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.)

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[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. Will we use the resources God has given us to bring heaven’s power to heal? Will we respond out of compassion to the stranger? Or walk on by?

There are no simple solutions. COVID will be with us for a long time. What personal resources has God given you that will ease the suffering of a neighbor?

“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.

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[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.)

Six Evangelical Views of Genesis 1

Evangelicals interpret the Genesis 1 creation account in a variety of ways, and they have good reasons for doing so. This presentation explores those reasons then briefly summarizes six evangelical views of Genesis 1, giving some strengths and weaknesses of each view.

24-Hour View
Day-Age View
Analogical View
Framework View
Cosmic Temple View
Theistic Evolution View

Evangelicals agree that God is the eternal Creator. They disagree on the how and when of creation. The disagreements over Genesis 1 do not need to be divisive. This presentation is a conversation starter.

Kathy

A three-page PDF summary of the presentation is available.

Click here for summary.

The Hound of Heaven – Music Story

The brilliant poet Francis Thompson was a drug addict.

How wide is the love of Christ!

In ill health and penniless, he lived on the streets of London, sleeping by the River Thames, selling matches to survive.

How deep is the love of Christ!

He sent a poem written on a scrap of paper to a magazine. The editors recognized his genius and took him into their home for a while. 

How high is the love of Christ!

In his most famous poem, The Hound of Heaven, he described God’s relentless pursuing love.

How long is the love of Christ!

I set 39 of the 182 lines of the poem to music. From the album “This and That” this video is scrolling playback of the song.

Kathy

Click here for a copy of the whole poem.

Print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML) sheet music for cello choir is available for The Hound of Heaven.

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.)

The Trinity

Historic Christianity teaches that the Creator God of the Bible is Triune. The Creator is three Who’s and one What. The three Who’s are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The one What is God. There is only one God. A recent survey revealed that many evangelical Christians are out of step with historic Christianity. 30% say Jesus is not God!

When I was in high school my neighborhood was homogeneous. A friend told me that I worshipped three Gods, not one. Her church taught that the Trinity is nonsense. I did not know how to respond. 

Times have changed. Today my neighborhood is diverse. Recently a group of us were discussing Jesus. The Muslim in our group said that Christians worship three Gods, not one. He worshipped one God, Allah. We were snacking on potato chips. He picked up three empty chip bags and said these three bags are not one. Three cannot be one. The Trinity is not logical. 

How would you respond? You might say that the Trinity is a mystery; it cannot be explained, yet it is true. But that would not address his misinformed potato chip bag analogy. It would not expose his straw man argument. It would not satisfy his thirst to know his Creator. 

Here is the presentation I gave last month on the Trinity. At the end I share how I responded.

Kathy

Click here for the results of the State of American Theology Study.

Print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML) sheet music is available for No God But One, a song featured in the presentation.

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.) 

Is There a God and Is He Good? – The Puzzle of Pain

I asked her what she thought about Christianity. She said that Christianity is a means of control. That God is a moral monster.

At one time, he told me, he had a strong faith in God. But that faith faltered when someone close to him was suffering and God did not answer his prayers.

I am a retired nurse. Nurses take care of people who are suffering and in pain. Where is God when they hurt?

Pain and suffering often cause people to question God’s goodness or his existence. If God exists, is he good? What is God’s relationship with pain, suffering, and death? Where is God when I hurt?

I explore those questions (and more) in this video (Part 3 of Is there a God and is he Good? – The Puzzle of Pain). Click here for Part 1 – Evidence from the Universe and here for Part 2 – Evidence from History. Each presentation is about 35 minutes long. Grab some food and watch them with a couple of friends. Then research the evidence I present.

Kathy

Click here to read why many young people are leaving the church. Want to change that? Click here to download a 30 second promo. You can use it to invite some struggling friends to watch the presentations with you.

Here is a study guide with links to the sources I cite.

Click here for Study Guide.