sounds of music, earth and heaven

Sometimes our sounds in public worship take us away from the daily grind, to “a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God” (hymn #5). We might hear soft music and see beautiful colors. But just turn the page in the hymnal to #6 and we have sounds “not in some heaven, light years away, but here in this place.” We might hear chords and drum beats and be reminded that all energy belongs to God who created all. That's just what we heard this morning.

Young people can help the congregation see that the heavenly and the earthly are both part of worship. In today's worship we sang two Marty Haugen hymns from the early 1980s, “You are salt" and "Here in this place."

This morning our prayer chorus changed to hymnal, #353, "Lord listen to your children praying."

Easter comes to courtyard

Two dozen Zioners waited for the sun and prayed at the Easter sunrise service in the courtyard. Here you see dawn's early light brighten up the courtyard walls as we prayed.

I particularly like the shadow cast by the tree, center left. And left of that the three little arched windows beside the tall, clean library windows.

The service started with singing "Were You There?" and ended with an Easter prayer from the blue hymnal, #747. In between, other songs, scriptures, and impromptu reflections and prayers.

Easter is so objective and subjective at once. That is, it happened totally apart from our feelings about it. Yet, for it to make a personal change, it has to be subjective.