Truth For The Heart
There are some songs with words and music so personally significant, I still remember the first time I heard them. I first heard Mary, Did You Know? at it was sung at the water’s edge of a town harbor by a small vocal ensemble during an outdoor Christmas celebration over ten years ago. The lyrics and […]
Read More“Joy to the World” with its exuberant music and words of celebration is one of my favorite Christmas carols. The words are based on Psalm 98, and it is one of the more than 600 hymns written by Isaac Watts (1674-1748).1 He wrote the hymn, however, not of the First Advent of Christ, but of […]
Read MoreThe libretto of Messiah is taken from numerous books of the Bible: Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Lamentations, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, Hebrews and Revelation. If you’re not familiar with the passages selected by Jennens, you can read them at the above link. The first five verses of Isaiah […]
Read MoreWhen I was growing up we attended a church with a large music program, and I first sang in a choir as a young child. Our minister of music frequently had us sing the “Hallelujah” chorus from Handel’s Messiah during December. The adult choir was at the front of the church behind the ministers, while […]
Read MoreI Wonder As I Wander is an American Christmas carol with words and melody by John Jacob Niles. He based it on a few snatches of song he heard on July 16, 1933, in the small Appalachian town of Murphy, North Carolina: “A girl had stepped out to the edge of the little platform attached […]
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Read the Bible in 2011 ◊ Week 43: Friday “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4 Friday’s Bible reading is the book of Habakkuk. You may have noticed I haven’t been writing about the minor prophets. One reason is […]
Read MoreRead the Bible in 2011 ◊ Week 42: Friday “The oracle of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. “A jealous and avenging God is the LORD; The LORD is avenging and wrathful. The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies. The LORD is slow to […]
Read MoreRead the Bible in 2011 ◊ Week 41: Saturday “When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon […]
Read MoreRead the Bible in 2011 ◊ Week 41: Friday “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? “Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? “Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? “Shall I present my […]
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Kindling for Candles 