music. singing

Joy! Joy! Joy!

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! Psalm 47:1 ESV

Not that I always am well prepared, but I do prefer to have some semblance of a message and a list of hymns to get us started each week at Life Care Center. But, even on the weeks when I have everything carefully mapped out, I have found that the residents love having the chance to pick a song themselves. This week’s suggestion from one of our seasoned saints was so great and we had such a blast singing it together, that I wanted to share it. It just goes to show, that getting older, doesn’t require us to lose our joy or our sense of fun. I do hope you will not only get a smile from our impromptu session, but that you will sing along and experience the joy that only Jesus can give.

His Symphony Divine

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 

Father taught about keys and rests
About scales and every note
When my younger mind was wishing
To be out fishing in the boat

But by grace notes and by quarters
And good old three-four time
Things slowly began to make sense
Like a poem starts to rhyme

And His melody stayed with me
Though sometimes I couldn’t hear
Over my life’s crescendos
And sonatas filled with tears

But now I am just grateful
As my voice begins to wane
That His notes can go on singing
Through both sunny days and rain

And I see my Father’s presence
In the notes between the lines
And I thank Him for the part I play
In His symphony divine!

His Symphony Divine
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2016
All rights reserved

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

This poem, which I wrote about eight years ago, will appear soon in the 2024 Spring edition of Breakthrough Intercessor

A Little Sunshine at Watermark

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 NIV

Watermark Assisted Living is a beautiful five-star place, and of all the facilities I have visited in three different states, it is by far the nicest. But in spite of the fancy sitting room, the delightful ice cream parlor and snack bar, it is still a lonely neighborhood. Some families do visit their loved ones, but the many rarely have a guest. Sometimes, I puzzle over the abandonment of our older family members, neighbors and friends we worshipped with at church. Maybe it all comes down to the feeling, that a long term care facility is a dark place. The loneliness is suffocating, even for visitors. No children play outside, no mail carrier, whistles through the hallways dropping letters and packages. There is no corner barbershop nearby or a place to grab a slice of pizza and sit for a quick lunch with a friend. Everything here seems stiff, artificial and professionally friendly, and yet, God has not forgotten. God has not abandoned. God is walking through their neighborhood and He asks us to walk with Him. In today’s verse, Jesus commands (not suggests) that we let our light shine before others. Now, we know that the source of that light is Him, yet we who are followers of Jesus, have both the honor and the duty of carrying His light to places that are dark. We don’t need to feel sufficient, strong or radiantly cheerful to let His light shine. We only need to trust Him and do what He asks. The amazing and unexpected miracle is that when we do this, not only will we shine a light for others to see, but it will light our own pathway as well! I hope you enjoy this hymn, which was a favorite of our youngest, when he was coming with me to nursing homes, forty years ago. Every time I sing it, I hear his little voice and see his big smile as he would clap his hands and sing about how Jesus with the sunlight of His love makes all our darkness flee!