners" first appeared in a Southern hymnal, what could be better than hearing it on a dulcimer?


Offertory – Michelle Dickerson

Baptism (830) Song Reed, Amanda Phillips

Closing – Bro. Tony Lewis

See you Sunday! Sing out on the invitation and help those who don't know it.

Memory - ummmm, Monday?

Thank you Ms. Irene for reminding me about our Memory Monday verse. It's kind of a crazy busy time getting ready for the Passion Play, but I should have remembered...

Last week I mentioned memorizing verses from Isaiah 53.
Last week's verse was Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; (that's actually just the first half of that verse. Some of you may want to memorize the entire verse, but the Beatitudes used up a lot of memory room for some. lol)

Today's verse is Isaiah 53:4
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows, He carried.

Updated Passion Play Rehearsal Schedule

Click on it to make it bigger.

A Compliment?

I've always thought it was a compliment when someone - after seeing something you have done or played or whatever - makes a comment like "You make that look so easy." or "I think I could do that too." or "Is that all you had to do?" not knowing the practice and effort and work and training that went behind what you just did.

So that's how I am going to interpret the following events with my two oldest grandchildren.

A week ago Sunday I was leaving the house about 6:45 (which is when I leave every Sunday except Deacon's Meeting Sundays) and Gibson (7) was already up.

"I want to go with you, Papa."

"No, not this morning. I have a lot to do to get ready for church this morning."

"But I really want to go with you," his typical response.

"Not this morning. I'll see you in a little bit." and I was out the door.

Laster that morning as my lovely wife, Cheryl, aka. Grani, was driving to church with Gibson and Haven (6).

"Grani, I really wanted to go with Papa this morning when he came to church. I was already up and ready to go."

Grani replied (she always has my back), "You can't go with Papa on a Sunday morning. He is getting ready for the services and has to concentrate."

To which Haven replied, "What does he have to concentrate for? He doesn't tell the story."