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.