Hymn 1001

In June 2018 , our church announced a revision of the hymnbook and Children's Songbook to meet the needs of a global church.  This announcement began a multi -year project to gather and review the current music selection, new submissions and songs from other Christian faith traditions.  

In May of this year, the first 13 songs were released in English, Spanish, French, German and Portuguese. 

Today we finally sang one of the 'new' songs'. 

Actually it isn't a 'new' song but one that was in the pre-1985 hymnbook but left out of the most recent book.  I heard a speaker at Education Week many years ago, who had been on the committee to select hymns for the 1985 book, say that when people marched up to him with a certain glint in their eyes, he knew they were going to complain about the omission of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing".

The first hymn on the list of the new hymnbook, named Hymns for Homes and Church -

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Other hymns will be added every few months as they are translated.

Personally I love that one of my mother's favorite hymns is included. 

His Eye Is On the Sparrow

I remember her singing these words to me as a little child, 

"Why should I feel discouraged?

Why should the shadows come?

Why should my heart be lonely

And long for heav'n and home,

When Jesus is my portion?

My constant Friend is He:

His eye is on the sparrow,

And I know He watches me."

Moma finished this cross-stitch a few months after my Daddy died and it hung in her kitchen for many years. Now it hangs in our house as a constant reminder of Heavenly Father's love and care. 

In 2026 there will be a full release in print and digitally of all the hymns in English, Spanish,  French, German, and Portuguese, with more languages added as they become available.

In 2030, it is anticipated that the project will be complete, including a total of 50 languages in print and digital form.

A Cultural Weekend

Last weekend we enjoyed three nights of culture!  Started with Lake Oswego High School's fall production of "The Addams Family"

 

Predictably quirky and lots of fun!  Two of my 'seminary boys' were in this show.  I just loved seeing their musical side as they sang and danced on stage! 

Friday night we treated ourselves to "Riverdance" for the 2nd time.

 

So many talented singers and dancers and musicians!  And the amount of energy is phenomenal!  I mentioned to George that we should take up Irish dancing!  Goodbye weight problems!

Saturday night we had the pleasure of attending our Stake's production of "Fiddler on the Roof".  

 

Every other year for the last 26 years Lake Oswego Stake has entertained the community with a great musical.  That is 13 productions, all directed by the same volunteer woman.  How she manages to pull this off in just 10 weeks is beyond me! There is a huge cast of men, women, teenagers and children, some with little or no stage experience. The sets, costumes, orchestra, singing and dancing are close to professional level. I am in awe.

Three of my seminary kids were in this production.  And since this is the only one of the three shows that allowed photography, I couldn't resist.  

Olivia is the dancer in the red head scarf.  She was so fun to watch on stage. She lights up our seminary class each morning with her joy for life!  I felt the same joy watching her on stage!

Jackson was one of the bottle dancers.  He's the one in the dark brown shirt. Loved seeing him dancing and singing!

 

Not a single bottle fell!  Jackson says that it is easier than it looks! It would have to be, as it looks virtually impossible.

Christian was the tailor,  Motel Kamzoil. If you remember the story, he gets to sing the great song "Miracles" and he marries one of Tevye's daughters while the parents and townspeople sing "Sunrise, Sunset"!

Only problem with all these musicals in one weekend.....I may need to buy this t-shirt!

 

 

I LOVE PAUL!

Hidden in the deep recesses of a box somewhere in our house in Boise are two buttons; one proclaims  "I am an official Beatles fan" and the other proudly tells the world that "I love Paul."  I remember how my heart just did flips and flutters when I first saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964! As the music to "I want to hold your hand....." blasted out of our TV,  I was smitten with a serious case of Beatlemania. Beatles posters covered my walls and Beatles records played non-stop on my record player. I read every magazine article I could find about the Fab Four.  I was a serious fan!

Thanks to a very indulgent Daddy, I did get to see the Beatles live in 1966 in Memphis.  What a thrill that was!  I remember screaming along with all the other girls in the crowd!

Years later when our daughter Mary was a preteen, she and I were looking at a magazine with photos of the young Beatles.  When I told her that my favorite was Paul, she asked, "Which one is Paul?" and I replied, "The cute one."  She studied the photo for several more seconds before asking, "Which one is the cute one?"  Seriously how could anyone not see immediately that Paul is definitely the 'cute one'.

When I heard that Sir Paul McCartney was performing a concert in Seattle, I knew that I had to go.

Paul may be 71 years old but let me tell you, he can still rock!  And he is still cute!  During the three hour concert he sang 39 songs and came back for three encores.  Finally he said, "I know you want to rock but sometime I have to go home.  Sometime YOU have to go home even if it is Friday night."

When I see Paul perform now it shocks me to see the 'Paul expressions' that I have loved for so long on that definitely older face.  Then it hits me I have been listening to him sing for almost 50 years!  50 years....that is a long time! Practically a life time!

The Paul I swooned about in 1964 looked like this

The little girl who did the swooning looked like this:

                                  

Yep 50 years is a long time!  

Almost a lifetime later, I still think Paul is the cute one!  And watching him still makes my heart flutter!

What an amazing 50 years I've lived since then!  My life has been full of 'heart flutter' moments much more profound than that little girl could have ever imagined.  For that I am so grateful! 

Coldplay

 First I have to admit that until about a year ago I knew that Coldplay was a band and that the lead singer was married to Gwyneth Paltrow but I couldn't have told you the name of a single one of their songs.  Then I heard "Clocks" at another concert and loved it.  When I heard that Coldplay was doing a concert in Portland I bought two tickets.  Scott was my date for the evening.

The concert did not disappoint.  They are fantastic entertainers and the special effects just added to the magic of the music!  I especially loved the millions of pieces of confetti that sprayed out of canons on us.  The pieces were tissue paper cutouts of flowers and butterflies and birds!  Magical!  And there were literally millions of them.  The photo doesn't really do justice to how amazing it was.

Another bit of excitement was created by the bracelets each audience member was given.  When remotely turned on, they lit up the whole place with little sparkles of color!

Their encore included my fav "Clocks"!  But the best part for me was the constant smile on Scott's face and listening to him sing along with Chris Martin!!

Ten Grands!

I was intrigued when I heard an advertisement for a "Ten Grands" concert. Ten grands! Ten pianists! Plus it was a fundraiser for the Snowman Foundation which 'brings music to all kids, regardless of socio-economic status, cultural background, gender, or race, with a focus on the underserved and those with the highest need." Sounded like a fun night and it was!

Some songs featured all ten pianists, some were duets or quartets. Each pianist performed a solo. The music varied from classical to jazz to tango to a wonderful tribute to Michael Jackson. The Michael Jackson piece was arranged by one of the youth helped by the foundation....a blind youth I should add!

The winners of their "Young Artist" awards played an arrangement of Coldplay's song Clocks. I didn't even know that I liked Coldplay!!!