Ode 17

Today's Music Session

I was privileged to lead a music session for Pine Lake Music's Choral Sounds Conference. Before I led a session for a company called Consuming Worship, I sat in on my friend, Keith McBroom's work as he led a workshop for Integrity Music (pictured). During my workshop we listened to some great new music and discussed how it could be used creatively in a worship setting. One thing is for sure, I walked out of there with a renewed sense that worship leaders are trying hard to lead their congregations in a valid worship experience.

Dad's Laughter and My Ramblings

Psalm 126:2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."

I haven't had my morning coffee yet. I was thinking about my dad. I talked with him the other day. He is doing as good as could be expected. One of the most impressive things to me is to hear his laughter. Here is a man who has been told to get his affairs in order for he could go at any time, the doctors say, yet he keeps on keeping on, smiling and laughing through life. When I spoke with Dad I asked matter of factly, "Did you preach today?"
He responded, "Oh sure, that's what I do." Then came the chuckle. I told him that if he's going to keep on preaching he needs to get a chair, sit down, and deliver his sermon. He laughed again and said, "I'll keep that in mind." Dad is glad to be able to spend his days doing what he does, not being laid up in a hospital. He is enjoying his journey until the end comes, whenever that may be.
Which reminds me, I promised God...

A Great Week Ahead

What a great weekend it was. It is not often that you get to eat ribs and watch fireworks all on the same day. But that is exactly how we ended up our 4th of July.
Now, I enter a busy week of meetings along with a conference to attend. I'll be leading a music reading session for a couple of hundred ministers of music, and serving on a nominations committee, along with the various things regularly scheduled around the church. I said all that to say this, one can't properly go about the day unless one has gone about it with God. I want to encourage all of you who read Ode 17 to be sure to start the day off with some quiet time alone with God. It sure helps you...

Great Quote

My friend posted this on facebook. Thought I would share it with you.

"Excellence that feels it has to be proclaimed, by the mere fact of its proclamation admits the doubt of its existence." - CleoMae Dungy

Thank you Michael!

The Jesus Rant

So many of you saw this at church last Sunday when Stuart used it in the middle of his first sermon at Sugarloaf UMC. Since then, I have had many requests to make it available. I found it on Youtube.com this afternoon. If you would like to purchase a copy go to sermonspice.com and you can have a copy of your very own. So without further ado I give you, The Jesus Rant.

The Jesus Rant

Pray for our Teams

Today, while discussing my Nicaragua mission trip with a friend, I was reminded that there is a team of our students in South Africa at this very moment, performing ministry that is touching lives in a very unique way. In just a few days we are sending a team of folks to Pueblo Pintado Reservation in New Mexico. We are actively serving others in the world.
If you will, please keep all of these teams, and the ones to follow, in your prayers.

A Devotion from a Friend

I periodically like to bring you a devotional from a good friend and coworker, Mike Devine. I liked his posting today and thought I would share it with you.

Psalm 18   ¹⁶ He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. ¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. ¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. ¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

David often found himself in troubles during his life - some of his own making and some not.  This particular psalm is connected to 2 Samuel 22 and has been placed by some as being from the time that David lived with the Philistines, safe for a time from King Saul.  This is a song of deliverance and we have several of our contemporary hymns and songs taken from different sections of this Psalm - (18:2 - The LORD [is] my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, [and] my high tower. and 18:3 - I will call upon the LORD, [who is worthy] to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. are two examples). What drew me to this Psalm this morning is not that it was a powerful Psalm of David or that it is connected to songs of this day, though those things are true.  I had a facebook conversation with an old friend - well, we're certainly not old (smiling), but we haven't connected in decades.  This is a Psalm that she was...

Andy Brophy

You guys just have to take a look at Andy Brophy's site. This young man has an unbelievable talent for shooting the stuff you don't see. It's there but you just don't think to photograph it. I am really proud of him. I could really learn from him, but he's moving ahead with his talent at light speed. There's no way to keep up!
Here is the link to his website. By the way, he's another of the talented staff members at Sugarloaf UMC.
Andy Brophy

A Moment of Thanks

There has never been a time when I was so busy that I actually have seen the Pacific Ocean from Central America and Northern America in one week. With the mission trip to Nicaragua and the quick visit to my dad out in California, welcoming a new pastor, and trying to keep a department running on extremely limited funding ...well, life has been a bit hectic. In the meantime, I neglected to say a word of thanks to Tommy Willingham. My apologies to Ode 17 readers and to Tommy.

Tommy,
It was a tough two and a half years but you weathered it well. Thanks for your service to Sugarloaf UMC in such a hard season. I learned an awful lot of stuff from you and you impacted my life greatly. I'll never forget our time together at SUMC. I will keep praying that God uses you in a great way in this new time of your life. Please know that you are loved as you go about God's work in the North Georgia Conference. Blessings to you as you go!

We Become What We Worship

I came across a very interesting quote this morning in my devotional. It is interesting mainly in that it comes from an author I would have never expected this from. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think...