How do you explain
How do you describe
A love that goes from East to West
And runs as deep as it is wide?
You know all our hopes
Lord, You know all our fears
And words cannot express the love we feel
But we long for You to hear.

Chorus:
So listen to our hearts
Hear our spirits sing
A song of praise that flows
For those You have redeemed
And we use the words we know
To tell you what an awesome God You are
But when words are not enough
To tell You of our love
Just listen to our hearts.

If words could fall like rain
From these lips of mine
And if I had a thousand years
I would still run out of time.
So if You listen to my heart
Every beat will say
Thank you for the Life
Thank you for the Truth
Thank you for the Way.

(Chorus)
           
            It's a relatively new hymn, as you can tell by all the syncopation, which no ordinary church member sings correctly, and by a three note repetitive "melody" in the verse section, supplemented only by a low sol as an occasional trampoline.  (Can't anyone write an actual melody anymore?)  Still, especially with the added chorus, it's catchy and you find yourself humming it later in the week.  But these are not my main issues with the song.
            "Listen to Our Hearts," the lyrics ask of God, and my mind immediately goes to Romans 8 where we are promised that even when we don't know what to pray for, we have an advocate and intermediary who will take the thoughts behind our meager words and deliver them to the Father.  But wait!  That is not what this song is about.  Look at the chorus again.
            "When words are not enough/ to tell you of our love/ listen to our hearts."  If it means anything, it means that the best way we can express our love to God is to have a good heart.  Really?
            John tells us in his first epistle, Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth (1John 3:18); and For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome (1John 5:3).  He adds in his second epistle, And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it (2John 1:6).  And where did John ever get such a notion?  ​Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him (John 14:21).
            I imagine that most of the people reading this will instantly say, "Well, of course."  But there are quite a few out there for whom this is a revelation.  In the so-called Christian world, a good heart is supposed to be the cure for everything, including outright sin.  When we sing this song in our services and some of those people are sitting there next to you, perhaps friends and neighbors you invited, you just might be encouraging them in this false doctrine.  I suppose that if they are people you personally have brought to services you could take them aside afterward and say, "About that song…" and tell them you didn't really mean it that way.  But their first question might be embarrassing.  "You mean you sing things you don't mean?"
            I doubt that anything I say here will change the popularity of this song.  In fact, if we changed the words to something more scriptural, like, "When words are not enough/ to tell you of our love/ watch how we obey," or "Wa-atch how we walk," that would be its death knell.  Who would want to sing something so emotionally unsatisfying?  But maybe the next time it is led in your group you will remember that Jesus told us exactly how to show our love for both him and the Father:  Walk like he walked.  Of course we should obey from the heart, as Paul says in Rom 6:17, and our life of obedience should be sincere, but that is a far cry from pandering to modern emotionalism. 
 
If you love me, you will keep my commandments  (John 14:15).
 
Dene Ward

“A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear.”
 
            If I were surrounded by fire, I would probably be scared to death.  Obviously this figure is meant in an entirely different way.
            And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst, Zech 2:5.
            Zechariah was a minor prophet who prophesied shortly after Haggai.  In fact, you can think of him as writing the sequel to that prophet’s book, Homer Hailey once said.  The Jews have returned from Babylon and are in the midst of rebuilding the Temple.  Zechariah’s job was not only to encourage them to finish the task, but to look ahead to the glorious coming of the promised kingdom.  But here they were, a small remnant (42,360, Neh 7:66, out of an estimated million in Babylon), with no armies, no weapons, and not even a wall around their old city. 
            In the vision Zechariah sees a young man trying to measure the city, as if it were a finite place.  In verse 4 God says Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it.
            “My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus told Pilate.  It would not be a physical, measurable location at all.  The Jerusalem God had in mind was one too big for walls.  It is open to multitudes of peoples.  And the only wall it needs is the protection of God Himself.
            The Hebrew writer calls the church “the heavenly Jerusalem.”  We are in that city and we do not need stone walls or mighty weapons of war.  We have “a wall of fire about” us in the person of the Almighty God.  That fire represents not just the protection, but also the glory of our Savior.  Even as we approach what could be a new era of persecution in our country, if we have faith in those promises, what have we to fear?
            Of all the old hymns we sing, I can’t think of another with as many scriptural references as The Lily of the Valley, over forty if you count them all.  Wouldn’t it be a shame to assign this one to the trash pile just because it doesn’t have modern rhythms or harmonies?  And isn’t it shameful to us if we can’t understand what these lyrics mean?  Jesus should be to us and to our descendants in ages to come “the fairest of ten thousand” to our souls, and God “a wall of fire about” us.
 
What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also, 1 Cor 14:15.
 
Dene Ward

He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morningstar,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
 
            Three phrases, three passages, two in the same book.  This will take some explanation.
            The old view says that the Song of Solomon was an allegory of Christ and the church.  Fewer people accept that any longer, and though it may have sparked the original lyrics, I am not certain they were meant in precisely that way.  For one thing, the analogy doesn’t hold up.
            I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys, Song of Solomon 2:1.
            My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand, Song of Solomon 5:10.
            In the first passage, the shepherdess is talking about herself.  In the second, the shepherdess is speaking about her beloved, the shepherd (or Solomon if you prefer that interpretation of the book).  Those passages are about two different people in the narrative, so how could the poet be following the old interpretation of Christ and the church in the hymn if the analogy does not hold up? 
            Here is the point we are so bad about seeing sometimes:  they are figures of speech.  The lyricist has borrowed various phrases out of the Bible to depict how wonderful Christ is to the believer.  Did you catch the Rose of Sharon reference too?  These are poetic metaphors.  Making literal arguments from figures of speech is something we ridicule our religious neighbors for doing.  Why do we?  Jesus is like a beautiful flower.  He is so fair (as in “Fairest Lord Jesus” too, by the way) we could say he is the fairest among ten thousand. 
            Does that mean number 10,001 is fairer than he is?  Of course not, not any more than the other phrase means he has a stem and petals.  None of these is meant to be taken literally whether you believe in the allegorical version of the Song of Solomon or not.  As it happens, I don’t.  I believe it is in there to show us how to order our romantic marital love.  If that isn’t what it’s about, then God left something awfully important out of the Bible and I don’t believe that for a minute.  He tells us too many times that it contains everything we could possibly need in any circumstance.  And if Paul can talk about the church being the “bride of Christ” why can’t I use these terms for my spiritual “husband?”
            Then we have the “Bright and Morningstar.”  What is that all about?  Balaam prophesied, “There shall come forth a star out of Jacob,” Num 24:17.  Peter tells us, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,” 2 Pet 1:19.  The Morningstar, or daystar, was a bright star that appeared just before dawn at certain times of the year, Venus I read in one place, which at other times of the year is the Evening Star.  Jesus is our Morningstar. He appeared before the coming of his kingdom, the “day” Joel speaks of in Joel 2.  He will appear again on the “day” he takes us to our promised rest.  When we accept him in our hearts, he “appears” to us individually (and figuratively) on that “day” as we enter his spiritual body.  Take your pick of interpretations and “days.”  Any of them satisfy the metaphor.
            That leaves us with just one more wonderful phrase to cover next time, a promise that should encourage us all.  But for now, dwell on these a little while.  Is Christ that important to you?  Is he that beautiful to you?  Would these figures of speech rise from your lips?  Or are we a little too ignorant of the Word and a lot too embarrassed to say such syrupy words about a Savior who gave up everything for us?
 
Dene Ward
 

I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;
The Lily of the Valley, in Him alone I see
All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.
In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay;
He tells me every care on Him to roll.

• Refrain:
  He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
  He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.

He all my grief has taken, and all my sorrows borne;
In temptation He’s my strong and mighty tow’r;
I have all for Him forsaken, and all my idols torn
From my heart and now He keeps me by His pow’r.
Though all the world forsake me, and Satan tempt me sore,
Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal.
(Refrain)

He’ll never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,
While I live by faith and do His blessed will;
A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear,
With His manna He my hungry soul shall fill.
Then sweeping up to glory to see His blessed face,
Where rivers of delight shall ever roll.
(Refrain)

            I bet you have sung that song all your life.  It’s one of those old ones that so many sneer at nowadays.  Yet this song does something very few of the new ones can. It contains a different scriptural reference in nearly every line.  Take a minute and look at the song.  Can you find them?  Here is the shame on us—in the days when this song was written, everyone who claimed to be a Christian, even some we would not classify as “New Testament Christians,” could find them all—they knew their scriptures that well--while we sit here at best thinking, “That sounds vaguely familiar.”
            Obviously I don’t have space to go over them all.  Let me do the obvious ones quickly, and then we will spend two more sessions on the rest.
            “I have found a friend in Jesus,” Matt 11:19.
            “All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole,” 1 John 1:7; Acts 9:34.
            “In sorrow he’s my comfort, in trouble he’s my stay;” you will find this sentiment all over the psalms and the prophets, too many to list.
            “He tells me every care on him to roll,” 1 Pet 5:7.
            “He all my griefs has taken and all my sorrows borne,” Isa 53:4.
            “He’s my strong and mighty tower,” Psa 61:3.
            “I have all for him forsaken and all my idols torn from my heart,” Ezek 36:25; Hos 14:3,4.
            “He keeps me by his power,” 1 Pet 1:5.
            “Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal,” Phil 3:14.
            “He will never never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,” Heb 13:5.
            “While I live by faith” Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38.
            “Do his blessed will” Matt 7:21.
            “With his manna he my hungry soul shall fill,” nearly two dozen verses from Exodus 16 to John 6 along with Matt 5:6.
            “To see his blessed face,” Rev 22:4.
            Did you catch all those?  I defy you to find more than a few songs written after 1960 that have that many scriptural references in them, unless they repeat one Biblical phrase over and over, or are lifted whole cloth out of the scriptures.  It’s time we learned what those old songs were about before we go throwing them out just because we think them “old” and “archaic” and “boring.”  Maybe they wouldn’t be so difficult to understand if we knew God’s Word like we ought to. 
            And these phrases were just the easy ones, the ones you can probably figure out for yourself with no help.  In the next two days, the two remaining posts on this hymn will begin to get a little more difficult.  While you wait for those, though, spend a little time with the scriptures listed above and ask yourself, “Could I even begin to do the job this poet did?” 
 
Dene Ward

Hosanna, Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna, Hosanna,
Hosanna in the highest!

Refrain: 
Lord we lift up Your name
with hearts full of praise
Be exalted oh Lord my God!
Hosanna in the highest! (second time:  Glory to the King of Kings!)

Glory, Glory
Glory to the King of Kings!
Glory, Glory,
Glory to the King of Kings!

Refrain
 
            Do you know what "Hosanna" means?  It is actually not so cut and dried, it seems.  Let me explain. 
            In English, words change meaning all the time.  It is part of being a "living language" as opposed to a dead one, like Latin.   "Nice" used to mean "silly," but now it means "pleasant."  "Hussy" came from the word "housewife" and meant "the mistress of the house."  Now it means "a disreputable woman."  "Awful" used to mean "worthy of awe," and God was spoken of as being "awful."  Now, we would never call God "awful!"
            The same thing happens in every language, including Hebrew.
            Hosanna, we pray, O LORD!... (Ps 118:25).
            What was that, you ask?  You looked up that verse and "hosanna" is nowhere in it, you say?  Yes, it is.  "Hosanna" means "save."  At least it did many centuries ago when the psalmist wrote what has come to be called the 118th Psalm.  So when you see, "Save us," you are really seeing "Hosanna."  Strong's tells me that word is used 198 times in the Old Testament.  The translators simply translated the word to its English equivalent, "save" or "help" when they came across it.  That's why you don't see it there.
            Now here is an interesting fact:  that is not what the word meant several centuries later when the people shouted "Hosanna!" to Jesus.  It is evident from the context that it had become a celebratory word, one of praise, perhaps, or joy.  Rabbinic writings from the same period show that to be the case.  This word shifted its meaning just like many words do, and that leads to something even more important.
            According to Peter J. Williams in the book Can We Trust the Gospels?, this is an evidence for the veracity of the gospels themselves.  If someone had come along and tried to write the gospels as pieces of fiction many years after believers say they were written, how would they know how the language had changed?  In fact, if they were going to have the incident of the Triumphal Entry allude to a passage in the Psalms, why wouldn't they have worded it in a much different way, as a plea for salvation rather than a joyful word of praise?  As Williams notes, "The writers show knowledge not only of this word's use by the Jews at a particular time, but also of its development over time."
            Most people enjoy singing the hymn Mr. Tuttle has written, but there really isn't much to it.  It shows no depth of scriptural knowledge, having only this one allusion to a passage rather than one for every line as so many older hymns do, and gives us no deeper insights.  But now, when you sing it, remember the meaning of this word and how Matthew, Mark, and John used it, and think for a moment of the evidence God has left us so that we can trust His Word.  And you might want to grab that book I mentioned.  It's an easy read for the average person and will give you a whole lot more than this little tidbit to reassure you.
 
This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us [hosanna], we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD.  (Ps 118:24-26).

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt 21:6-9).
 
Dene Ward
           
 

While I was still teaching I had some wonderful voice students, even way out here in the sticks.  I had a beautiful young blonde who could hit high C with little effort at all.  I had an older teenage girl whose voice was as full and lovely as a twenty-something--my first ever win at NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing).  I had another whom I taught practically her whole childhood—from kindergarten to senior in high school.  If ever there was a natural at Musical Theater it was her.  I can still hear her perfect cockney accent as Eliza Doolittle.  Then there was Sondra.
            Sondra was a beauty with black ringlets and clear, pale skin.  But Sondra was from Union County, Florida.  This is not the metropolitan Florida that so many know from DisneyWorld and Miami Beach.  This is Deep South, Florida Cracker, Southern Redneck, Union County, and when she talked you heard every bit of it.  But her voice?  She could sing Italian arias and German lieder and American art songs like they were meant to be sung.  And despite her country upbringing, she loved every one of them.
            Her very first year with me she made it to finals at State Contest.  Since the students were all participating in more than one event and had to fit them in their schedule as they could, the judges could not go by the computer-generated list.  The students simply signed up ahead of time on a paper at the door, guessing when they thought they could be at each particular event.  That meant the judges had to be careful to know exactly who they were judging, so they could find the name on their alphabetical list.  Sondra had signed up first for that event and when her name was called she walked before the panel of judges and I sat down at the piano, which was slanted away from the judges, but a bit toward her.  As they had asked her to, she told them her name and the name of her song.
            "Mah nay-eme is Sawndra an' ah will be singing 'Mah How-oose' by Leonard Bern-steen," and say that with a wide mouth and an accent as slow and countrified as you can.  I watched the judging panel as they each began to lower their heads and look down at their judging sheet.  I couldn't tell if they were smiling or grimacing, but I knew exactly what they were thinking:  This one doesn't have a chance.  How did she ever make it to State? 
After that I had to turn my attention to the piano so I did not get to see the judges' reactions when she began to sing, but one of my other students told me that as soon as the first note came out of Sondra's mouth, the judges all got whiplash as they jerked their heads up and sat there in amazement.  Yes, Sondra was a country girl and no, she could not pronounce Leonard Bernstein correctly no matter how many times I corrected her, but man, could she sing!  Sondra won State Contest.
            Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.  (John 7:24).
             Lucky for Sondra, she had a panel of righteous judges.  They refused to be swayed by a whale of an accent, but rather, when the evidence was placed before them, saw—and heard--what was clearly the best voice in the state that year, at that level.  By Sondra's senior year in high school, other people could finally see it, too.  She was invited to perform a presentation of four songs in the county's Stellar Student Concert Series.
          Don't ever think that you are not prone to "unrighteous judgment."  Keith has been banned from a couple of pulpits because he is "loud and everyone thinks you are mad."  I want to grab them by the collar, give them a good shake and say, "He's loud because he is deaf.  Where is your compassion?"  I know a marvelous Bible class teacher.  The first time I heard him, I had to pinch myself to stay awake a few times, but by the time he finished, I realized that I had heard possibly the best lesson of my life.  This man knows his stuff and he leaves you thinking about passages in new and exciting ways.  But because his delivery is dry, I have heard people call him the worst teacher they ever heard.  Over the years, with Keith's encouragement, he has improved his methods, but still, few can get past that first impression from so many years ago.  How fair is that judgment?
            And how about those folks who walk into your assemblies not dressed up to your standards?  Could I just make one suggestion?  Watch and listen with an open mind.  If they sing the songs like they know them, and their children know the Bible class lesson as well as the teachers do, and if the parents make comments in Bible class that make you stop and say, "Hmmm," don't embarrass yourself by assuming they are drifters who just hoped to get some money out of you.  If you have been with me for years and years, you know my story on that one.
            And if you have been unfairly judged yourself, do yourself a favor and let it go.  If the circumstances had been reversed, would you have done any better?  Be honest with yourself and then get on with your life.  Letting a perceived unfairness color your attitudes from then on will make you more miserable than the ones you harbor resentment against.  Someday, sooner than you want to think, you will stand before the righteous Judge of all, and He will be fairer than you really want Him to be.  But He will also offer far more grace than any human you ever have to deal with in this life.
          Just keep doing your best and remember this:  Regardless of what anyone else may think about you, someday, that righteous Judge will look at you and say, "Well done."
 
And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah. And his delight shall be in the fear of Jehovah; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.  (Isa 11:1-5).
 
Dene Ward
 
 

1. I come to the garden alone,
   While the dew is still on the roses,
   And the voice I hear falling on my ear
   The Son of God discloses.
   • Refrain:
     And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
     And He tells me I am His own;
     And the joy we share as we tarry there,
     None other has ever known.
2. He speaks, and the sound of His voice
   Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
   And the melody that He gave to me
   Within my heart is ringing.
3. I’d stay in the garden with Him,
   Though the night around me be falling,
   But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
   His voice to me is calling.

 
This hymn was one of my Daddy's favorites, but I must admit that, as a child, I never really knew what it meant.  I finally figured out my own context, which we will get to later, but it is a far cry from the meaning the author intended.
      Charles Austin Miles was a pharmacist, and evidently a staunch Methodist.  One morning he was reading John 20, where Mary Magdalene comes upon the risen Lord.  In his own telling of how he came to write the song, he suddenly pictured himself as standing there with them watching their interaction as if he, too, were part of the action in a vision "sent from God."  Afterward he wrote the hymn, "by inspiration of the Holy Spirit," he believed.  I have my doubts about that and the vision, but he certainly wrote a beautiful song.
      When someone initially tried to have it included in the official Methodist hymnal the first time, it became apparent that people either loved it or hated it.  The haters made accusations that included "too erotic," which stunned me until I realized the problem. 
      As a musician we are taught the various historical eras of music—Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and then the Twentieth Century which has so many styles it is difficult to classify it, and the 21st?  It may take a few more years for it all to settle out.  Those same eras and characteristics were true of literature and art. 
     The Romantic Era began in the first few decades of the 19th century.  Beethoven was considered a transition composer between the Classical and the Romantic, if that helps.  A lot of people, who were used to the balanced, well-ordered, and impersonal Classical Era were a little shocked at the new music and poetry that was being written.  The poetry was extremely personal and it was full of lush description.  Look through the lyrics above.  "While the dew is still on the roses."  His voice is "so sweet the birds hush their singing."  That is Romantic poetry in a nutshell.  (Remember, we are talking Romantic as in a historic style, not as in romance novels.)
      So the song is about Mary and Jesus meeting together just after his resurrection.  "The joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known," is a direct reference to the fact that Mary was the first to see him.  At that point in time, no other person had felt what she was feeling then.  If you have sung the newer hymn "Rabboni", this is the first version.
      One line might be a little inaccurate.  It seems fairly obvious that Mary and Jesus did not stay in that garden all day long, though the third verse mentions that "the night around them is falling."  But the point Mr. Miles makes is a valid one.  For Mary to stay there would have been contrary to the Lord's purpose in appearing to her.  She was to go tell the apostles.  She was the first witness.  And as a woman in that day and culture, the fact that the gospel writers chose to use a woman as a witness adds to the evidence of truth.  Women were considered unreliable witnesses.  If the whole story were made up, surely they would have chosen a witness other than a woman.
      So what had I been thinking before this as I sang this song?  I saw the garden as a metaphor for prayer.  When I pray, I am alone with the Lord in a beautiful place, but as much as I would like to stay, I have to leave him sooner or later.  Not that I can't speak to him whenever I want to during the day, as I often do, but that formal alone time has to end.
      I really don't see a problem with thinking of the song that way.  The Lord doesn't want us down on our knees cloistered away from the world all day long.  He wants us out in it, seeking the lost, serving others, and spreading his influence.  We have to go back to "the world of woe" eventually, but while we are there, isn't the experience just as wonderful as Mary's, spending time with our risen Lord, knowing his death has saved us and his resurrection has allowed us to someday spend that time with him forever?
 
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).  (John 20:11-16).
 
Dene Ward

When I did my internship as a music teacher in the public schools, I looked up one day to find my professor walking into the music room behind the fifth grade class scheduled for that half hour.  My heart sank.  I did have a lesson prepared, but it was not a wow-zer.  It taught a valid musical concept, one I could easily build on in future lessons—the first of what educators called a “unit.”  I had prepared a lesson plan with appropriate behavioral objectives.  It met all expectations and requirements.  But to me, it seemed so—well, ordinary.
            I taught that lesson twice in a row with no problems.  The students caught on quickly and I met the objectives with no difficulty.  After the second group left I approached the tall, slim, dignified looking lady, expecting her to meet me with, at best, a mediocre assessment.
            “Good job,” she said, and when my jaw dropped she added, “Listen:  they can’t all be showstoppers.  You taught an important lesson and you taught it well.  They learned exactly what you set out to teach them and they enjoyed it.”
            I learned something that day, something I keep reminding myself as I approach the computer day after day, struggling sometimes to find something to write.  Just do your best.  Turn in a good effort, be faithful to the Word God has entrusted you with, and let Him take care of the rest.
            Sometimes I hear from people telling me that what I wrote was exactly what they needed that day.  A few times it was a piece I almost deleted because I was so dissatisfied with it.  The same thing has happened to Keith.  When you preach two sermons a week, every week, you occasionally produce one just because you needed one to fill the time one Sunday morning, not because you were particularly enthralled with the subject.  Many times people have complimented those very sermons.  At least one of them led directly to a conversion.
            Many times we feel unnoticed and totally useless to the Lord.  We think we are doing nothing for God because nothing we do matters.  Nonsense.  More people are watching you than you know.  You need to learn the same lesson I did. 
             Every day can't be a showstopper.  Some days are so ordinary as to make you wonder why you exist.  You get up, you go to work, you come home and spend time with the family.  You pay your bills on time and help the neighbor with his ornery lawn mower, perhaps even mowing his yard for him.  You study your Bible, and then you hit the sack and get up and go again the next morning, an ordinary--you think--honest, hard-working Joe.
           Or you get up and down all night with the baby and barely know you are sending your older ones off to school because you are so tired.  But then you still do the grocery shopping and prepare the meals and launder the clothes.  You wash dishes and scrub floors and dust the countertops and shelves, change the sheets, then throw together an extra casserole for a sick neighbor, help the kids with their Bible lesson and then their homework, and fall into bed exhausted.
            Or you sit at home alone because you are too old and sick and frail to get out any longer, so you watch a little TV, read your Bible, call a few folks on the sick list (besides yourself), write a few get well and sympathy cards, then go to bed and start all over again tomorrow.
          And all of you wonder, what good is that to anyone?  Well, you never know, especially when you count God into the mix.  He can work wonders with the weak, the frightened, and the average.  He can take the smallest seed you plant and make a huge tree out of it.  Don’t you remember a parable along those lines?  In God’s hands, nothing you do is just filling up time.
          So get up every morning and do what you are supposed to do in the way you are supposed to do it.  Someone out there needs to see you do that, and if you do, God will take care of the rest.
 
I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase. Now he that plants and he that waters are one: but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow-workers...  1Cor 3:6-9.
 
Dene Ward
 

Sweetest note in seraph song,
Sweetest name on mortal tongue.
 
            Do you know what a seraph is?  I bet you have heard the word “seraphim” before and know it is a kind of angel.  But even that is not quite right.
            In English we form plurals in several different ways:  “s,” “es”, “ies”, plus those plurals that are Latin derivatives where “is” becomes “es” (analysis/analyses), “um” becomes “a” (memorandum/memoranda), and “us” becomes “i” (cactus/cacti). 
            One way to form a plural in Hebrew is to add “im.”  So there is one seraph and more than one seraphim, one cherub and more than one cherubim.  A “seraph” song is a song a seraph, or several seraphim, might sing.
            We don’t really know a whole lot about angelic beings.  I can tell you one thing, though:  they don’t look like chubby little naked flying babies with wings shooting bows and arrows!
            The only word picture I could find of seraphim is of those around the throne of God in Isaiah’s vision of chapter 6.  They are anything but “cute.”  Those seraphim had six wings.  When they spoke the threshold of the Temple shook and smoke filled the rooms.  Those creatures could hold live coals in their hands.  John said the angels around God’s throne were “mighty,” Rev 5:2.  I do not know if those were seraphim or not, but they stood in the same place as Isaiah’s seraphim. 
            As to angels singing about Jesus, is that scriptural?
            And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2:13,14.
            Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Rev 5:11,12.  Earlier, in verse 9, John calls what they were doing “singing.”
            So from his birth to his ascension and afterward the angels sang about Jesus.  Seraphim, cherubim, archangels, whatever--I doubt any refused, do you?
            But here is the point of the song:  what our Savior did for us is so glorious, so marvelous, so gracious and good that everyone should be singing his praises, whether “seraph” or “mortal.”
            It is sad that our books do not contain the following verse to this song:
 
            And when to that bright world above
            We rise to be with Jesus,
            We’ll sing around the throne of love,
            His Name—the Name of Jesus.
 
Isn’t it an appropriate idea that where the seraphim stand guard over the throne of God, singing, we will also stand, singing praise to the Great Physician?
 
After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of [all] tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands; and they cry with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God who sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels were standing round about the throne, and [about] the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, [be] unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. Rev 7:9-12.
 
Dene Ward

I always had themed recitals for my students, including skits and ensemble numbers.  I seldom had to hear parents complaining about boring recitals. 
One year we had one called "Mystery!"  All of the songs and piano pieces had titles like "Spooky Footsteps," "Descent into the Crypt," "Through the Night Mist," and "Dixieland Detectives."  All the students came dressed as a famous detective from TV or fiction.  We had Sherlock Holmes, Dr Kay Scarpetta, Magnum PI, Columbo, and Miss Scarlet from the Clue game, among many others.
              Nathan was home from college that week and he and I worked up a special duet.  First, I put him in his college chorus tuxedo and introduced him as the detective whose theme he and I would be performing—Peter Gunn.  Even if you have never seen the show (I never saw one until I was grown and saw it on the oldies channel), I bet you have heard the music.  Talk about modern and catchy—this one has it all.  Blue notes, syncopation, quarter note triplets against a steady eighth note beat.  You can't help but move something when you hear it.  We have played it in a couple of places since then, and it is always an audience pleaser.
              Audience pleasers.  That's a good phrase when you are talking about a concert performance.  That's what a concert is for—pleasing the audience.  That is NOT what worship is about.  Worship is about pleasing God.  I happened to think about that when a song leader I know, a trained musician, by the way, who does an outstanding job of leading, told me that he was criticized for leading "boring songs."
              First of all, who exactly is being bored?  If it's the audience, then maybe they should remember what they are doing—worshipping God not pleasing themselves.  That ought to take care of the "boring" problem right there.
              Second, why is it "boring?"  If it's because they don't have enough Bible knowledge to recognize Biblical references, nor enough depth to their thinking to understand the allusions and feel the goosebumps at some of the most beautiful poetry ever written, then they should be ashamed of themselves.  The Bible may be easy to understand, but it is not a comic book.  Nor is it a See-Jane-Run first grade primer.  The older I get, the more I love the songs that speak the Word of God in lyrics that truly make me think and keep me thinking long after the last chord has rung in the rafters. 
             Neither the song leader, the prayer leader, nor the preacher should have to try so hard to keep our attention if our worship is sincere.  If the only things that keep me interested in either the singing or the sermons and classes is laughter-inducing stories, toe-tapping rhythm, and shoulder-lifting blue notes, I may as well roll in a piano and have Nathan come with me and play a rousing rendition of "Peter Gunn."  I promise you'll like it and won't be bored.  Whether or not you get anything spiritual from it, whether or not you hear any teaching and admonishing, whether or not God is pleased with your idea of worshipping Him, is another matter altogether.
 
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.  (Heb 5:14).
 
Dene Ward