BLOGGING TOWARD SUNDAY…

Most of you know that the first love of my life is music.  While I often have people to tell me they have been stirred by a particular sermon, I have more to tell me that they are deeply moved by a certain song that the choir has sung (for you out of town readers, I also direct the wonderful choir here).  I was thinking last night about how deeply moved I was while listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing their arrangement of “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”  I rate musical performance by the “chill-bump” factor, and this song defintely rates a 10! (a link to the performance precedes this post).

The neat thing is that it doesn’t matter to me that it is a Mormon Choir, neither would it matter if were Buddhist or Baptist.  In fact, one of my favorite choirs is the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus!  Their music, too, is soul-stirring, sung with passion, conviction, and musical excellence.  Isn’t it amazing that when we hear great music, the music is all that matters?  A case in point is the New York Philharmonic’s recent concert in North Korea, where Koreans gave the orchestra a 5 minute standing ovation, with many in the audience moved to tears!

Music has the ability to make us forget our differences, and to lay aside, at least for a while, the things that divide us. Just goes to show that we are capable of putting our differences on the back burner  while we are engaged together in some great common task.  For me, God’s greatest gift to us, right after Jesus, is music.   Music stirs me in a way that nothing else ever has…inspiring me, moving me, pushing me to be all that I can be.

Please listen to the recording below.  You’ll understand exactly what I’m trying to say, because sometimes it takes more than words to communicate.  Blessings….

Filed under: Blogging Toward Sunday