St. Luke's Blogs

Throughout the Bible, great stories of faith are accompanied by acts of fasting. When Jonah brings the word of the Lord to the people of Nineveh and called them to repent, the people of Nineveh responded by fasting and prayer. Just after being baptized, and before Jesus begins his public ministry, Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit so that he could fast for forty days. As Jesus’ disciples began their ministry, they devoted themselves to practices such as prayer and fasting.

Perhaps one of the best examples of fasting being part of faith takes place in the book of Esther. The book of Esther tells the story of a plot against the Jewish people by one of the advisors to the king. The plot is discovered by Mordecai. Mordecai sent word to the queen, Esther.  Esther was raised by Mordecai and wanted nothing more than to help her people, however she feared for her life if she were to approach the King uninvited. She reluctantly agreed to put her own life at risk, for the sake of her people…

Songs are written for many reasons. Some songs are written to celebrate. Some music gives voice to our despair. Other songs help us to communicate love, or joy. Some songs are written to convey a prayer. Often, we have deep desires that weigh heavy on our souls. Our words seem to fall short, but when paired with music, the words and emotion seemingly combine to carry our thoughts directly to heaven.

One such musical prayer is the hymn “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”  This hymn was written in 1955 by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller.  Jill and Sy, a wife and husband song-writing team, wrote this beautiful song for the occasion of an international youth retreat that brought 180 students from around the world together…

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands! 
    Serve the Lord with gladness!
    Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord is God!
    It is he that made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise!
    Give thanks to him, bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
    his steadfast love endures for ever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.

Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld

“A Little Lamb bears the Guilt/Sin/Pain/Hurt/Blame/Trespass of the World”

The German language is fascinating.  I enjoyed the semesters of German I took in college, and I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to travel to Austria and Germany for music studies.  As a classical musician, so much of our heritage comes from that part of the world, and so much of our religious history does too.  In fact, they are tied together in many ways…

Keith Green’s music career started at an early age. He was not recording Christian music at first. At age 11, Keith was signed to a recording contract with Decca Recording. Many thought he was going to be the next big teen heartthrob. It looked as though his music career was going to take off before he even became a teenager. Soon, the ever-changing music world turned on Keith Green. A newcomer to the teen music seen arrived and people gravitated towards him. That newcomer’s name was Donny Osmond. Before Keith’s career could get off the ground, it seemed finished…

For many years now, I have loved to sing the hymn, Here I Am Lord, by Dan Schutte. It is a beautiful song and each time we sing it in worship, my spirit is lifted as the choir and the congregation sing these beautiful words.

I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry,
All who dwell in dark and sin
my hand will save.
I, who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?
Refrain: Here I am, Lord. Is it I Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I first heard this hymn when I was in high school. This “new” hymn in my church became an instant favorite of mine. First, I say it was a “new” hymn because it was written by Dan Schutte in 1981. In hymn standards, that is brand new. Most of the songs in our hymnal were written at least a century before that.

The reason this hymn became an instant favorite of mine was its reflection of the calling of Isaiah…

I admire musicians. The ability to bring a song from their mind to life on an instrument, or with their voice, is remarkable. The artistic mind of a musician is a special place where the dream of the song first finds life, but the talent of the body brings the music out for the world to hear. The necessity of the body and mind together, to make music, is often a limiting factor for who can be considered a musician.

Recently, Zacharias Vamvakousis has created wonderful new technology to help those whose bodies are incapable of making the music that is alive in their minds. Zacharias has created what he calls the “EyeHarp.” Zacharias has a PhD in Music Technology. His hope is to help quadriplegics have the ability to play music. He had this idea after seeing a close friend suffer from a severe motorcycle accident…

One of the tragic statistics of the time we live in is that because of a worldwide pandemic, we are approaching one million deaths in this country alone. They are all ages and races. They are Republicans and Democrats. The world, for the most part, has joined together to do their part in developing vaccines and other therapies to fight this disease, but there is still so much to do.

As I thought about this worldwide health emergency, it made me remember another crisis.  It was over 35 years ago that over a million lives were lost in Ethiopia because of a severe famine. 200,000 children became orphans in a country that has experienced severe famines repeatedly. Worldwide efforts were made to ease that crisis as well, but one generated more attention than others.

It involved 45 of the biggest pop stars in America coming together to record a song that would help raise 63 million dollars for famine relief. Lionel Richie was the impetus for helping to create this gathering, plus he along with Michael Jackson wrote the song, We Are the World…

“Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.