Merry Christmas! (for real)

We are now firmly planted in the 12 days of Christmas. These are my relaxing days; the musical demands of the season are behind me now and I can listen to carols and enjoy them!

Last year, I wrote a little on the subject of sentiment and/or emotion in the carols we sing. The Victorian writers were especially good (it seems to me) at glossing over the hard reality of Jesus' birth. I was challenged by a friend to write something that was more realistic but still singable.

Asleep in the manger; there's no other place
for Mary to put Him. There's dust on His face.
The cattle are noisy! She just needs to rest
with Joseph and Jesus; she feels very blessed.

But wait! There are shepherds who come now to see
the Babe in the manger and His family.
'Twas angels that told them - well, that's what they say.
It would have been nice if they'd come the next day.

The Baby is crying again; is He wet?
Or hungry or cold? Mary's not sure, and yet
she loves Him and holds Him and sings Him to sleep
accompanied by sounds from the goats and the sheep.

Advent 4 - Love = God with us

I am so thankful for God's love,
shared with us in the unique form of His Son, our Lord, Jesus.
Emmanuel = God with us!

Advent 3 - Comfort and joy

The third candle of Advent is Joy. I admit to having a bit of a hard time feeling joyful over the last couple of weeks as 3 of my organist colleagues in the city have lost husband or father recently. Yesterday, I looked up the definition for "joy" in both the Merriam-Webster and Oxford dictionaries. What I was expecting to find was a definition that made a distinction between "joy" and "happiness". That was not the case. Is this an instance where a secular definition of the word is very different from a faith-based definition? I don't know. I do know that the words, "O tidings of comfort and joy..." feels like a good refrain to sing these days.

Advent 2 - Peace is coming

Last Sunday we lit the second Advent candle, the candle of peace. I have been thinking about the many aspects of peace over the days since. I have especially been remembering the point that was made in the sermon that we have (very generally speaking) some ideas about what 'peace in the world' will look like. There will be no war, no violence, nations and people will live in harmony with each other. However, just as the Jews in Israel had some misconceptions about Jesus as their King, setting them free from Roman rule, so we may be mistaken about Christ's eventual reign of peace. With the hectic pace of life, particularly at Christmas time, do we feel peace in our lives? In our homes? In our world? How can we promote peace between ourselves and others? These are some questions to ponder during Advent as we actively wait for Christ's coming.

Advent 1 - Actively waiting

Yesterday we began a new year in the church calendar. As hectic as the season is (for many different reasons) it is a season I love! I'm talking about Advent - the 4 weeks of preparing and waiting for Christ's coming. The Book of Praise (1997) has a great variety of Advent hymns and at St. Andrew's we now know enough of them to sing different ones each Sunday of the season. The ones we sang yesterday were: "Come, thou long-expected Jesus" (HYFRYDOL), "People in darkness are looking for light" and "Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding". The last is one I always associate with the Advent Lessons and Carols service I used to attend annually at All Saints' Anglican here in downtown Winnipeg. In my mind's ear I hear the men and boys' choir and the resounding pipe organ proclaiming "Christ is nigh!"

The title of my post comes from the theme of yesterday's sermon which encouraged us to wait and prepare during Advent, but not in a "sit and twiddle your thumbs" kind of way. In some ways, as a musician, it is easy for me to actively prepare. The Christmas Eve service would be less than wonderful if the choir and I did not rehearse, if I did not give the trumpeter any music, etc. Even with all those things to do, I think there's more to my active waiting than that. I must find/make time to ponder what Christ's coming means in my life, in my actions, in my words as well as in my music!

Advent - Christ is coming!

"we feebly struggle..."

Please don't misunderstand, dear reader, I'm not feeling feeble today, nor am I having a day of struggles. The above is part of a line in the hymn, For All the Saints, one of my all-time favourite hymns. (One of about 500 or more, you understand!) Today, All Saints' day, I am thinking of my Dad. November 1st falls about mid-way between the date in October 1995 that he died and his birthday near the end of November.

There are many wonderful lines in this hymn, but I seem to choke up on this one, and more so as the years go on. The whole line is:

We feebly struggle, they in glory shine.

The Christian walk can be a struggle at times - maybe even all the time. We could be grappling with the right thing to do in a situation. We could be fighting against the pull of the world with its alluring glories, shortlived though they be. But those who have gone on ahead of us to glory have left those struggles behind forever. Wow!

So on this All Saints' Day let us remember those who, from all their labours, rest.

A New Day is Coming!

I just listened to the tail end of a radio piece entitled "The Silencing of St. Andrew's". This was not about the St. Andrew's I serve; it was about an Anglophone congregation in rural Quebec that had dwindled to less than a dozen members and could no longer sustain itself. The region's demographics have changed to predominantly Francophone. The building was being de-consecrated by the archdeacon. A huge lump came to my throat and I nearly cried. The last few faithful of this congregation were facing a great loss and my heart ached for them.

There seem to be some parallels to St. Andrew's Winnipeg. We have, by far, more than a dozen members but we are not growing. We are facing changes. Our new minister begins in a few days' time! We will be relocating in the not too distant future. These are exciting times and while I look forward in anticipation of what God will do, my emotions seem close to the surface occasionally knowing that things will change and that I must be open and ready to change as well. Your prayers, my reader, would be much appreciated as this new chapter begins.

A new day is coming! Praise God!

Thanks be to God

In my last post, I wrote about an often sung Thanksgiving hymn. Today's hymn uses a traditional Welsh tune, AR HYD Y NOS (better known as "All through the night"), and newer words written by Fred Pratt Green copyright in 1970. You can read all the text by going here. When preparing for the service on October 10th, I checked to see what alternate harmonizations I had to enhance the service. I found a very nice setting by Martin Setchell in Last Verse Extravaganza for Organ (pub. by Kevin Mayhew Ltd. in 2001) that seemed to work well. I was a little puzzled by 2 discordant measures until I realized that the words in this part of verse 3 were: "for the truths that still confound us...thanks be to God." What great harmonic writing! And what an unusual thing to be thankful for - something that confounds us. Or is it so unusual? It is reassuring to me to know that I serve a God who is greater than I and that humans will never know or understand everything in our world.

Thanks be to God!

...For our wants to be supplied.

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. There are many wonderful hymns for harvest thanksgiving and the one that opened St. Andrew's worship yesterday was Come, Ye Thankful People, Come. I always think of my Dad when we sing this because he told me once that he had heard Alberta farmers sing "All is safely gathered in ere the winter storms begin" when their crops were buried under snow and still out in the fields. At choir practice on Weds. that came up in conversation and a couple of the guys figured it was in 1959. That storm hit the whole prairies it seems.

Funny how you can sing a hymn time after time and something new will grab you on a certain occasion. I did remember Dad's story this year too, but what really got my attention was the line, "God, our Maker, doth provide for our wants to be supplied." - Not just our needs, but our wants! We have so much to be thankful for!

High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art

One of the reasons I began this blog is that I enjoy writing. When I was a teenager, I made a little money writing poetry and short, inspirational pieces and it was always so exciting to get that cheque in the mail! I might have pursued writing as a career except that the passion of making music took over and I knew I couldn't do without music in my life.

On my recent trip to Calgary, it was a thrill to meet an author whose work I've read and learned from . Pictured below (L-R) are author Donna Fletcher Crow, me and Donna's daughter, Elizabeth who lives in Calgary.


Donna lives in Idaho and arrived in Calgary around the same time as I did for a family visit and a book signing this coming Saturday. My sister, Sharon, told Donna about my concert at Grace Presbyterian and I was excited to learn that Donna, Elizabeth and a friend were able to come hear me play. There's much more to it than meeting this author whose work I enjoy. Donna writes historical fiction and I learned when reading The Fields of Bannockburn and Glastonbury (the history of Christianity in Scotland and England respectively) that the Celts had many small kingdoms whose monarchs would come together to elect one to be King over all. His title was "High King". Applying this knowledge to the hymn "Be Thou My Vision" gave the words a whole new meaning for me! Donna came to me after the concert and thanked me for my words and shared that she too would never sing this hymn the same way again.

I believe that when we learn more about the hymns and songs we sing in worship, we strengthen and enrich their meaning and our own praise as well.

A Weekend in Calgary

I thought it would be fun to post a few photos on my blog from my weekend in Calgary, Alberta which was Sept. 17-19, 2010. For those who were at one of the events, you can share the memories with me. If you weren't there, maybe this will whet your appetite to come to a concert in the future!



The picture above was taken at Grace Presbyterian Church, Calgary where I played on Friday evening. What great acoustics to play in!



I believe this is the first selection after intermission, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". The second half of the program was a musical journey through the church year. It began and ended with Advent.


On Saturday, my friend, Jean, took me out to Canmore to the mountains. It was glorious!

Do you see those Rockies in the distance?

We're getting closer now!

The Three Sisters

Sunday morning I played at Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Calgary. They meet in the Orpheus Theatre on the campus of Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT). It was a blessing to me to be part of the worship service, to learn a new worship chorus, and to teach the congregation there something new as well.

Here I am speaking about the 2 solo pieces I played: You Are My Hiding Place and a medley of Open the Eyes of My Heart and Be Thou My Vision.

All in all, a wonderful weekend filled with good music, good friends, and God's creation!

Excitement's in the Air!

My musical brain is just full of great melodies these days. I have been practising up a storm because ... ta da! On the weekend, I'm travelling west to Calgary, Alberta to play twice. One is a solo concert (Friday evening at Grace Presbyterian Church) and the other will be during the Sunday morning celebration service at Trinity Church of the Nazarene. I am so looking forward to connecting with old friends and making some new ones, as well as playing the music which reaches deep down to my soul and speaks to me. I know that it also speaks to those who listen because some of you have told me of your personal experiences. Thank you so much for that. To God be the glory!

Just to clarify...

Last night I realized that the phrase "dumbing down" did not sound very nice and that I needed to clarify myself a little. I'm not sure how widely used this term is or how it is usually used. Please forgive me if I offended you, my reader. What I meant by it was that unintentionally we could end up singing music that is so simple that our goal of excellence in worship would be left unchallenged. That is not to say that we shouldn't sing any and all pieces to the best of our ability.

The only comparison I can think of is this: Babies, after a few months, learn to digest mother's milk or formula much more easily than they digested it in the beginning. There is less spitting up, maybe less burping, etc. and they are ready for other food as well. At some point, that other food becomes necessary and vital to their growth.

So it should be with our spiritual expressions of praise. We will grow in our faith and our praise should expand with us! I hope this has made things clearer - and not muddier.

Dumbing Down?

I was trying to find the top of my piano yesterday! This means picking up the books that are on it, wondering (or remembering) why they were put there in the first place, and deciding if they still need to be out. I began thumbing through an old camp songbook and came across a piece with a melody that, while somewhat predictable in nature, took a few turns in unexpected directions. In spite of my last 'rant' on the topic, this time my thoughts took a different twist. By not giving a congregation the opportunity to learn and sing such a hymn, am I/are we dumbing down? That is to say, are we setting the bar too low in congregational singing?

Calm Repose

I was looking in this old hymnal the other day for an alternate tune I remembered singing with the words Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah. I found that tune, and then got 'lost' for awhile, thumbing through the book and looking at other hymns. Some I remembered and haven't sung for years, and others I don't think I'd even heard before such as this one:

O for a heart of calm repose
Amid the world's loud roar,
A life that like a river flows
Along a peaceful shore!

Come, Holy Spirit! still my heart
With gentleness divine;
Indwelling peace Thou canst impart;
O make that blessing mine!

Come, Holy Spirit! breathe that peace,
That vict'ry make me win;
Then shall my soul her conflict cease,
And find a heav'n within.

The author is anonymous; the tune (no name given) is by Henry W. Greatorex. No other information was published in this hymnal.

In spite of the outdated language, the words are meaningful even today. In fact, maybe they are even more necessary today as the roar of the world seems very loud at times!

I could leave my post there, but there is another dilemma I wish had an answer to. Who on earth put this tune with these words? In the first line there are 2 huge jumps in the melody - one 6th and one 7th. It doesn't strike me as being 'calm repose' to have a melody like that. I know, some of this comes down to the fact that 80 years ago two things were quite different.
1. The general population sang more than they do now.
2. More of the general population attended church than they do now.
I have no stats to back up my statements but I don't think I'm too far off the mark. Maybe congregations would not have found that melody as difficult to sing then as I think congregations today would. Maybe it's not such a bad marriage between words and tune. Maybe there's something else symbolic in the tune that I am not seeing. For sure I know there will always be more to learn about hymns.

O land of rest...

Yesterday I enjoyed worshiping without playing - in other words - I had a vacation Sunday. I have next week off as well and plan to visit another congregation to see how they worship. A week ago (August 8th) I played Joseph Martin's arrangement of Land of Rest for the prelude. This was done with a little humour, pointing to my vacation time with the words:

O land of rest, for thee I sigh! When will the moment come...?

In reality, the words are not talking about vacation at all, but rather about the Christian's responsibility to keep on the heavenly road until we are called home to our reward.

I'm not sure that the words I recall are actually the ones that belong with Martin's arrangement. The tune names are similar but not identical. Martin indicates that the traditional American melody may have come from the UK originally but is known to have been widely used in Appalachia. That tune is called LAND OF REST. He also says that the words commonly used are from the 16th century.

The tune I'm more familiar with is O LAND OF REST and was written by William Miller in the 1800's. The verses have a refrain which are in keeping with the idea of continuing to work for the Kingdom:

We'll work 'til Jesus comes,
We'll work 'til Jesus comes,
We'll work 'til Jesus comes,
And we'll be gathered home.

Words by Elizabeth Mills

Unfortunately, neither of these tunes is in the Cyber Hymnal.

Summer Camp and Rain

As happens nearly every year, I seem to get lost in memories of summer camp. For 3 or 4 years as a teenager I spent about three weeks in July at what was then called Clarksburg Camp (Church of the Nazarene) within walking distance of Georgian Bay. I helped in the dining hall - we called it waitressing - but what it really meant was setting tables, filling salt shakers etc. and washing dishes. It meant early mornings after late nights around a campfire, and it produced lasting friendships and opportunities for spiritual growth.

There is so much music associated with those weeks that I could probably write several entries. The bunch of us girls washing dishes and cleaning up the dining hall would often sing to pass the time and some songs I recall are: Amen (the spiritual), a version of Psalm 100 put to music by a local musician, and He's got the whole world in His hands.

Then there were the traveling song evangelists that came to provide music for the services. I remember many of them, but one that holds a special place in my heart is Canadian Deverne Mullen. He created some of his own arrangements for the camp choir to sing and he always encouraged the teens to join. The tabernacle (meeting place) had a tin roof and you can imagine the deafening sound when it rained! We've had a couple really torrential downpours in the last week or so, and it made me think of Deverne singing "My, Didn't it Rain!" He always had this piece at the ready in case of a storm at camp.

The Father's glory

This morning at St. Andrew's our final hymn was "Shine, Jesus, Shine" which is also known by its first line, "Lord, the light of Your love is shining". I enjoy this hymn! It was written by Graham Kendrick and bears the copyright year of 1987 but still feels 'new' to me. I fear that says more about me (and my age?) than the hymn!

Do you ever go on 'auto-pilot' when you sing in church? I know I do. I'm looking at the hymn, and usually playing, and often singing but I'm not necessarily paying attention to the words and what I am singing about. The words of the refrain of this hymn are a prayer. I was paying attention today, and praying as I sang, and then the thought occurred to me: what would it mean for our land to be filled with the Father's glory? Would it mean that all is done to glorify God? Would that mean God's Kingdom has come here on earth? How can I (or you) help to bring that about? Does it mean sharing the good news (gospel) with those around us?

A few questions which I hope have made you think...

More Grace

Never doubt, dear reader, that God knows what it is we need before we ask. I began this day feeling rather overwhelmed with life's circumstances and wondering how I would cope with things coming up. This afternoon, my Mom phoned to see how I was, and to tell me that my aunt had woken up early - 4:30 a.m. early! - and had the overpowering urge to pray specifically for me. That was answer #1. After we finished on the phone I started straightening up the kitchen and put on a CD for company. One of the pieces in a medley struck home with a powerful hit. That was answer #2. The song is one my Mom often sang and the first line immediately came to mind:

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater.
Words by Annie Johnson Flint

The power of music and words together never ceases to amaze me! I am thanking God for this gift today.

My Journey of Faith

On June 6, 2010 I became an official member of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. I thought this would be a good place to share what I read to the congregation during that special service. The photo was taken while I was sharing my journey of faith.


"I am blessed to have been raised in a Christian home, with parents who lived out their faith every day. My Dad was a minister in the Church of the Nazarene, a small, evangelical denomination. During his 45+ years of ministry he served many congregations - some of them were church plants - and I recall occasions where the 6 of us, Mom, Dad, sisters, brother and I, were the only ones present for a service. I saw how God gave them strength to continue living a Christian life in spite of circumstances which might be discouraging.

"At age 8 I attended summer camp and accepted Christ as my Saviour. I realized my parents’ faith would not save me; I had to make my own decision. With God’s help, I have tried to keep that commitment. As a teenager, I asked the Holy Spirit to come to me, to sanctify – that is, make holy – my life for God’s service.

"I began playing for church at age 12 which was about the time my oldest sister left home for college. When I finished high school in Ontario, I came out to Winnipeg to attend Canadian Nazarene College to study church music. A few years later I met Gord in an adult Sunday School class; we were married and Wesley joined our family a year later.

"One day in early 1998, I received in the mail an appeal from the Music Committee of St. Andrew's. They were looking for an organist and, I presume, got my name from the Music Teachers' directory as an organ teacher who might have a student looking for a job. Such appeals had come to me before and I usually ignored them, but this time I felt prompted to respond. I would just take one step, I told myself, and see what happened.

"I called Susan, the contact given for St. Andrew's. That step led to us (the Keeley family) visiting for a morning worship service. It was Annual Meeting Sunday and while the rest of you were downstairs eating - I think it was chicken a la king - Susan and I were upstairs talking. I took the next step - meeting with the Music Committee, and the rest as they say, is history.

"I am so thankful to God for leading my family and me to the Presbyterian Church! St. Andrew's is my church home; you are family to me. I am blessed to be part of this fellowship."

Dreaming in Music 3

Well I just learned something about myself; I dream in music more often than I want to freely admit. (I just checked my previous posts and had to change this to #3 because I've already written about this twice before!) I suppose more accurately, this post should be called "Practising in my Dreams" because that is what I was doing. This actually happened a couple weeks ago before I 'nailed' the rhythm in one particular section of a Mark Hayes piano arrangement I'm working on. In my sleep I went over and over the troublesome part until I felt confident that I really had it.

Many stories have been told about how our subconscious brain works on things while we're sleeping. One I remember, maybe because I like to sew, is the story of the man who was trying to figure out the needle and bobbin technique for the sewing machine. He dreamt the solution to his dilemma.

Oh, by the way, the piece I'm so intent on learning? Sing to the Lord by Robert Sterling. I have so far been unsuccessful in finding the words which I'm guessing are still under copyright. If one of my readers has a source I could look up, please do let me know.

The Lord's My Shepherd

As my fellow hymn blogger CWS has pointed out, today is Good Shepherd Sunday and I would guess that a number of congregations sang some setting of Psalm 23 in their worship. Sometimes I wonder how many hymns we could find - either to sing or recite - of this familiar passage!

One of my favourite arrangers, John Carter, has a piano book called Songs of the Shepherd which contains 8 pieces all referring to our Shepherd, the Lord. Most of the hymns or tunes in the collection are familiar to me but there is one setting I'm having trouble finding the words for. It is: The Lord's My Shepherd, All My Need, Tune: EVAN. If any of my readers can help with this search, I'd be very grateful.

We shall meet on that beautiful shore!

You will notice that it has been nearly 3 months since I blogged. It isn't that I haven't had ideas for posts, only that life has been happening and there hasn't been a surplus of energy for writing. I think I feel ready to 'put pen to paper' as it were, and share an experience from mid-March.

One of my choir members plays in the Mennonite Community Orchestra here in Winnipeg and invited me to attend the spring concert. We are fortunate to have the Canadian Mennonite University in our city, and the student choirs participated in the program. It was a blessing to me to hear the 4 different ensembles, as well as the orchestra, in performance. It reminded me of my own student days singing in Choral Society - Faure's Requiem, Haydn's Creation, etc.

The women's choir began their selections by singing a lovely arrangement of "In the Sweet By and By". I grew up singing this hymn (although not the way they sang it!) and at first I was caught up in remembering that.

There's a land that is fairer than day
and by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way,
To prepare us a dwelling place there.

Then they came to the chorus:

In the sweet by and by
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
Words by S.F. Bennett

Emotionally, I 'lost it' then. Tears ran silently down my cheeks as I struggled for control. At that moment, my father-in-law was slowly failing in a hospital bed a thousand miles away. I guess that chorus became a far-off goodbye from me, in a way. A month earlier we had been there to visit, and I said to him then, "No matter what Dad, I'll see you again." His faith was strong; I have no doubt that God has welcomed him home.

This hymn will always carry a shadow with it now. In my childhood years, I sang it gleefully, knowing that heaven was that 'beautiful shore'. The glee has mellowed to ... what? Comfort tinged by sadness - happiness tempered by life perhaps. This experience has again reminded me of the power of music, and especially music and words together - unquestionably a topic for another post.

Accepting New Music

Yesterday at coffee time following morning worship, one of our elders was telling me about the Presbytery meeting the previous day. Part of the afternoon was taken up with a presentation of new music for worship and the elder was very enthusiastically telling me about what they had sung together. As the conversation went on, we both agreed that in such a presentation, there are bound to be basically 3 categories of music:

1. immediately appealing songs;
2. immediately unappealing songs;
   
3. songs which fall somewhere between the two extremes and after further examination will go one way or the other.

It also became evident to me as we continued to talk that how new music is presented is, dare I say it, as important as what the new music is. Is background information on the song or writer included? Are some ideas given of how to effectively use that particular piece in worship? Are resources readily available to find the song to add to the congregation's repertoire? As I happen to know the presenter, I know the answer to all of the above would be "Yes". In any case, it never hurts to be reminded (I'm talking to myself here!) that people don't like to be blind-sided with new worship music. A good thought on new music for a new year!