Dear Emily,
This was the first year we tried a sunrise service, and at first we thought it might draw only 25 people .We decide to go ahead anyway, and as we planed, more and more people got interest.When Easter morning finally arrived, we must have had about 80 people there, including some community people who had been contacted through our Coffebreak and Men's Life programs.
TRIUMPHANT SAVIOR,
The tune for this Lenten hymn was composed by Joyce Recker, a freelance artist now living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Both tune and harmonization were created as a special project for a music-theory course taught by Joachim Segger at The King's College in Edmonton. It is fitting that Segger has now prepared two alternate musical settings to further reflect the text of this hymn.
You just see once if this don't beat all.
My Virg just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got himself elected VP of the consistory, and ever since that day, the things that washed up our way—well, you just wouldn't believe.
Regaining the joy and gladness in our services
Each Sunday God's people gather to worship and praise God. We join our voices with myriads and myriads of angels singing praise to the risen and ascended Lord:
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth
and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!
(Rev. 5:11-12)
Our worship echoes the praise of the heavenly chorus and celebrates Christ's completed and continuing work for us.
How to recruit and encourage volunteers
Signing worship for persons with hearing impairments
While the choir sings, a young woman stands to the side and gestures with her hands and arms to the congregation. During the sermon she does the same, keeping pace with the pastor's words.
Why the waving and gesturing? This young woman is helping others hear. She is interpreting the songs, the sermon, and the prayers, using American Sign Language.
Sacred choral music from the Afro-American tradition
In the past thirty years, particularly since Vatican II in the Roman Catholic Church, there has been a continuing growth of interest in non-Western sacred choral music. Every denomination has diligently sought to assimilate this music into their worship services. Many have been unsuccessful because of a lack of performance-practice knowledge of the material and the sheer frustration of acquiring the music in written form.
Organ Prelude
Welcome
Opening Sentences
"We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as servants for Jesus' sake.
"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Every baptism should lead us to a new sense of gratitude
I don't remember the hymns we sang, nor the Scripture we read, nor the sermon. But I do remember the baptism.
