Nights Are Long - Music Story

Dad was a miller by trade. The company he worked for made restaurant quality food mixes. My favorite was wild rice pancake mix. After years of inhaling flour and other dry baking ingredients, he developed COPD. There were times when he couldn’t sleep unless he was sitting up. He sent me a poem he wrote about his love/hate relationship with his lazy boy chair. I set the poem to music, below.

Despite COPD, Dad was grateful. This is in his own handwriting.

For those of you who have trouble deciphering a lefty’s script, this is what he wrote:

Well it has been fun to go back into the past. Perhaps one could be proud of one’s ancestors, but I am much more grateful that through faith in Christ I have been born into the family of God. John 1:12 “But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” My prayer is that this might be real in the lives of all who read this. Merry Christmas – 1977 Dwayne

From the album “This and That” this video is scrolling playback of the Dad’s lazy-boy-chair lament.

Kathy

Click here to read John 1:12, the verse Dad quoted.

Print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML) sheet music is available for Nights Are Long.

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 Song of Moses – Music Story

The Song of Moses, sometimes called The Song of the Sea, is the first song in the Bible. It was written at the time of the Exodus, around 1400 BC. Here it is beautifully formatted on three different Torah scrolls, each one hand-copied from a previous copy of the Torah. Notice, the scrolls are dated centuries apart, yet are formatted identically. The formatting symbolizes columns of water on either side of the children of Israel as they walked on dry land through the Red Sea.[i]

I have been privileged to see several Torah scrolls and marvel at the beauty of the penmanship, the careful attention to detail, the amazing accuracy of each copy.

From the album “The HymnBook – Thirty-four Hundred Years of Praise” this video is scrolling playback of the song.

Kathy

Click here to read The Song of Moses.

You can get print (PDF) sheet music for The Song of Moses.

Click here for print sheet music.

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[i] 📜 שירת הים | Shirat haYam :: the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1-19) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

 

Bread of Life – Music Story

Jesus:
I am the bread of life.*

The Lord’s Supper:
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.**

From the album “Redemption” this video is scrolling playback of the Lord’s Supper.

Kathy

Scroll down here to read about the Lord’s Supper.

Print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music is available for Bread of Life.

Click here for 4-page 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.)

*John 6:35
**1 Corinthians 11:23-26

The Call of Abram – Music Story

God called Abram to a new identity. His sense of self, of who he was, was to change. Abram was to have a new allegiance, one not based on nation or people group. Abram was to leave his country and his father’s household and go to the land God would show him. God promised to make him a great nation. All the peoples on earth would be blessed through him. Abram’s identity was to be based on God’s promise. But it would take a miracle for him to become a great nation. He was seventy-five. His wife was sixty-five, childless, and barren. Yet, Abram believed God and went as the Lord had told him! And so began the great story of redemption.

In the call of Abram we see rudiments of the story:

·         A calling

·         A land

·         A promise

·         New identity

·         A child

·         A miracle birth

Through one man’s act of faith God would bless all.

From the album “Redemption” this video is scrolling playback of God’s call to Abram from Genesis 12.

Kathy

Click here to read the call of Abram.

Print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML) sheet music is available for The Call of Abram.

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.) 

Hannah’s Song – Music Story

Hannah prayed for a child.
And the LORD granted her petition.
Then Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart rejoices in the LORD … there is no Rock like our God.”

From the album “Sing” this video is scrolling playback of her prayer set to music.

Kathy

Click here to read Hannah’s prayer.

Lead sheet music (PDF) is available for Hannah’s Song.

Click here for PDF.

Blessed – Music Story

Crowds of people were following Jesus. He was in the public eye, being sought out. Were his disciples basking in the limelight? Finding pleasure in fame?

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain and sat down. His disciples came to him, and Jesus described to them the person who is to be congratulated, to be envied. He explained the best way of living, the one that gives the greatest rewards today and tomorrow. The person who accepts the demands of God’s Kingdom, that person truly finds happiness and well-being.

What Jesus taught his disciples is known as The Beatitudes and is found in The Sermon on the Mount.

From the album “Sing” this video is scrolling playback of a song based on Numbers 26:24-26 and Matthew 5:3-16.

Kathy

You can read The Beatitudes here.

Print (PDF) sheet music (lead sheet) is available for Blessed.

Click here for PDF.

Romans – Music Story

Something is wrong with the world.

We live in a violent world. War is raging on every continent. In fact, thirteen major wars are being fought right now, including the civil war in Myanmar that forcibly displaced over a million people. As the military was seizing power, my niece evacuated on one of the last planes out of the country.

We live in an asylum-seeking world. Thousands of Mexican migrants with their belongings stuffed into one bag are bussed to “sanctuary cities” in the U.S and simply dropped off. In a major city just a few hours from my home they fill a third of the already overwhelmed family homeless shelters.

We live in a world battling over orthodoxy. In a neighboring state, an education law resulted in the removal of hundreds of books from public schools, classic works of fiction, nonfiction history books, even Pulitzer Prize winning contemporary novels!

The apostle Paul explains the root of the problem in the New Testament book of Romans.

Three songs from Romans

1.      The Mind of God

We originated in the mind of God. We are created by, through, and for a triune God to reflect his unity and diversity.[1]

2.      Bad News! Good News!

The problem is personal. We don’t reflect God’s unity and diversity. We have fallen short of the glory of God. We are sinners. God’s solution to the problem was personal. God sent his Son, Jesus, to demonstrate that he loves us. We are forgiven and made right with God through Jesus’ death.[2]

3.      The Love of God

Surrounded by violence? Forcibly displaced? Seeking asylum? On the wrong side of orthodoxy? For those who have accepted God’s solution, nothing can separate them from the love of God.[3]

Kathy

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[1] Romans 11:33-36

[2] Romans 1:2-6, 3:10-18, 5:1-11, 10:5-13

[3] Romans 8:31-39