Heavenly Father, help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook supper, help with homework, do the laundry, and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man, who can’t make change correctly, is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money (“who really ought to get a job”) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles, and blocking our shopping progress, is savoring this moment, knowing that because of her cancer, this will be the last year that they will go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day, that of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love.  And, that it is not enough to only share that love with those we hold dear.  Open our hearts, not to just those that are close to us, but to all humanity.  Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive.  Help us to show patience, empathy and love.


Bro. J.E.

On the northwest corner of Broad and Arch Streets in Philadelphia stands an office building of the United Gas Improvement Company.  On the front of the building is a bronze tablet paying tribute to a great hymn and its author, Joseph Gilmore.

In 1862 Mr. Gilmore was guest speaker at the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia.  He used Psalm 23 as a text.  He dwelt mostly on the phrase, “He leadeth me beside the still waters.”  The Civil War was in full swing and things looked dark.  This subject was especially dear to his heart that night.

After the service Gilmore and his wife went to the home of Deacon Wattson, next door to the church.  As they talked, Mr. Gilmore began to write verses.  When he had finished, he handed them to his wife and thought no more of them.

Three years later he went to the Second Baptist Church of Rochester, New York, to speak.  Upon entering the chapel he picked up a hymnal, and to his amazement the first song his eyes fell on was his own.  His wife, without telling him, had sent the verses to a paper published in Boston.  William Bradbury had set the verses to music.

In 1926 the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia and Deacon Wattson’s home were torn down, and an office building was constructed on that site.  In memory of and appreciation for the song and its author, the gas company placed the bronze tablet on the front.  The inscription begins with the first stanza of “He Leadeth Me.”

Bro. J.E.

Dudley A. Tyng was one of the prominent leaders in a great spiritual awakening in 1858 in Philadelphia.  He was speaking, early in that year, to a crowd of five thousand men, using as his text, “Go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord” (Exodus 10:11).  One report tells that two thousand men fell to their knees.  Another tells that one thousand men made confession of Christ as Savior.

A few days after that service Mr. Tyng walked down to his barn to watch a corn-shelling machine in operation.  His sleeve caught in the machine.  His arm was pulled in and was so badly lacerated that it had to be amputated.  He lived only a few days after that.  Just before he died, his father asked him if he had any farewell words for the young men with whom he had been working.  He replied, “Tell them … to stand up for Jesus.”

George Duffield, Jr., a young pastor, was a close friend of Mr. Tyng.  The Sunday following the funeral, Mr. Duffield preached a sermon exhorting his congregation to stand firm for Christ.  His text was Ephesians 6:14, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.”  At the close of the sermon he read a poem he had written.

“Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” has become a battle cry for all Christians to stand firm for Christ.  Let it, also, be a challenge to us to serve our risen Savior.


Bro. J.E.

One day, a man visited a church.  He arrived early, parked his car and got out.  Another car pulled up and the driver got out and said, “I always park there!  You took my place!”

The visitor went inside for Sunday School, found an empty seat and sat down.  A man approached him and stated, “That’s my seat!  You took my place!”  The visitor was somewhat distressed by this, but said nothing.

After Sunday School, the visitor went into the sanctuary and sat down.  Another member walked up to him and said, “That’s where I always sit!  You took my place!”  The visitor was even more troubled by this treatment, but still said nothing.

Later, as the congregation was praying for Christ to dwell among them, the visitor stood up, and his appearance began to change.  Horrible scars became visible on his hands and on his sandaled feet.

Someone from the congregation noticed him and called out, “What happened to you?”  The visitor replied, as his hat became a crown of thorns, and a tear fell from his eye, “I took your place.”

Our place on this earth is not important.  Jesus took our place so that we could go to His place.


Bro. J.E.

Edward Perronet, the writer of this hymn, was a close associate of John and Charles Wesley.  He was born in England in 1726 and was educated for the ministry in the Church of England.  He objected to many of the practices of the church, leaning strongly to the doctrines of the Wesleys.

He pulled out of the Church of England and started an independent church in Canterbury.  Shortly after he established his church, he wrote this famous hymn which was published in 1780.  A few years later those same verses appeared in a book of poems by an anonymous author.  Most of Perronet’s work was done under an assumed name, or he used no name at all.

The tune, Coronation, which is just as popular as the verses, was written by one of America’s most noted hymn tune writers, Oliver Holden.  He composed it during a time of great rejoicing.  His wife had just presented him with a fine baby girl.  The four-and-a-half-octave organ on which he composed the tune is still displayed in the Old State House in Boston.

In church services today, you may hear these verses sung to three tunes: Coronation, Miles Land or Diadem.

England and America came together in the persons of Edward Perronet and Oliver Holden and gave to the world the hymn, “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name.”

Bro. J.E.

In Chemistry, He turned water into wine.
In Biology, He was born without the normal conception.
In Physics, He disproved the law of gravity when He ascended into heaven.
In economics, He disproved the law of diminishing return by feeding 5,000 men with two fish and 5 loaves of bread.
In medicine, He cured the sick and the blind without administering a single dose of drugs.
In History, He is the beginning and the end.
In government, He said that He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace.
In Religion, He said no one comes to the Father except through Him.
Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.
He had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.
He had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.
He had no armies, yet rulers feared Him.
He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.
He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.
He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

The Savior Who loves us is WORTHY!

Bro. J.E.

I know that you have hardly been able to wait for this week’s article, so here are the remaining “TOP TEN REASONS WHY MEN NEED TO JOIN THE CHOIR”.

6. Singing in a choir is one of the few activities for men that doesn’t require electronic equipment, hunting or fishing gear or expensive power tools.

7. For the fitness buffs, singing in the choir is not only heart healthy, it is soul healthy.  There are no monthly membership fees, and it’s a lot easier on the knees than jogging.

8. If you think you have already done everything there is to do and there are no extreme challenges left, come and put out the extreme effort with our tenors and basses.

9. Choir rehearsals last less than half as long as a professional football game, but are at least twice as satisfying.  No rehearsals on Monday nights.

10. When people ask you if you have been behaving yourself, you can say with the utmost sincerity, “Hey, I’m a choir boy”.

Guys, NOW is the best time to join the choir.  Don’t let the foolish notion that men and boys don’t sing stop you.  You might even get a compliment – like the church baritone soloist that was delighted when one of the members spoke to him after the service and said, “You have a very mellow voice”.

When he got home, he went directly to his dictionary and discovered the meaning of “mellow”.  He read, “Mellow: overripe and almost rotten”.

LET”S MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE TOGETHER!!!

Bro. J.E.

We have just finished a wonderful Christmas holiday season and are beginning the rehearsals that will take us into the Easter season and through another great year singing for the Savior.  We would like to encourage anyone interested in joining the choir to come to rehearsals on Sundays at 5:00 pm in the Sanctuary.

For many years I have seen men and boys with the mistaken notion that it was not “manly” or “cool” to sing.  I have always pointed them to Jesus as He instituted The Lord’s Supper and led the disciples in song, along with the many other times that the Bible instructs us to sing to The Lord.  So, for some of you resistant men, I want to list the “TOP TEN REASONS WHY MEN NEED TO JOIN THE CHOIR”:

1. Rehearsals are on Sunday afternoons.  Which means that for those few minutes you can significantly reduce your risk of getting tendonitis from nonstop clicking of the TV remote control or computer mouse.

2. Because you wear a choir robe, you are liberated from the less than manly task of coordinating your Sunday wardrobe.

3. From your special vantage point, looking over the entire congregation, you can play a little game of “Who’s Sleeping and Who’s Praying?”

4. On the other hand, being in view of a sanctuary full of people on a weekly basis makes it much less likely you yourself will give in to a chronic loss of sleep – although it’s been known to happen.

5. If you think your singing in the shower sounds good now, wait until you have sung with us for a few weeks.

Next week, the remaining “TOP TEN REASONS WHY MEN NEED TO JOIN THE CHOIR”.


Bro J.E.

Upon his conversion, Charles Wesley immediately began writing hymns, each one packed with doctrine, all of them exhibiting strength and sensitivity, both beauty and theological brawn.  He wrote constantly, and even on horseback his mind was flooded with new songs.  He often stopped at houses along the road and ran in asking for “pen and ink.”

He wrote over 6,000 hymns during his life, and he didn’t like people tinkering with the words.  In one of his hymnals, he wrote: “Many gentlemen have done my brother and me (though without naming us) the honor to reprint many of our hymns.  Now they are perfectly welcome to do so, provided they print them just as they are.  Therefore, I must beg of them these two favors: either to let them stand just as they are, to take things for better or worse, or to add the true reading in the margin, or at the bottom of the page, that we may no longer be accountable either for the nonsense or for the doggerel of other men.”

But one man did the church a great favor by polishing up one of Charles’ best-loved hymns.  When Charles was 32, he wrote a Christmas hymn that began: “Hark, how all the welkin rings.”  The word “welkin” was an old English term for “the vault of heaven.”  It was Charles’ friend, evangelist George Whitefield, who, when he published this carol in his collection of hymns in 1753, changed the words to the now-beloved, “Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing.”

Bro. J.E.

It was Christmas Eve in the Austrian Alps.  At the newly constructed Church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, Father Joseph Mohr prepared for the midnight service.  He was distraught because the church organ was broken, ruining prospects for that evening’s carefully planned music.  But, Father Joseph was about to learn that our problems are God’s opportunities, that the Lord causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him.  It came to Father Joseph’s mind to write a new song, one that could be sung organless.  Hastily, he wrote the words and gave the text to his organist, Franz Gruber.  He explained the situation and asked Franz to compose a simple tune.

That night, December 24, 1818, “Silent Night” was sung for the first time as a duet accompanied by a guitar.

Shortly afterward, as Karl Mauracher came to repair the organ, he heard about the near disaster on Christmas Eve.  Acquiring a copy of the text and tune, he spread it throughout the Alpine region of Austria, referring to it as “Tiroler Volkslied.”

“Silent Night” was first published for congregational singing in 1838 in a German hymnbook.  It appeared in its current English form in a book of Sunday school songs in 1863.

Were it not for a broken organ, there would never have been a “Silent Night.” 


Bro. J.E.