My Story, My Song

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
-Psalm 100:1-3

I love music. It’s a huge part of my life. Anyone who knows me discovers that my life has a soundtrack. While I love all kinds of music, gospel plays a huge part in my faith walk. My childhood church was blessed with some exceptional musicians. Francis Samuels was the organist. He infused classical hymns with rich, powerful majesty. He would put his soul into songs of lament, helping everyone pour out all of the feelings they’d been holding back. When we would celebrate Jesus with hymns of praise, the building would shake because of the power of the organ, the claps, and our voices. James White was the choir director and lead singer. He had a rich, smooth tenor voice. He had a gift for bringing songs to life off the page. 

One of my favorite times in church was when these two would join forces on a song called “God Has Smiled On Me.” The original by James Cleveland is powerful, but these two could draw the truth of the song out of every soul in the room. So many people would have tears streaming down their faces because their stories were being told at that moment. There would be times when Rev. Fitch would pause service because the Spirit was moving more powerfully through them than any sermon might. 

A lot of us have stories of how God used a song to reach us. This summer, we’re inviting everyone to share some of those stories. We’re going to do a sermon series called “My Story, My Song.” This series invites people from the church to share a song that means a lot to them. Maybe it was one you sang to yourself while you were experiencing an illness. Perhaps it was a song you learned as a kid, which taught you something important about God’s love. It could be a song that was a loved one’s favorite, and now it makes you smile when you hear it because it reminds you of them. The key is that your story and your song might be what someone else needs now in their walk of faith. We’ll all learn more about each other and find some awesome new songs for our playlists. If you’re interested in being a part of the series, email me a one-page summary of your story about the song by June 3. In July, we’ll start this journey together. In the meantime, let’s all do what the psalm asks. We’ll “worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” Praise Him today and every day!

Pastor Scott