Tag: church music
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“Music . . . controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits”
Now is the time to start singing and playing the big, powerful hymns of the church. It all started last Sunday – Reformation Sunday. Our opening hymn at Messiah Lutheran Church was A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. I tried to set the mood for it with a much louder than usual prelude – a simple…
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Remembering my “times” in Jail
The last couple weeks I’ve been spending a lot of my time working on a new booklet, “Stories from JAIL Ministry: Personal Reflections of a Volunteer.” I recently agreed to speak about the Jail Ministry at a potluck luncheon of the senior citizen club of our church, Messiah Lutheran Church in Madison. Since I like…
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Shhh. I’m Trying to Quiet My Mind.
It’s hard to be quiet in today’s culture of constant stimulation. Worse yet, we take pride in being really busy, and we brag about our ability to multi-task. So how can we possibly shut out the noise and concentrate on just one thing for ten minutes, or half an hour, or even an hour? How…
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Getting Caught Whispering
On Thursday of last week I played the organ for the funeral of Wayne, a young man, age 64. He was the kid brother of Gary, a classmate of mine. Gary died a few years ago. Gary and Wayne grew up in the house in Cambridge next door to my grandma. We were never close…
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My Mom’s Wedding Ring
I wore my mom’s wedding ring to church on Sunday. I sometimes wear the ring when I want to feel that Mom is especially close to me. Often that’s when I’m planning to play some extra special music on the piano or organ at church, and I know Mom would really enjoy listening to it.…
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Another Talk with Abbey
Late Sunday morning, after I got home from church, I was sitting in the La-Z-Boy in my office reading the newspaper. Abbey came up to me and sat down. I could tell by the look on her face that she wanted to talk. She started by asking me about church. “Mom, how did the music…
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Great Expectations for this week – 7 of them!
For several weeks now, a friend of mine has been posting a list of three things she’s thankful for each day. Usually the lists are just that – three words or short phrases in a simple list format – just a quick statement of things she’s particularly thankful for that day. That practice got me…
Whispering Winds Blog 