Lament - Music Story

I’ve seen what being unwanted does to children. I am a nurse. I spent most of my nursing career caring for unwanted children.

I am a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, committed to valuing what he values. Above all he values people! It is God who created our inmost being and knit us together in the womb. All are made in his image. To value others as Jesus values them is to acknowledge that all – wanted and unwanted – bear the image of God from conception onward. To value what Jesus values is to be for the life of the fetus and against its abortion.

Those wishing to have an abortion are also created in the image of God. Jesus values them as much as he values their unwanted, unborn children. To value them as God values them is to demonstrate his grace and mercy. It’s to marshal community resources (housing, employment, education, health care, legal aid, etc.) so they can bring their unwanted, unborn children to term. It is to place unwanted children in homes where they are wanted, loved, and cared for (foster care, adoption, group homes, treatment centers, etc.).

Unwanted children may need intensive community support. Agencies helping them are often funded by state dollars. I am grieved and outraged by the values of the State of Illinois. Illinois “balanced the budget” on the backs of children by postponing Medicaid payments. Social service agencies dependent on Medicaid dollars for operating costs could not make payroll or pay their bills. They were forced to close their doors.

I echo The Declaration of Independence (all are created equal, endowed by their Creator with an unalienable Right to life) and President Reagan’s 1984 Proclamation on the Sanctity of Life.

From the album “This & That” this video is scrolling playback of the song. It’s a lament for all children – wanted and unwanted - who have died in the womb.

Kathy 

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

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.)

Click here to read The Declaration of Independence.

Click here to read Reagan’s Proclamation 5147 – National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 1984.

Family Tree - Music Story

It’s one of my treasures. It’s a four-page document hand written by Dad. It begins, “Roots. Who am I? Where did I come from?” It traces my family tree back 360 years.

Friends of mine asked the same questions, “Who are we? Where did we come from?” They compared an ancient document answering these questions with scientific research and wrote a book in 2005 describing their findings. Here’s my review of their book on Amazon.com:

Who are these children who make their way to the nurse's office at school to see me – children whose disruptive behaviors and/or mental illness make it impossible for them to function in a regular classroom and qualify them for my school? And why should I care so deeply about them?

In their book on the origins of man, "Who was Adam?" Hugh Ross and Fazale Rana provide surprising, yet satisfying answers to my questions.

Surprising because of the breadth and wealth of cutting-edge scientific research they cite.

Surprising because the evidence from the fossil record, biochemistry, archaeology, human and parasitic genetic studies, geology, and astronomy is at odds with the evolutionary model of human origins that I was taught.

Surprising because they propose a creation model for human origins that is both biblical and able to stand up under scientific scrutiny. (Mitochondrial-DNA research reveals that humanity originated from one woman, called "mitochondrial Eve", and Y-chromosomal studies reveal that humanity came from a single location!)

Their model posits that while humans share many similarities with animals, humans are qualitatively different from animals. Only humans bear the image of God. If their model is correct, then even the most difficult to manage children have inherent dignity and intrinsic worth.

"Who was Adam?" – An exciting exploration of the evidence.

I recently read the ten-year update of Who Was Adam? It too is “an exciting exploration of the evidence.”

From the musical The Majesty of the Maker! this video is scrolling playback of the song, Family Tree.

Kathy

Click here to download 50-page PDF of the musical: book, music in lead sheet format, lyrics.

You can get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Family Tree.

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.)

Click here for my review of “Who Was Adam?” on Amazon.com.

Click here for Dr. Hugh Ross’s credentials.

Click here for Dr. Fazale Rana’s credentials.

Do the most recent scientific discoveries disprove the creation model proposed in Who Was Adam? Click here for the 10 year update of the book.

Light of the World - Music Story

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.

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.)

The counted cross stitch pattern of our trumpet banner is available here.

Can You Imagine - Music Story

I’m privileged to listen to and sometimes participate in lively conversations among lay people, theologians, engineers, scientists, etc. (many with advanced degrees) on the convergence of science and faith. The topics discussed are thought provoking and challenging. Most conversations are way above my pay grade. But, occasionally, something I can understand grabs my attention. This time it was poetry.

John Morgan shared a poem he had written. I was enthralled. A friend of his was going to set it to music and post it on YouTube. I couldn’t wait to hear it. But each time I searched for it on YouTube, I was disappointed. Three years went by. It still was not on YouTube.

Could I put John’s poem on YouTube, I wondered? I had written songs using music notation software and had even uploaded musical scores to the web. But not music videos. I hesitantly asked John for permission to put his poem on YouTube. Amazingly, he said yes.

I chose a few lines of the poem and set them to melody and laid the melody over a chord progression. Then I scored it for chamber ensemble. My music notation software made an audio of the instruments playing the song. But what about lyrics? And video? A search of the web turned up an answer. I could put lyrics on PowerPoint slides and use Windows Movie Maker* to make a video, syncing JPEGs of the slides with audio. I now had a simple movie of John’s poem.

Did the cosmos know we were coming? “Can You Imagine?” – John Morgan’s provocative poem – asks challenging questions and finds an astonishing answer in the Creator God of the Bible. From the album “Apologia – Answers for Troubled Minds” this video is music overlaid on slides.

Kathy

You can get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Can You Imagine.

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.)

*A search of the web revealed that I am not the only person who cannot open or edit older Windows Movie Maker files (.mswmm) using the current version of Windows Movie Maker! I no longer use it or recommend it.

God's Laws - Music Story

250 Year Old Torah Scroll

Jesus said not one jot or tittle of the Torah would change until heaven and earth disappeared. A jot is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. A tittle is a tiny decoration above a letter.

The Torah is a hand written copy of the first five books of the Old Testament written in Hebrew with a feather quill on calf skins which are then stitched together and rolled into a scroll. The Ten Commandments are recorded twice in the Torah, in Exodus (pictured above) and in Deuteronomy.

It takes about one year to make a Torah. A trained scribe makes an identical copy of an older Torah. Each Torah has 304,805 letters. It must contain no errors, no missing letters, no added letters, no misshaped letters, no letter may touch another letter. Mistakes are corrected by scraping off the ink with a knife and inserting the correction.

The Torah is the most important text in Judaism and is read daily in synagogues around the world. The community of listeners makes sure the written text is accurate. If listeners detect an error while the Torah is read, the text must be checked against an older Torah. If an error is found, it must be corrected within thirty days.

Scrolls are made to last for generations. If they are read for an average of 250 years before being retired, then just thirteen scrolls takes you back to the first Torah, penned by Moses approximately 3,300 years ago! The oldest Torah still in use is over 700 years old. It would be only four scrolls away from ones read in synagogues around the time of Jesus!

The Ten Commandments may have disappeared from the public square. But, through the amazing accuracy of the text in each copy of the Torah, Jesus made sure they would not disappear from the moral sphere of life. From the album “A ChorusBook” this video is music overlaid on slides.

Kathy

You can get print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for God’s Laws.

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.)

Click here to read about the accuracy of the Torah text.

Click here to read about the reliability of the New Testament text.

Click here to read about the world’s oldest Torah scroll still in use.

The Silence of the World - Music Story

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.

Click here for print sheet music.

Click here for digital sheet music for SATB choir and piano.

(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 the 60 Minutes segment on Iraqi Christians.

Click here to learn how to pray for the persecuted church.

Jesus Loves Me - Music Story

Chord progressions evoke emotions and even suggest lyrics! Play this chord progression slowly on your guitar, keyboard, or music app:

What do you feel? What ideas go through your mind? As I was playing this progression, I felt a yearning to be loved perfectly. This reminded me that Jesus loves me. Perfectly, completely! So I wrote song lyrics describing his love for me and set them to a simple melody accompanied by the chords. However, the song was incomplete. I left out why I hunger for perfect love.

A month later a friend invited me to hear a Christian leader speak at the Union League Club downtown Chicago. Every other month Moody Business Network hosts a luncheon for the business community. According to their website, “Each MBN event features a guest speaker from the top ranks of business, athletics or academia who shares their life story.”

As Greg Koukl, Founder and President of Stand to Reason, shared his story, he explained my longing for perfect love. God judges my behavior and attitudes perfectly for he knows my motives and intentions and the depth of harm I have caused others. God cannot overlook that harm. His justice is perfect, crushing, condemning. Jesus loves me, a condemned person! He loves me so much that he bore the weight of God’s perfect justice so I don’t have to. He loves me completely, perfectly! His love for me makes it possible for God to offer me perfect mercy.

I incorporated those thoughts into the song. It was almost complete. After weaving a few notes from the children’s hymn, “Jesus Loves Me,” in the music, the song was finished.

From the album “This & That – A Little Bit of Everything” this video is music scrolling playback of a song based on John 15:12-14.

Kathy

Print (PDF) and digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for Jesus Loves Me are available.

   Click here for PDF.

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 watch Greg talk about God’s justice and mercy.