Merry Christmas! – Music Story

 My favorite Christmas story is from the Gospel of John. Here’s how The Living Bible puts it:

“Before anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. He created everything there is – nothing exists that he didn’t make. Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind. His life is the light that shines through the darkness – and the darkness can never extinguish it. …
And Christ became a human being and lived here on earth among us and was full of loving forgiveness and truth. And some of us have seen his glory – the glory of the only Son of the heavenly Father!”[i]

From the album “Hope Giver” this video is scrolling playback of the song.

Kathy

Click here to read John’s Christmas story in the New International Version.

You can get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Merry Christmas!

Click here for print sheet music.

Click here for digital sheet music.
(MusicXML™ is the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check the help files in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML™ files.)

---

[i] John 1:1-4, 14

Samaritan! – Music Story

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”[1] God commanded it. Jesus lived it. He laid down his life for us.[2]

Who is our neighbor? Jesus responded with a parable. The Samaritan’s neighbor was the stranger who was attacked and left for dead. If the Samaritan were in that stranger’s place, how would he want to be treated?

The Samaritan possessed the resources necessary to help. He could bring heaven’s healing power to the injured man by caring for him out of the resources God had given him. Or he could ignore the stranger and walk on by. Even though it was inconvenient and costly, he voluntarily chose to obey the command, to love his neighbor as himself. He made a rational decision to show mercy.

In the last 28 days over 14,000,000 people across the globe have been attacked by COVID-19, leaving over 200,000 dead. No matter where we go, we are near someone who is vulnerable for severe COVID. We stand in the Samaritan’s shoes. There are no simple solutions. It’s not about coercion. It’s about compassion. If we were in the place of the stranger at risk of dying of COVID, how would we want to be treated?

God has given us resources that can help stem the tide of severe COVID. We can seize the opportunities, use the resources God has given us, bringing heaven’s healing power to a world at risk. We can partner with God in directing the course of the world during COVID-19, laying down our life for others as Jesus laid down his life for us.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” God commanded it. Jesus lived it. What if we lived it?

From the album “This & That – A Little Bit of Everything” this video is scrolling playback of the song.

Kathy

The parable of the Good Samaritan is found in Luke 10:25-37. Click here to read it.

Click here for John Hopkins University CoronaVirus world statistics.

Lead sheet music (PDF) is available for Samaritan!

Click here for print sheet music.

---

[1] Leviticus 19:18

[2] John 15:12-13

Surprised by Peace – Music Story

What a year this has been!

It started last March with Covid-19. People we know became sick. The virus swept through our neighborhood, infecting two households on our block. We shelter in place.

Last May 700 buildings in Minneapolis were damaged as people rioted in the wake of George Floyd’s death. The pharmacy near my sister’s home was severely damaged. Lake Street, the street where my cousin once had his shop, was on fire. The aftermath was like a war zone, marked by burned-out collapsed buildings and rubble.

In September and October 4,000 homes in Oregon burned. Family and friends were evacuating farm animals, sealing windows against poor air quality, sharing frightening photos of fires near them.

Social media posts of friends were censored, accounts flagged, not based on facts but because they made someone feel uncomfortable.

Longtime friends died; we were unable to weep with the families. Funerals were broadcast on social media.

And Christmas was a Zoom meeting!

We live in a society plagued by loneliness and fear. Where is God when trouble presses in?

From the album “This and That – A Little Bit of Everything” this video is scrolling playback of a song based on Philippians 4:6-7.

Kathy

Click here to read Philippians 4.

You can get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Surprised by Peace.

Click here for print sheet music.

Click here for digital sheet music.
(MusicXML™ is the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check the help files in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML™ files.)