The time is coming...

There are any number of ways to complete the title of this post.  For me, right now, the end of this sentence is, "...to head to the studio to record."  The actual date for that is April 30th.  At this time last week, I felt a little like I did just before my son was born - I'm finished with preparing and ready to deliver.  What a difference a week can make!  Today I feel as if I'll never really be ready, and what was I thinking anyway?  I'm in what I call 'panic mode' and, thankfully, I've been there before, survived it, and come out the other side just fine.  Survival requires not giving in to panic - not letting it paralyze me into inaction, or more accurately, not practising. 

There have been many other steps of preparation for this project.  Some of them are:  accumulating music, choosing repertoire and setting the order of the pieces.  Maybe when the actual recording process is done, I'll write about those things but for now - I'd better get back to practising!

Planning ahead

It's been about a week and a half since I posted this entry over at the Presbyterian Record.  You might find it helpful to read it before reading the newest entry found above.

Face to face

Palm Sunday.  The beginning of Holy Week - the week that saw a fickle crowd shout, "Hosanna!" on Day 1, and 5 days later, "Crucify!" At St. Andrew's on Sunday one of the hymns we sang was "There is a Redeemer" which sources alternately say is by Melody Green, or Keith Green or both.  The third verse of this beautiful hymn begins:

"When I stand in glory, I will see His face..."

For some reason, I questioned that phrase.  Will we see Christ face to face?  In the Old Testament there are many instances where people (Moses comes to mind) could not see the face of God.  God's glory is too wonderful for human view.  "I'll have to check on that when I get home", I thought.  [All this went through my head in a few seconds or less, as I continued to play the song.]  Since then, I've thought of other familiar hymns and songs which articulate this thought.

After I got home and had some lunch, I took out my Bible and began to search the concordance for references that might shed some light on my dilemma.  I want to know if what the congregation and I are singing is theologically sound.  There may be other verses that support the hymn text, but the one I found was Revelation 22:4  "They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads."  [The 'his' referred to is 'the Lamb' - Christ.]  I'd be happy to hear from my readers if any of you know of other scripture which either supports or doesn't support the idea that we will see Christ face to face someday.  As for the song, you can hear Keith Green singing it by clicking here.