music

Broken Strings

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Psalm 23:1-3a ESV

Considering the chorus of the hymn, “He Keeps Me Singing”, it is amazing to realize the story behind those happy words. In 1911, Luther Bridgers was preaching at a revival at a Methodist church in Middleboro, Kentucky, while his wife and children stayed nearby in Harrodsburg, with his parents. In the night the house where they were staying caught fire and Luther’s entire family died in the flames. The following year he wrote these words:

All my life was wrecked by sin and strife
Discord filled my heart with pain
Jesus swept across those broken strings
Stirred the slumbering chords again.

Oh! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!
Sweetest name I know
Fills my every long
He Keeps me singing as I go

As a guitar player, that line, “Jesus swept across those broken strings,” holds special meaning for me. It reminds me of those times when a string has snapped right in the middle of a hymn. In those moments, there is nothing I can do, except to keep on playing. But with that one string gone, the whole instrument goes out of tune, not to mention, it is difficult to play with a loose string hanging down. So as quickly as I can after fumbling my way through the song, I slip out and replace that worn-out string and retune my instrument. Now, whether you are a guitar player or not, I am sure that you have had a string or two break in your life. Relationships snap, our boss tells us we are being let go, and tragedies such as Luther’s loss of those most precious to him, happen in the night. But even in the middle of the worst, our Lord Jesus is still our Good Shepherd. He has not fallen asleep on the job, nor has He been taken off guard. God is closest to us in our hour of pain. It is in those times that “He makes us lie down in green pastures. He leads us beside the still waters. He restores our souls.” God knows about and shares both in our happy times as well in our deepest griefs. In those moments, His skillful hands go quickly to work, repairing, restoring and replacing our broken strings. If we don’t allow sorrow, loss or bitterness to turn us away from our Good Shepherd, He will restore our souls, stir the slumbering chords again and will truly keep us singing as we go!

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

God’s Gift of Song – Part 1

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

One thing that makes me sad is how in church, we often come to the lyrics of the greatest song book in the world and all we do is read it together in unison with a monotone voice. Yes, God’s word is perfect but forgive me when I say that maybe even God gets bored with the way we use it. We seem to have forgotten that this was not the way it was intended to be presented. Instead, why not think of the Psalms as songs whose melody has fallen asleep, and listen to every new melody as if it were a Psalm knocking on our door and asking for words to sing it? While singing scripture, may seem to be somewhat whimsical or arbitrary, if you try it you will soon find some wonderful benefits just waiting to be discovered. But why would God want to communicate with us this way? Maybe the answer is the same as the reason why young people pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to listen to their favorite pop star. Back when we were teenagers, the preferred medium for us was the local AM radio station. Our favorite songs would make us laugh, cry, or feel romantic (Oh! They’re playing our song!)

Photo by Vika Glitter on Pexels.com

The Psalms are no different. For just a few examples of happy or sad, how about

“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy;.” Psalm 126:2

And what can be sadder than:

“I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.” 
Psalm 6:6.

God knows that when we laugh, cry, get discouraged or even complain to Him, that we connect with Him and with His word on a whole different level.  Secondly, singing scripture helps us remember the words. If we could go back in time a few centuries, we would discover that the printed word as we know it didn’t exist. The only copies of the scriptures were handwritten. Every copy in today’s dollars, would cost the equivalent of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. So, God found a way for His people to remember His words without books. I think of it a little like when we listened to the radio and the DJ announced a new song, someone would inevitably shout, “Hey be quiet man! You got to hear this one!” Then we would crank up the volume and sing along, while someone kept beat on the glove compartment or steering wheel. By the end of the week most of us knew every word, though much to our teacher’s chagrin, we couldn’t recall the date of the battle of Bull Run or the names of past presidents! God wants us to engage with His word in the same way. First, He calls us to engage with our hearts, then with our lips, and also with the people around us. Back in the Old Testament days, songs were written to be sung by everyone. Think of how when Moses finished bringing the people through the Red Sea, the first thing he did was to sing. But he wasn’t alone. No! As soon as he started up his sister Miriam lead all the women out onto the beach where they played tambourines, danced, and sang along. Now that was some kind of celebration! (Keep your radios tuned tomorrow for part 2) Here are a couple of scripture songs, one in English and the other Hebrew, just to give you some ideas.