Martin Luther and Aaron Shust Collaborate on a Christmas Song

 

Contemporary recording artist, Aaron Shust, has a new Christmas song called “God Has Come to Earth” that he gives some credit to Martin Luther for the lyrics.  It’s available at his BLOG as a free download with no strings attached.   Here’s his BLOG site if you are interested and if you’d like an MP3 to add to your music inventory:

http://aaronshust.blogspot.com/2008/11/god-has-come-to-earth.html

The Top Ten Reasons to Use Stringed Instruements in Worship

1. “The music of the strings makes you glad.” – Psalm 45:8
2. “Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.” – Psalm 33:2
3. “Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.” – Psalm 57:8
4. “I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.”  – Psalm 71:22
5. “Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre.”  – Psalm 81:2
6. “I will sing a new song to you, O God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,” – Psalm 144:9
7. “Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,” – Psalm 150:3
8. “The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD.” – Isaiah 38:20
9. “At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres.” – Nehemiah 12:28
10. He will rejoice over you with singing” – Zephaniah 3:17

 

“Differing musical styles allows people of differing backgrounds, ages and experiences to worship God wholeheartedly together.” –Bob Kauflin

 

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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by permission of International Bible Society

 

The Power of Prayer

About two years ago, my sister’s 18 year old son was seriously ill in the hospital.  Everyone in the family, and many friends (including my church), were praying for him.  As it turns out, my wife’s sister-in-law is a dispatcher for a national trucking company.  Somehow she got word out to all of her truckers (and there’s hundreds of them) that there was a sick young man that needed their prayers.  The next thing we knew, there were truckers all over the US talking to each other on their CB radios spreading the word about the boy that needed their prayers.  My nephew is completely recovered today.  Several months after the incident; I was reminded how sick he was when I saw his fingers and asked “what happened to your finger nails?”  Each one, all 10 without exception, had ridges and were essentially cut in half about mid-way out from his cuticles.  I don’t know the medical reasons for this but it appears to me that they actually stopped growing during his illness and then restarted at a later date.

As I think back on this event; I am reminded of something that Martin Luther once said:

“Finally, mark this, that you must always make the AMEN strong, never doubting that God is surely listening to you with all grace and saying YES to your prayer.   Remember that you are not kneeling or standing there alone, but that all Christendom, all devout Christians are standing there with you and you with them in one unanimous, united prayer which God cannot ignore.  And never leave off praying without having said or thought: There now, this prayer has been heard by God; this I know of a certainty.  That is what ‘Amen’ means.”

Martin Luther, from the MINISTERS’ PRAYER BOOK, edited by John W. Doberstein, Muehlenberg Press, no date, p.443

Faith is telling a mountain to move and being shocked only when it doesn’t!

a Surprising quote from Martin Luther!

A Prayer of John Baillie

Let me use disappointment as material for patience.

Let me use success as material for thankfulness.

Let me use trouble as material for perseverance.

Let me use danger as material for courage.

Let me use reproach as material for long suffering.

Let me use praise as material for humility.

Let me use pleasures as material for temperance.

Let me use pain as material for endurance.

Source: John Baillie, quoted in George Appleton, “Journey for a Soul (Glasgow: William Collins, 1974), 222.

God our Shepherd

God our Shepherd

The Lord my Shepherd is,

I shall be well supplied;

Since he is mine and I am his,

What can I want beside?

He leads me to the place

Where heav’nly pasture grows,

Where living waters gently pass,

And full salvation flows.

if e’er I go astray,

He doth my Soul reclaim;

And guides me in his own right way,

For his most holy name.

While he affords his aid

I cannot yield to fear;

Though I should walk through death’s dark shade,

My Shepherd’s with me there.

In sight of all my foes,

Thou dost my table spread;

My cup with blessings overflows,

And joy exalts my head.

The bounties of thy love

Shall crown my following days;

Nor from thy house will I remove,

Nor cease to speak thy praise.

(Psalm 23 – Metrical Version by Isaac Watts)

A Litany of the Person

A Litany of the Person

– Anonymous Trappist Monk

 

image of God

born of God’s breath

vessel of divine Love

after his likeness

dwelling of God

capacity for the infinite

eternally known

chosen of God

home of the Infinite Majesty

abiding in the Son

called from eternity

life in the Lord

temple of the Holy Spirit

branch of Christ

receptacle of the Most High

wellspring of Living Water

heir of the kingdom

the glory of God

abode of the Trinity.

God sings this litany

eternally in his Word.

This is who you are.

Source: (from the Abbey of Gethsemani)

Doxologies

The following is from “The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts”

 

DOXOLOGY 1

L. M.

To God the Father, God the Son,

And God the Spirit, Three in One,

Be honor, praise, and glory giv’n,

By all on earth, and all in heav’n.

 

DOXOLOGY 2

C. M.

Let God the Father, and the Son,

And Spirit, be adored,

Where there are works to make him known,

Or saints to love the Lord.

 

DOXOLOGY 3

289

C. M.

The God of mercy be adored,

Who calls our souls from death;

Who saves by his redeeming word,

And new-creating breath.

To praise the Father, and the Son,

And Spirit, all divine,

The One in Three, and Three in One,

Let saints and angels join.

 

DOXOLOGY 4

276

S. M.

Ye angels round the throne,

And saints that dwell below,

Worship the Father, praise the Son,

And bless the Spirit too.

 

DOXOLOGY 5

8,8,8,8,8,8

Now to the great and sacred Three,

The Father, Son, and Spirit, be

Eternal praise and glory giv’n,

Through all the worlds where God is known,

By all the angels near the throne,

And all the saints in earth and heav’n.

 

DOXOLOGY 6

8,8,8,8,4,4,4,4

To God the Father’s throne

Perpetual honors raise,

Glory to God the Son,

To God the Spirit praise:

With all our powers,

Eternal King,

Thy name we sing,

While faith adores.