Dear Friends of South Bay and Picton United Churches;
Greetings on this steamy hot day. Please be careful today to drink plenty of water and try to stay in a cool place especially during the mid-day hot hours. Looks like this will be another heat wave – with humidex over 40C by mid-week. Please check on your neighbours if they live alone. It may be a good day to watch a nature program on TV or Netflix – a good day for quiet activities – for both you and your pets.
No segue today – my ‘Reflection’ is going to be about singing. I’m sure you miss it as much as I do.
May the words I write and the thoughts that the words engender be a blessing to you as you walk with God through these difficult days.
Grace and peace with pastoral love and concern,
Rev. Phil
“. . .as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Ephesians 5.19-20 NRSV)
For those of us of the Methodist Tradition – which we in the United Church, especially here in Prince Edward County – surely are, worship without singing is almost an oxymoron.
I write today to give you reassurance that despite our current inability to raise our voices together in song – we will again sing praises together! It may be weeks away, or months away, but we will sing together again in worship. Hallelujah!
You may recall Jesus’ words at the Palm Sunday parade – when the religious authorities told him to silence the children’s songs. “If these remain silent, even the stones will cry aloud!”
We can’t currently lift our voices together. But, in the meantime, we must do what we can to keep our voices as well as our hearts in tune. 😉 Monica Alyea our regular musician at South Bay, has offered to deliver copies of Voices United and More Voices to any of the South Bay folk who don’t have a copy at home. You can bring the copies back to church when we gather again in the fall. (I’m sure something similar could be arranged for Picton United Folk who would like to “borrow” a hymn book. The Worship & Membership Committee will need to consider this idea and decide what to do about it.) South Bay folk, give Monica a call if you would like to take her up on the offer.
I well remember my childhood and youth in a Methodist Sect in Northern & Western Ontario. God’s Spirit moved richly in us and among us as we sang together. This was one of the important ways that Methodism spread across the British Isles, over the ocean to America, and north into our own land. Historically that was the case. I’ve recently mentioned that more songs of faith have been written in the last forty years than in the previous two centuries!
“Come, let us sing to the Lord our song, we have stood silently too long; surely the Lord deserves our praise, so joyfully thank God for our days.
Desserts shall bloom and mountains shall sing to the desire of all living things. Come, all you creatures, high and low, let your praises endlessly flow.
(Voices United #222 “Come Let Us Sing” – Jim Strathdee 1976)
