Posts Tagged singing

Amazing Grace: Settling a troubled soul – AILEEN LAWRIMORE*  

July 4, 2017 – www.Baptistnewsglobal.com

When I stepped onto her hall, I could see her slippered feet just outside the door frame of her room. In her wheelchair, she rocked heel to toe, toe to heel, back and forth and back again.

“Hey, there,” I said, crouching to her height and attempting to push her chair back so I could get into the room. (Imagine a 5’4” duck wearing jeans and a tie-dye T-shirt pushing a wheelchair backwards; you get the picture.) I managed it, then pulled a stool right up next to her chair so I could speak directly in her ear. Nonagenarian ears aren’t especially known for their acuity, you know.

She does not know me; when I began my job at her church, she was already at the point of needing care. I do know her, though — at least vicariously. Her heart is woven into the fabric of our church. I’ve heard stories that told about her love for her church family, her heart for missions, her love of worship. “Such a sweet person,” they all say. “Such a tender soul.”

That day though, she was all out of sorts. She reached for me, her brow furrowed, her gaze unfocused and skittish. In a frantic, high-pitched tone, she began explaining the reasons for her angst. Sadly, her mind had played havoc with her reality again, leaving her agitated by imagined evils. Yet regardless of the validity of her concerns, the fear she was experiencing was undeniable. She begged me to do something to right the wrongs she had described.

“I promise I’ll check on that in just a minute,” I told her, kissing her cheek and stroking her arm. “But before I do that, let’s sing a song, OK?” When she refused, saying we didn’t have enough time and that she was just too upset, I started singing anyway, hoping she would join me.

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound ….”

That’s all it took. Recognition dawned and she began singing along, her memory as sharp as ever.

It reminded me of when I sang those words with my own Grandmama. We sang it in church, Grandmama all dressed up in her pink polyester suit, me with my ’80s hair teased to perfection. We sang it years later too, when she lived with my parents, her favorite pink suit now several sizes too large. By then, Grandmama had lost track of the decades, but she knew “I once was lost, but now I’m found.”

I remembered singing it to my tiny daughter when I was a young mother. We’d be awake, just the two of us in the wee hours of the morning, when fear would cease me. How could I possibly be worthy of this gift I hold in my arms? The song sang itself: “Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound! That saves a wretch like me.” It became her lullaby. And mine.

There in the nursing home that day, we sang all the verses, then moved on to Jesus Loves Me and other familiar favorites. Once between hymns, she squeezed my hand and, exuding absolute joy, said, “Oh honey, I love this!”

When it was time for me to go, I promised to come again and to bring a hymnal next time. She smiled, content, and said, “God bless you, honey.”

“We’ve no less days, to sing God’s praise, than when we first begun.”

*Aileen Lawrimore is pastor to children and youth at First Baptist Church of Weaverville, NC. 

 

Tags: , , ,

Singing Is the Only Sufficient Outlet for Praise and Worship – Chautauqua Daily

Morning Worship

Mary Lee Talbot

“When we decide that we are creatures of the lord, we allocate some of our words for praise. Worship is the practical name for this mouth-loosening activity.  Sometimes, the words come out in song as we discover god beyond the debates, thinking and discussion; singing is the only sufficient outlet for praise,” said the Rev. Peter Marty at Thurs- day’s 9:15 a.m. morning worship service. His sermon title “Singing With our last Breath,” and the Scripture text was Jeremiah 1: 4-10.  Marty told a story of a young couple, Ben and renee, who were in Haiti at the time of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake. They were staying in a home for boys on the third floor with a cousin of Ben’s. After the earthquake hit, renee and the cousin were able to get out of the building. Ben was trapped on the third floor. Renee let him know she was safe and then she heard Ben singing, “god’s peace to us we pray,” a new composition he had written.  “Ben,” Marty said, “spent his last breath singing. “everyone who takes Jesus seriously must take words seriously,” he continued. “Jesus is the word made flesh. This is not a trivial claim; it is a tipoff for all of us as we navigate relationships that require words. We have non-verbal clues to attitudes, feelings and moods but words are critical to full relationships; they are the currency of living.” Marty said that words possess the power to do things. in a courtroom, the judge breaks the silence with the words “ ‘the jury has found the defendant guilty,’ and it changes lives. A lover looks at her mate and blurts out ‘i love you’ and sets off a ripple through the nervous system to the brain.” Words can soothe, inform, judge, encourage and love, he said. They can express ideas and experiences, yet words can express more than ideas. “god said ‘let there be light’ and there was light,” he said. “god spoke creation into existence. Words can func- tion like deeds, as the prophet isaiah said, ‘My words did not return empty to me’ but fulfilled their purpose. The Church defeated the roman empire by blanketing it with words, with the retelling of Scripture.” He continued, “They did not use guns or swords or cannons. The church opened its mouth and spoke. roman society was organized around classifications — race, class, family name. The Church formed a people based on words.” Words shape lives. “our paths are cut by swaths of words from the people who raised, encouraged and challenged us. But we are all capable of cheap words that treat life and people gracelessly. Words are the substructure of trustwor- thiness in relationships and once they are spoken they can never be unspoken,” Marty said. “Words,” he said, “are all i brought with me this week. They formed in my heart and mind and eventually are ex- pelled. They formed in my head and moved to your ears. As the Psalmist said, ‘May the words of my mouth and medita- tions of my heart be acceptable in your sight.’ ” Speech is a physiological event and every word has a physical substance, a puff of air through the lungs, esopha- gus, larynx, tongue, teeth and lips. He repeated his warning that words once spoken can never be pulled back. “We can apologize sometimes but the words are officially gone.” There are times when words will not come. The prophet isaiah could not speak the words of the lord until a seraph touched his lips with a coal and made his lips clean. Jeremiah was not capable of speaking for the lord until god touched his lips. “The beautiful dimension of the Christian life is that in life and death we sing. in living and dying, song is our strength. As the Psalmist says, ‘open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise,’ ” Marty said. The Rev. Scott Maxwell presided. Pat Brown, hostess at the Baptist House, read the Scripture.  The prelude was “Trio in G Major” by Marcel Gennaro, played by Barbara Hois, flute, Rebecca Scarnati, oboe, and Debbie Grohman, clarinet. The Motet Choir sang “Love” based on I Corinthians 13:1-13, with text by Chris- topher Wordsworth and music by Gerald Near. Jared Jacobsen, organist and worship coordinator, directed the choir. The Harold F. Reed Sr. Chaplaincy supports this week’s services. Singing is the only sufficient outlet for praise and worship

Tags: , , ,