October Music Notes - Rev. Ralph Manuel

"I remembered you, O God, . . . I remembered my songs in the night."  (Psalm 77:3,6)

 On Sunday, October 4, our friend Carol Hill will present a concert of spirituals at our church.  Carol is well known at our church, having sung here various times in the past.  The concert will be at 6:30 p.m. in the chapel.  You will not want to miss this!

On Wednesday, October 14, our children's choirs begin rehearsals.  Our Young Musicians choir is for children from grades 2 through 5, and the Music Makers is for children age 4 through 1st grade.  The time is 6:30-7:15 p.m.

 As I was looking through some old papers, I came across the following story, which I would like to share with you now.

To God be the glory,

Ralph

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THE UNEXPECTED WEAPON

 God has a weapon which many have not counted on-Music.  You can put your Bible away in the attic, walk past the church and dodge the minister, but the child who has learned Christian hymns at home or in church carries all his life a built-in repository of faith from which he can never completely escape.

A single word, a phrase or chord of music, later in life can fill the child's soul with echoes of psalms she wanted to forget.  The sermon she had put out of her mind, the Savior whose dying love she tried to ignore, have vanished from her consciousness.

The church's music-a breath, a trembling of air-seems far less substantial than her mighty cathedrals, her vast educational plants, her gleaming hospitals and far-flung agencies of good; but actually it is one of the toughest and most indestructable weapons, for it dwells in the heart, removed from weather and the marching seasons, the reversals of war and finance, the months and the rust of time.

Small wonder that historians should note that Rome scoffed at Luther's theology but trembled at his hymns.  Like a hardy perennial, the church's music can blossom forth in soil where every other influence has long since withered and died.  The power to plant such a seed in human hearts is surely a gift of God.

            -- Author unknown