THOUGHTS

March 28, 2020

Today I walked with Springer Spaniels in the Lake District of Scotland.

I've sang along to a choir singing, "O Happy Day."

I cried along with the twinsies' other grandma over the birthday parade yesterday.

I've smiled at photos of our gentle giant, young 15 year old Ben.

I did a mini workout with an online coach, emphasis on mini.

I've laughed at so many things.

So goes another day in quarantine.

I am so thankful for the internet.

"Thy people will volunteer freely

in the day of Thy power."

Psalm 110:3

One thing I like about Tennessee is that it is called "the volunteer state," since way back before the days of the Civil War.  Can we now call the United States "the volunteer Union"?  We need to volunteer to pray for our volunteers.  I think of nurses and doctors I know who are willing to go to war against this silent but deadly enemy.  It gets closer and closer to home.  I know one friend, an EMT who caught it and, fortunately, is recovering from the virus.  I know of one of my shirt-tail kinfolk who is a doctor but whose sister died of the virus.  Many of you have similar stories.  Yet, we need to face each day with not only prayer, but music because" joy is the serious business of heaven." (C.S. Lewis)

When the children were little, and even now we sometimes sing with laughter, our preschool meal time prayer, "Thank you God, thank you God, for our food, for our food.  We are very thankful, we are very thankful.  Yes, we are.  Yes we are."  Or at times at our kinfolk gatherings, we would sing the Doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him all creatures here below.  Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host.  Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Amen."

Music is one delight that is endless,

from here to heaven.

"...and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest..."

"We have no coffers filled with gold...

no lofty palace for our home,

nothing but the voice of song.

Music is the wealth we own.

We ask no other gift."

from "Our Home is on the Mountain's Brow"

Alleghanians, 1847

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of our everyday life."

Anderbach

In the front of my hymnal it says, 

"Sing unto the Lord, 

O ye saints of His, 

and give thanks at

the remembrance of 

His holiness."

Psalm 30:4

"The Christian dispensation was ushered in with a song when an angel chorus broke the midnight stillness over the hills of Judea with 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'"

"Singing was inherent in the worship of the Early Church.  The Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesian church and again to the Colossians, exhorts that 'psalms and hymns and spiritual songs' be used for mutual encouragement and edification.  The apostle set an example by joining with Silas in midnight songs of praise in circumstances not conducive to rejoicing, in the Philippian jail."

"In Old Testament times worship and song were inseparable  Moses' 'Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously' in a sense set the pace for the children of Israel in expressing their praise and thanksgiving.  King David's psalms, themselves hymns of praise and petition, abound in encouragement to 'come before His presence with singing.'"

"What fortitude Martin Luther inspired during the Reformation by his hymns, among them the immortal 'A Mighty Fortress Is Our God'!  And the Wesleys!  Who can measure the impact of their hymns on the Wesleyan revival in England? (sometimes putting new words to bar tunes so the coal miners and others could sing them.)"

"Worship in song.  Yesterday, today, and throughout eternity: 'And they sung as it were a new song before the throne' (Revelation 14:3).  Meanwhile: 'Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: sing forth the honour of His name: make His praise glorious.' (Psalm 66:1-2)."

"O come, let us sing unto the Lord;

let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation."

(Psalms 95:1)

And if you are at home alone like I am, 

you can sing to your hearts content

because no one can hear you.