Unity

I’ll Meet you at the Hymnbook!

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Ephesians 4:4-6 NKJV

Sadly the hymn book seems to have vanished from most of our churches. I understand that with new ways of preserving information that books in general are becoming scarce. I also heartily agree that simply being old, doesn’t make a song more biblical and some of the hymns could deservedly be forgotten. However, the great redeeming quality of the hymn book is that it is the one place where we all meet. Black, White, Hispanic, wealthy and poor, young and old, we often go to our own little corners to worship. Yet, surprisingly, I have found in our nursing home services that, like it or not we usually sing each other’s songs! Onward Christian Soldiers, meet at the Mighty Fortress Lutherans sing about. He’s got the Whole World in His Hands is joyfully sung with nary a dark face in the meeting and during my visit to a large African-American church in Philadelphia , I found they delighted singing “What a friend we have in Jesus.” written by a very white Joseph Scriven for his mother back in Ireland. How God may choose to bring unity among the next generation, I can’t imagine, but for now dear brothers and sisters, “I’ll meet you at the hymnbook!”

Lessons From my Washburn (guitar)

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments 
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: Romans 12:5-6 a NKJV

I always look forward to the insights that Beth Allison shares over on her blog Lessons From a Lab I, on the other hand get to learn a few things from my Washburn. Now I freely admit that the photos Beth shares of her doggie friends, Adi and Summer are far cuter, than my guitar, but God uses what we each of have to teach us His truth, and it was kind of neat how changing and tuning six strings yesterday reminded me of today’s verse.

First, every string is different. Each of us requires our own individual amount of tension if we are going to sound our note. When we go around expecting others to be singing the same as us, we will not only be sorely disappointed, but we will also miss out on enjoying being ourselves. Some folks are low and slow, like Brother Low E, and others are temperamental and creative like the Mr. B-string, (whose soulful pitch sounds wonderful but goes out of tune the fastest!)

Secondly, each string has its own time and place to be playing during the song. Sometimes the lower strings remain silent, while the highest notes are trilling away, and yet they cannot leave the fretboard in a huff, demanding more attention. They must patiently wait their turn to become the baseline, that will help me to transition from the verse to the chorus. Yes, there are happy tunes when everyone gets to alternate in upbeat joyful praise, but best of all, are the moments when they join together in a final harmonic ring!

Last, I learned that the place assigned by the world to my strings is the exact opposite of how I relate to them. You see, Brother E, who is my lowest note is called my sixth string, and High E, who is his little sister, is called first. Though she may put on airs, when others call her the finest string of all, I would remind her that, from the musician’s point of view, it is the lowest string who is closest to me and nearest to my heart. But whether we are first or last, the most wonderful thing is that we are all his instrument, who He created and tuned to play a song of praise to Him today and forever!

Waymaker

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

So blessed to see William McDowell and Darlene Zschech sharing this song not only as a way to worship Jesus but as a way to unite us at this time. When we worship in separate sanctuaries we are all poorer for it but together we are the people of God!