2010 Letter No 06

Each month Bill writes a pastor's letter for our monthly church magazine called 'The Messenger'. Here is the letter for June 2010:

I am not the world’s most musical person. To be honest, it would be a rare occurrence for me to be the most musical person in a room, unless I happened to be on my own. But I do recognise the power of music to move people. It is a God-given means by which we can express ourselves and by which others can wordlessly communicate something of their inner thoughts and emotions to us.

It is therefore a great joy that this year has seen a renewal of the use of music among us. We now have singers who are taking much greater initiative in leading us in worship on Sunday mornings. We have a special musical item being prepared for Father’s Day and a musical all age service being planned for July. We have plans for a big Christmas concert in December and for a musical evening as part of our summer festival. We also have a gospel concert in our building on Saturday 12^thJune, and on the evening of 20^thJune we have the CMM choir coming for the third time in the past couple of years to perform a Roger Jones musical – on this occasion ‘Jailbreak’, which is a presentation of the story of Paul and Silas in Philippi.

Music must never become an end in itself among us. Giving glory to God must remain central in everything we do. After all, the apostle Paul wrote “Whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). But Paul also affirmed the importance of music when he commanded the Christians in Ephesus, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). I think we are walking closer to this command than we were a few months ago, which has to be a good thing! Thank you to all who are involved in this ministry among us.