Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah. Really? Roaring lion? Who is the witch and which wardrobe then? What / where / who is Judah? Here is where the Old Testament and all that history are relevant. Judah is one of the tribes of Israel, and it is symbolised by lion, as they are regarded as the tribe of the Kings. In those days, a king is a fighter. He wins wars, he gains lands. Genesis 49:8-9 says about the Lion of Judah conquering the enemy. If our God is the Lion, that means he is a fighter? […]
Monthly archives: March 2019
15 posts
When you are heading for God’s promise in heaven, a good tip is to have some instruction on how to get there; better still, Jesus is your guide. Well, he’s been there, he came from there, he can guide you there. Keep close to Jesus all the way. When you face life’s greatest storms and trials, a good tip is to focus on Jesus. Companion with him gives you comfort. Spending time with him means you know him, God. Keep close to Jesus all the way. When people’s words and actions feel like rocks, darts and spears hurling at you, […]
When we worship, we worship God.. When we lead worship, we lead others to worship God. We need to know God to worship him. We need to know those we are leading worship so we connect with them to support them in worship. Is that a fair comment? For a start, I’d prefer to be able to hear how the congregation is singing, and I can then respond to that to lead further on music. If where I am playing my instrument is so far from the congregation that I cannot see or hear their singing, I am disconnected from […]
The Church is wherever God’s people are loving. Love, a topic probably most discussed, preached in churches. Fundamental to God’s relation to us, it’s how he created, formed and established relationship with us. And on that too he saved us, to repair the relationship so that we can be near to him just like to another person, except he is God. To know what love means is something, and that takes a lifetime. Love gives you good, positive, and uplifting feeling plus an optimistic energy. Love that has been tested gives you even more good, positive, and uplifting feeling with […]
History makers. That means they make history. What they did, said, or some other things associated with them, was so phenomenal that it entered history and we will remember them. Well, like moon landing. As time moves on, we move with it. Something that is even more phenomenal is one that is beyond time. Rather than they make something that is very important in history, they define history. Jesus is the one. He owns history. He is first and last, alpha and omega. See John 1:3 and 10, Colossians 1:16, 1 Corinthians 8:6, and Revelation 1:8. In such a phenomenon, […]
We are social people. Each of us has so much we can take with respect to our social scale. Some of us prefer more time to ourselves, others prefer more times with familiar and loved ones, while others enjoy making new friends. No matter what, we have our circle of friends and loved ones. There are also individuals we can count on, they will listen to us, they will give us advice, we will seek them out whatever and whenever in times when we are in very difficult situation. When I was given a notice at work that I would […]
The Church is wherever God’s people are trying to live and to share out the good news of God. Here are some opening questions to help us think and discuss on the good news of God and how we live and share it. Thinking about yourself, what do you consider is the ‘good news of God’? Thinking about your church, what do you consider is the ‘good news of God’? Is this different from above question? What might be some ideas for yourself / your church to ‘live’ the good news of God? Sharing the good news of God can […]
When you plan for worship, there’s a lot to think about and plan. For example, you need a theme for a worship session. Or we got to have simple instruments like tambourines available so that children can use them for worship. Or you need to put a music team together. Or check which version of the Bible to use for the readings. Ingredients for worship don’t come out of nowhere, they need refinement. It’s true that God desires our intention, our “heart”, rather than the exact particular ways we do things. The “particular ways” is more about human connectedness, it […]
Truth asserts, hurts or gives hope. Truth is something that remains the same irrespective of changing conditions – can I explain it that way? Of course, I should qualify that with a precondition or disclaimer that the statement remains valid within the ‘world’ that we live in, For example, 5 is a greater number than 4. The whole number / mathematical system is what humans invented to represent a kind of truth that remains valid within this world we live in. Following the uncertainty about the location of the departure station of the bus to the airport, I discovered that […]
The Church is wherever God’s people are wanted and loved. Reflect the following questions as we think about whether the church is where God’s people feel wanted and loved. If you are in a group, why not consider discussing some of these questions to learn from each other and pray about some of the important points. Maybe talk about some common concerns and interests and discover new ideas. What are visible signs that people are wanted and loved? Do you think there are differences between ‘wanted’ and ‘loved’? If yes, what are they? There are other places people are wanted […]
For part 1, click here. Mid Section. We will never know how the song can have a different effect if the mid section is different. Tha’ts a weird philosophical statement to make; it’s like saying if B, which is wholly dependent on A, is questionable but then A is also questionable, so why debate B when you should debate A? Since you are reading this, let me take this further (the B debate). One alternative (bad, or possible) is to have long held notes for this Med Section. For example, the use of semibreves / wholenotes – 4 crotchet beats. […]
For part 1, click here. I think most people haven’t noticed this aspect in the music. The rhythmic structure is not too different from the syncopation in the rest of the music, but the subtlety here is so unobvious I think musicians need to take stock so we have the energy for this phrase. It’s only one bar. Have a look at MUS 007 and MUS 008. I think the singing, and the music, ought to emphasise the lyrics here – ‘Jesus saves’. Doing it effectively will take the music to a different level. This will continue in part 5 […]
Salt can be bad for your body. That’s when you over salt. In the New Testament, salt and light are two useful metaphors about how we as Christians can and should be effective in reaching God’s truth and love to others. In one verse in Leviticus, 2:13, the application of salt was literal. You shall apply salt to your grain / meat / food offering as part of your sacrificial worship. The symbolism here is as strong as the salt in the New Testament. Salt is a preservation agent, and carries a kind of covenant seal God has with us, […]
For part 1, click here. What is disappointing is that the bass part in the piano part is crotchet notes being the harmonic bass. See MUS 004. Pianist will find playing the music much more of a relief than a bass line that is more complicated. This is because the right hand melody has a lot of syncopated rhythms, and plus secondary notes. You want to devote maximum attention to your hand position to allow your fingers at the right place to play there the notes are. Despite that, I do prefer music arrangement given attention to creativity in the […]
Impression is important. To be precise, the impression you give about yourselves to others. It’s one thing we say people can exaggerate or belittle themselves, but it’s way more difficult to give a fair assessment of yourself. Just this week, I’ve had responses about my work from 3 people. The three pieces of work are completely independent of each other, which mean they give an impression about a bit of me, in 3 ways. The one I thought they would say I had missed the point (so to speak) turned out most encouraging – not so much in the form […]