Joy! a praise chorus. Original lyrics of this joyful chorus are set to the tune “I’ve Got the Joy.” This lively chorus about Jesus’ love will get your hands clapping and feet dancing.
From the album “A ChorusBook,” this video is scrolling playback of a song based on Philippians 4:4.
Click here for MusicXML. (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.)
Click here for MusicXML. (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.)
The present influences
what we believe about the past.
Who was Jesus?
A myth? A good man? A teacher? A prophet? Much hinges on the answer to that
question.
The Apostle John
answered that question in the prologue to his Gospel. Jesus, the Word, was in
the beginning. He was with God. He was God. He created all there is. He became
a man. He was rejected. He gives life to all who believe in him.
Did the early
disciples actually believe this? Or was this a later construct?
The present
influences what we believe about the past.
The John
Rylands Library at Manchester, England houses fragments of ancient writings. In
1934 a fellow at St. John’s College at Oxford was sorting through some papyri
from Egypt. He found a small fragment of the Gospel of John. Since penmanship
constantly changes over time, papyri can be dated by its writing style. Originally
dated by paleography to 117 – 138 AD, most scholars currently it date to 125 –
150 AD.
Earliest fragment of the Gospel of John
John was an
eye witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Although it is
traditionally believed that John wrote his Gospel while in Ephesus around 90 AD,
he most likely wrote it before the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem was destroyed in
A.D. 70.[1]
His eyewitness account was copied and a copy made its way to Egypt. Within 100
years of Jesus’ death, Christians in Egypt had written eyewitness testimony
that Jesus lived, died, was buried and came back to life, and that he is God!
The present
influences what we believe about the past.
The John
Rylands Papyrus P52 shows that there was no time for myth and legend
to develop between Jesus’ death and the Gospel of John showing up in Egypt. The
early disciples believed Jesus was God. This was not a later construct.
I set John’s
prologue to music and incorporated it in a musical, "The Majesty of the Maker." This video is scrolling
playback of the song.
Kathy
Click here to
download 50-page PDF of the musical: book, music in lead sheet format, lyrics.
Print sheet
music for choir (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML) sheet music for chamber
ensemble is available for The Word.
Click here for MusicXML.
(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.)
Click here to
read about the John Rylands Papyrus P52
[1] John 5:2
“Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool …”
Everyone –
naughty and nice – longs for a place that meets the deepest longings of the
human heart, a place where it’s like Christmas every day of the year.
A place where
there is
·Community
instead of privilege
·Forgiveness
instead of payback
·Harmony
instead of conflict
·Intimacy
instead of walls
·Transparency
instead of hidden motives
A place where bullying,
violence, and sexual harassment are unknown. Thievery can’t be found. Jealousy
and envy have no quarter.
A place where
there are no good-byes. A place of permanent prosperity, where no one lives in
squalor or want. A place of generosity. Where random acts of kindness are
common place. Where there is thrill in discovery and creativity. And joy over what
others have and will accomplish.
This is a
place where there is no evil. Where justice and mercy are perfectly balanced.
It’s God’s place. His city. It’s out of
this world, but coming soon. He promises, “Everyone who conquers will inherit
all these blessings, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”
Those who
enter, enter by his rule. “See, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to
repay everyone according to the deeds he has done. I am the A and the Z, the
Beginning and the End, the First and Last. Blessed forever are all who are
washing their robes, to have the right to enter in through the gates of the
city and to eat the fruit from the Tree of Life.”
May you enter
that city. Merry Christmas to all!
From the musical
The Majesty of the Maker! this video
is scrolling playback of the song.
Kathy
Click here to
download 50-page PDF of the musical: book, music in lead sheet format, lyrics.
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.)
A large crowd from
Jerusalem found out that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They went out
to meet him and to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
The disciples brought
Jesus a donkey and a colt and he sat on them.
Daughter of Zion,
Your king comes to you,
Riding on a donkey.
The crowd
spread their cloaks on the road. Others cut
branches and spread them on the road.
At the place
where the road goes down the Mount of Olives the crowd began to praise God for
the miracles they had seen. They went on
before him and followed behind, shouting,
"Hosanna!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"
Some of the
Pharisees said to Jesus, "Rebuke your disciples!” He replied, "If
they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Jesus entered
the temple, looked around, and left.
Monday, March 30, A.D. 33
Jesus returned
to the temple. The blind and lame came to him and he healed them. Seeing this,
children shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”
The priests
and teachers were indignant and said, “Do you hear what these children are
saying?" Jesus replied, “From the lips of children God has ordained
praise.”
From the album
“Hope Giver” this video is scrolling playback of the song.
Kathy
You can get print
(PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Shout Praise.
At Christmas
we celebrate the arrival of the King! In the middle ages the arrival of a king
was announced by fanfare trumpets. As part of our Christmas celebration we hang
a fanfare trumpet on our fireplace mantle.
It’s a special
trumpet with a long straight tube that has a banner hanging on it. We found
this trumpet in an arts and crafts store and added the banner.
Ours is
counted cross stitch banner that was inspired by a Christmas card. Angelic heralds
announce the birth of the King, Jesus, the Light of the World.
Fanfare,
written for special state events, is played by brass instruments. The birth of a
king is a special state event. Here’s Christmas fanfare for the birth of the
King of Kings, the Light of the World. From the album “Main Street – Songs for Today” this video is
scrolling playback of a Christmas carol.
Kathy
You can get print
sheet music (PDF for a cappella choir) and/or digital sheet music (MusicXML™ for
brass instruments) for Light of the World.
What if the
Arabic letter N (for Nasara, an early Islamic term for Christians) were spray painted
on the front door of homes and businesses of Christians in my town? What if
terrorists gave me the choice to convert to Islam, leave town, or die? What
would I do? Would I be as courageous as the thousands of Christians in Iraq who
refused to deny Jesus and fled with little more than the clothes on their
backs?
Iraq has a
rich Christian heritage. Jesus and his disciples spoke Aramaic. Shortly after
Jesus resurrection his disciples took the gospel to the Aramaic speaking
people of Iraq. Now they are being annihilated. In just one decade the
Christian population in Iraq dropped by 80%! According to the March 22, 2015
broadcast of 60 Minutes, “More than
125,000 of Iraq’s Christians have been forced to flee the homeland they have
lived in for nearly 2,000 years because of ISIS violence and threats.”
One hundred
million Christians worldwide will suffer persecution, imprisonment, or death
this year because they are Christians. The numbers are startling! Don’t let the shock value wear off. Don’t become numb to the plight of Christians who are
facing terrorism.
Jesus sent his
disciples out into the world where they would face hardship and death. He
prayed for them. Not that they would be insulated from danger. He prayed that
their faith would be protected in the face of danger. We have the privilege of
echoing that prayer, of praying with and for Christians worldwide on November
6, the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.
I wrote this
song as an expression of solidarity with persecuted believers. From the album “Main
Street – Songs for Today” this video is scrolling playback of the song.
Kathy
You can
get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for The Silence
of the World.
Easter changes
everything. Easter gives meaning to life, tells us who we are and why we are
here. Easter explains why others hurt us and what God has done about it. Easter
endows the present and future with inexplicable joy. But not everyone who knows
about Easter gets this.
Her life was
marked by pain. How could she trust God after what she had been through? God
hadn’t protected her. God hadn’t met her needs. Now pain defined who she was.
She would reach for anyone or anything that might ease the pain, pushing away whatever
got in the way. She made wrong assumptions about love – love in general and God’s
love specifically. She equated love with feelings and circumstances. If it
didn’t look or feel like love, it must not be love.
How could God
possibly show the depth of his love for her? What could he do to change her
identity, who she was at the core, so that she was no longer defined by her
pain, but by his love? Good Friday, Jesus’ death on the cross, is the answer to
that question. God loves us so deeply that he became a man and died for us. But
God didn’t stop there. Jesus rose from the dead and that’s why Easter changes
everything! If Jesus is alive then God’s demonstration of love is more than an
historical event. If Easter is true, God’s love trumps pain, does not waiver
with circumstances, is not dictated by feelings. His love is an ever-present
reality. He defines who we are, not pain, not circumstances, not feelings.
I wrote this Good
Friday song with her in mind. But she moved away before I had the chance to
share it with her. From the album “Main Street – Songs for Today” this video is
scrolling playback of the song.
Kathy
Do you play the
flute, oboe, French horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, or keyboard? Forgiven
is on SmartMusic, the comprehensive music practice app!
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.)
