Lent 2018

A gift left for me at the organ
on Holy Saturday!

Last year I posted "Observing Lent in the Trump Era."  Once again I am taking the attitude of taking on something for Lent and not giving something up.  I joke each year about taking on Cadbury Creme Eggs but I noticed they are 99 cents at CVS so that makes them easier to resist.  Plus I am pretty sure they get smaller every year.

This year I am trying to sing a hymn or two or three each day.  Sundays are a given; the other days I pull out one of my many hymnals and play the piano and sing.  I am not happy with how my voice sounds especially at first.  Aging has affected my vocal range.  The singing posture of sitting down at the piano doesn't help.  And I want to sing when no one else is around--like my dear husband!

Music is important for my faith.  When we sing in church, the words go into my soul and I believe them in a way that I can doubt at other times.  At times this month the words I have sung have really been God's word to me.

"When we seek relief From a long felt grief, When temptations come alluring Make us patient and enduring; Show us that bright shore Where we weep no more.  Jesus, still lead on, Till our rest be won; Heav'nly leader, still direct us, Still support, console, protect us, Till we safely stand In our Father's land."

When I think of how much beautiful music has been inspired by the Christian faith, it makes me trust that it must have a basis in truth.  I feel a part of all those who have gone before and have composed and sung these songs.

I've been singing out of the Lutheran Book of Worship (1979) this week.  So many of the last stanzas seem to end in a hope for a peaceful death like the one quoted above.  Is it a product of the turmoil of Martin Luther's time?  Do Lutherans today still sing those songs regularly?

"Lord, let your presence brighten the night Till the last sunrise; then, in your might, Pardon and spare me, Summon and bear me Homeward at last." 

 Actually that one is from the mid-1800s not Martin Luther's era.   We rarely sing songs like that these days in our worship.  Is it too depressing to sing about our final hours? Maybe when it is time for me, those words will be even more meaningful.  I'd like to think that I could be singing at the end.