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Four-part harmony singing and music education in worship
A follow-up to a recent post about Charles Spurgeon's essay on music in worship. Brian Sauvé, a pastor and hymnwriter, posted recently on Twitter about his church's approach to music in worship: I get this question enough that it's probably worth posting about it separately: "How do you do...
Spurgeon on music in worship
An apt remark by P. Andrew Sandlin: Church leaders: if your praise band plays songs 90% of your congregation can't sing easily or enthusiastically, you don't have a church music program; you have a musical performance program. Let me urge you to start a church music program. prompted Noah Goedker...
Charles Spurgeon resources
Recently I've returned to the habit of reading a book before bedtime and when eating on my own, leaving aside the digital device and focusing my attention on the printed page. In the past few weeks I've finished Calvin Coolidge's autobiography, Arnold Dallimore's biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a short...
V-E Day 75th anniversary
The German war is therefore at an end. After years of intense preparation, Germany hurled herself on Poland at the beginning of September, 1939; and, in pursuance of our guarantee to Poland and in agreement with the French Republic, Great Britain, the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations, declared war...
New hymnal: <em>Hymns to the Living God</em>
Religious Affections Ministries has published a new hymnal, and it's available for free download. Hymns to the Living God is notable for its slim size and the scarcity of copyright notices. Only 294 hymns were selected for inclusion, and nearly all of them are in the public domain. Scott Aniol,...
Heaven on earth?
During a recent long drive, I tuned in, via the miracle of the internet, to ABC radio in Australia, and listened to the "Overnights" show. In this particular hour, the host was playing songs with "heaven" in the title. Gospel songs about the eternal state of the blessed like "When...
Art Rubin, RIP
Arthur E. Rubin, grand old man of the Tulsa County GOP, died Sunday, February 2, 2014, at the age of 93. Visitation is tonight, Friday, February 7, 2014, from 5 - 7 p.m. at Moore Funeral Home Rosewood Chapel at 2570 S. Harvard. Funeral is Saturday, February 8, 2014, at...
Margaret Thatcher, RIP
A world-changer has left this world for a better one. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died today at age 87. I don't remember when I started paying attention to British politics; sometime in the mid-'70s, I imagine. I had a shortwave radio, and I loved tuning in to...
A Sunday poem: Give Thanks to the Lord
Give Thanks to the Lord by Katherine Bates Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, Sound hymns of joyous praise, And Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice Has freed the former slaves. He died upon that blessed cross And now we can enjoy Salvation! Hearts are freed from sin...
Christmas music on KWTU
KWTU 88.7, the University of Tulsa's classical music station, is giving listeners the gift of traditional sacred Christmas music. (Thanks to David Rollo for calling this to my attention.) Some highlights: Thursday, 12/23/2010, 9 - 11 pm: St Olaf Christmas Special: A service in song and word that has become...
San Antonio sojourn
I'm nearing the end of two business trips in one week, separated by less than 16 hours at home, both involving graveyard-shift hours. The first was to Altus, in southwestern Oklahoma -- drove down on Wednesday, worked the wee hours of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, slept a bit, then drove...
Kol Nidre online
In college I became a brother of Zeta Beta Tau, a historically Jewish fraternity that became non-sectarian in the '50s. About a third of the brothers in our chapter were Jewish. They came from all over the country, from different backgrounds and had widely different approaches to religious observance. From...
Samuel Adams and the Boston Tea Party
As one of his assignments for his homeschooling program, Classical Conversations, my son Joseph wrote a biographical essay about Samuel Adams. I learned many new facts from it, and on Tax Day, on Tea Party Day, I thought it deserved a wider audience. So, without further ado, meet "the most...
Bob Wills on NPR
This first ran in 2003, but it's still worth a listen. NPR's Morning Edition ran an 11-part series called "Honky Tonks, Hymns and the Blues." A couple of years later, it was turned into a two-hour radio documentary. Part 10 is all about Bob Wills and western swing. The eight-minute...
Don't dumb down church
Speaking of Dawn Eden, I like what she said recently to Terry Mattingly regarding churches' outreach to singles: If church leaders truly want to reach out to women and men who are looking for an alternative to that lifestyle, said Eden, they must realize that the last thing single adults...
An ecumenical pianist
Today I attended the funeral of Doris Oler, in the Rose Chapel at Boston Avenue Methodist Church. Doris passed away on Tuesday at the age of 76. Doris was an alto and a charter member of Coventry Chorale, and my wife and I sang with her in that group for...
Hear the angels sing
Tonight, December 16, at 7:30, the Tulsa Boy Singers will be performing a Christmas concert at Trinity Episcopal Church, 5th & Cincinnati in downtown Tulsa. (Because of construction at the church, it's easiest to use the western entrance on Cincinnati.) This is their second performance. I attended last night, and...
Father's Day notes
This draft was started a couple of days after Father's Day, but I never got around to finishing it. In lieu of something more substantive tonight, here it is: We celebrated Father's Day by taking my dad and mom to lunch at Mexicali Border Café at Main and Brady downtown....
Classic hymn texts, contemporary tunes
Our church sponsors a chapter of Reformed University Fellowship at the University of Tulsa, and as a result we've had an influx of college age, young singles, and young married couples into our congregation. (RUF is the collegiate ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America, a conservative evangelical denomination.) Along...
Fair Tax, Bernest Cain, DelGiorno in a fat suit
I had the pleasure of being Gwen Freeman's sidekick this morning on 1170 KFAQ. Michael DelGiorno was at home, part of a reality TV segment that will run on NBC's Today later this month -- his pregnant wife is being pampered at a hotel, while Michael wears a pregnancy prosthesis...
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