singing

Playing Their Song-Part 2

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For those of you who like me are trying your best to bring music into nursing home ministry here are a few practical suggestions that have helped in encouraging residents to sing. First, we need to remind ourselves that hearing and voice change over time. None of us still has the vocal range we had as a kid and that goes for our ear’s range as well. We naturally begin to lose the upper notes in our hearing and voice as we age. Lowering the keys we use for our songs will not only encourage our people to sing, it will also enable them to hear more of the lyrics.

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Practice still matters! Most of us expect that our worship team or in more traditional churches, our choir, will learn some new songs and practice regularly. In the same way we need to continue to avoid getting lazy and just singing the same songs on every visit. Though we do need to use some of the same songs regularly, it is good to change things up once in a while in an effort to touch people’s hearts for Jesus Christ. Consider spending a little time looking through the hymn books or listening to older praise and worship songs. Time spent looking for and then practicing new material is a great investment in the lives of those we are called to serve and it yields the dividend of their voices joining yours in praise. The rule I have used for myself with when picking songs is that the best ones to sing are the ones that we sing together…

Playing Their Song – Part 1

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If we hope for others to sing along we need to know their songs!

pastorpete51's avatarWalking With Lambs

“One year we went on a cruise for our anniversary. After dinner one night we went down to listen to the band that was playing in the room below the dining room. In that moment as they started playing our special song, a feeling of completeness and peace just settled over us enough that I dared to dance for the first time in what felt like a thousand years.

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In the same way, music is an essential part of any nursing home ministry because just the right song at just the right time can make a connection to people’s hearts. This chapter will help you to see how you can do that through worship as a part of your outreach. If you have just started visiting a new facility it may have been a long time since the there have heard their favorite hymns. They may have even forgotten the…

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Are Nursing Homes in the Bible?

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When Jesus walked the earth there were no nursing homes, but in His day, the pool of Bethesda was similar to a long term care facility in some ways. Let’s just peek in to a scene from His visit there.

One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”    John 5:5-6

As Jesus entered Jerusalem to attend one of the religious holidays, he chose to pay a visit to someone in need. You might compare this to making a detour on the way to a Thanksgiving dinner to see someone in the nursing home. You see that day almost everyone was headed out to sit down to a special dinner with friends or family, everyone that is except for the crowd at the Bethesda pool. There people waited in hope of a miracle.

Nursing homes are filled with people just like those folks. The man that Jesus came to see had been waiting and dreaming of a miracle for 38 years. In fact this man didn’t even know who Jesus was. Jesus didn’t show up to see a show, or to bring a reward for good behavior. Jesus came because He knew how long this man had waited. He came to show mercy.  Nursing home ministry is about showing God’s mercy to people just like that man. When we show God’s mercy to people Jesus comes, because His promise is that if just two or three gather in His name He will be there. Now imagine the possibilities if we sing together!

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