Through all men’s hearts thy love shall sink and float;
Till every feeling false, and thought unwise,
Selfish, and seeking, shall, sternly disused,
Wither, and die, and shrivel up to nought;
And Christ, whom they did hang ‘twixt earth and skies,
Up in the inner world of men arise.
GM
That men should live hearted throughout with thee—
Because the simple, only life thou art,
Of the very truth of living, the pure heart.
For this, deep waters whelm the fruitful lea,
Wars ravage, famine wastes, plague withers, nor
Shall cease till men have chosen the better part.
GM
that he is able to build me up in my intimacy with Jesus Christ, not that he gives me new ideas, but I come away feeling I know a bit more about Jesus Christ. Today the preacher is tested, not by the building up of saints…but on the ground of his personality.
Oswald Chambers
Facing Reality
and He does it in two ways: by forgiving him, and by making the past a wonderful culture for the future.
O.C.
Assigning the musicians; I was reading through 1 Chronicles 25 and was struck by some aspects of Gods designs for worship musicians. It was a quickie of a spoken thought – with a washer running in background and people walking upstairs – but I hope you get the idea of why I wanted to share this…about 6 minutes long. The blue arrow streams, or you can download.
I scent Thy spring, I feel the eternal air,
Warm, soft, and dewy, filled with flowery eyes,
And gentle, murmuring motions everywhere—
Of life in heart, and tree, and brook, and moss;
Thy breath wakes beauty, love, and bliss, and prayer,
And strength to hang with nails upon thy cross.
GM
Read the story here.
2 renditions by Durer (click on image to enlarge);
Albrecht Durer 1510
Albrecht Durer 1523
There has been some discussion over the years of just exactly what constitutes “proper” music in the church. My contribution to this discussion / argument would be “it depends”. I have been reading through Chronicles, and was especially struck by 1 Chronicles 31, where King David assigns musicians to minister in the tent of the tabernacle, before Solomon built the temple. He made specific appointments of those who should minister in the service of song (service of song has a nice ring to it…). 2 names come to the front; Heman and his associate Asaph.
If you want to look at the commentary I was reading go here and scroll through the bit mentioned above (1 Chronicles 31). Apparently Heman and Asaph were well known and busy ministers accomplishing Gods will in various ceremonies and locations. Anyway, in 1 Chronicles 16:5 when David brought the Ark Of The Covenant into Jerusalam Asaph was the “Chief” of the music celebration….and he ” made a sound with the cymbal”, so if anyone ever tells you drums don’t belong in church, they are sharing an opinion, rather than a command from God. All too often people use their personal tastes in music to define a rigid church standard. To all of you drummers out there (and really, any music maker / minister) – make your sound with zeal! 
