Chris has had an active and exciting fall, earning a commendation from the Fred Pratt Green Trust, being an invited participant to the GIA Composer's Academy, serving as a panelist for a discussion of Whats At Stake for Young Leaders in Religious Liberty dueing a breakout at the BGAV annual meeting, singing around Richmond, and writing new music. Check out Chris's blog for details, reflections, and lessons learned 

I am pivoting this week to a simpler, informational blog, this week, and through the rest of the summer until Baby What's His Name comes along. I do very much enjoy researching and sharing information with you all as I discover new and old hymns. But summer is also a time for different rhythms. I do plan for my full infodumps to resume in the fall, however 😂

This week provides a bit of a departure from our “usual” at Grace Baptist Church, in that none of our hymns are new. Each comes from the hymnal, are solidly on the list of most popular hymns of all time, and come from one of the famous W's of hymnody: Watts and Wesley.

I honestly don’t remember the last time I heard an actual sermon on the story of David and Goliath, and I look forward to hearing what Courtney does with this story we all know, but also sort of don’t?

Lauryn’s Call to Worship for this Sunday has all, together, saying “Come! Let us worship the God of surprises!” to which Royce will respond, “Let us worship the God who never lets us go.” May we sing together in this Godlove of surprise and embrace. Our first hymn highlights God who never lets us go, as we sing Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above (Chalice Hymnal, 6).

I am back! This week we are looking at themes of being different from what the world expects us to be. For me that begins with where our attention lies, and you can’t go wrong with one of the most beautiful hymns ever written, Be Thou My Vision (Chalice Hymnal, 595). It is also Kim’s favorite hymn, so that's always good too 🙂

When you go to seminary, you spend a lot of time discussing “call stories,” your own, your classmates’, and the stories in the Biblical narrative. I have always related more to the story of Jacob wrestling with God. As my friend and colleague Dave Peppler shared that text at my ordination a little over three years ago, the story of “struggling and overcoming” was my call.

The hymns this week take us on a bit of a journey, moving from foundation, to hearing God’s nudge, and finally out into the world. This seemed like a natural three movement symphony to join with God in celebration of our graduates who I hope are feeling that God nudge in very real ways as they dream about their “what next?”

This Sunday, the first Sunday of June, we will read scripture and share stories around Imago Dei, the teaching that all humanity is created in the image of God. My understanding is that, conversely, this means that the greater the diversity of humanity we see, the greater our vision of God.

This is a Sunday I always look forward to, when we join together to worship in the yard. I remember my first Sunday on staff, showing up early, ready to roll up my sleeves and start lugging chairs.

Happy Birthday Church! Eastertide is now behind us as we celebrate Pentecost, and tell that wild story of tongues of fire, Star Trek’s universal translator, the founding of the Church, and where our friend Peter swears we can’t be drunk because it is only 9 in the morning.

Before I chat hymns, I want to say a word of thanks to Becca Longhenry, violinist with the Richmond Philharmonic Orchestra. The relationship between Grace and the RPO is a wonderful one that has been nurtured by caring folks over the years, and I am so thankful for it.

Typically when we read the middle of John 15 the word that jumps out is “love,” with good reason, mostly because it is mentioned 8 times over just a couple verses. However, the connective tissue for Sunday, May 5th is verse 11: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Love creates opportunity for joy, and joy breathes life into love.

This Sunday, April 28th, is the fifth Sunday of Eastertide. It is also the Sunday following Earth Day. We have chosen as a staff to focus on how we are connected to creation, and are charged with being stewards of all that God has made.

Sunday, April 21st, we will sing together three shepherd hymns, to go along with two shepherd-themed scripture readings for, you guessed it, Good Shepherd Sunday.