village baptist church choir newsletter lorem ipsum · sacrifice is the way to produce growth and...

Village Baptist Church Choir Newsletter March 2017

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Part 16 – Experience – Is It Good Or Bad? Life brings experiences of many types, some good and some bad—but they all produce progressive results. We all tend to ‘grow’ from them, (some grow progressively discouraged!) we may become better at a skill when we practice the ‘right’ things; we definitely do get better at whatever we practice. Some folks practice nothing and get really good at it! Some practice with wrong technic and get good at that. Some practice with a defeatist attitude and that kind of practice leads to bitterness and depression until we give up, quit and determine not to do that again (it was a bad experience!) Well guided practice is obviously possible only when we are centered on the goal and that goal is identified and pursued with diligence. This is true of any skill, sport, project, discipline or choir! Multiple goals can be attained simultaneously and that can and should be very satisfying. In Scripture the real leaders, like Moses, King David or the Apostle Paul would all set goals for themselves and their followers for the purpose of making their experiences positive for eternal purpose and positive reinforcement. Placing our eyes on the goal (Paul sought to keep his eyes fixed on Jesus) and trusting God for both direction and inspiration to reach that goal only happens with determination and persistence, with faith in God all things are possible. Sacrifice of energy, time, effort is required; many set goals never intending to pay the price required to reach them or simply don’t grasp what it takes to get good at anything and find that giving up is the only way ‘out’ of the situation. Scripture urges us to “bring the sacrifice of praise” (Heb. 13:15) and to “present ourselves as a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1) because GOD-the Trinity is by nature sacrificial in helping us live out our salvation; sacrifice is the way to produce growth and maturity for us as obedient Christian servants! We often seek “experiences” which are enjoyable, fun and rewarding for our ‘service’ projects and when it gets to be work or really costly we bale out! Over my 60 years leading a church choir, some have dropped out and honestly told me “you just expect too much, it isn’t fun anymore”. Real, spiritual JOY often requires putting the work into the process and allowing the joy to develop with the effort!

Sometimes experience teaches us what we should expect from our service. Often singing in high school, college or community choir, which usually has lots of rehearsal time and togetherness compared to the amount of performance required, creates expectations of excellence that a church

Essential Re-choirments – Gordon Borror

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choir which rehearses far fewer hours for much more performance requirement; this tends to form our taste and expectations a church choir often doesn’t meet. In my years as a music educator we would develop a repertoire for the school concert/tour requirements and work on that literature until we all knew it virtually flawlessly. I’d break the choir into small ensembles and have them sing it for one another so they could ‘see’ if their peers really knew the piece and critique them severely and grade them accordingly; if they didn’t cut it they couldn’t go on tour, etc. This was VERY motivating and nerve wracking, but it did improve the product! I’ve never subjected my church choirs to such rigor. The singers are older and more tired when they arrive at rehearsal, they have full schedules and can be easily discouraged when the music gets tough—the experience isn’t as rewarding and rehearsal loses its glamor. The choir doesn’t perform to their ‘standards’ so they give up singing at church—(one of the reasons that today’s church often decides that the choir isn’t that good and is too costly to maintain!) Music ministry is costly, in every way; when attending “church growth” events choirs are either not mentioned at all or derided as irrelevant, “out of date” and ‘more trouble than they’re worth’. Not enough bang for the buck. No mention of the fact that choirs are biblical, and often more focused and committed than nearly any other organization within the local/global church. They not only provide music for the services—well-chosen choral music contains huge educational components to inform the collective theological understanding of doctrine and service, often more effectively than it can be taught with words alone! Additionally choirs enliven and enrich the aesthetic aspects of the service, giving gifted musical people an outlet and providing a beautiful tapestry within an artistically challenged (ignorant) culture. The ‘experience’ of worship depends on music, the bible instructs us to “sing with understanding”, and to sing scripture is an historic and powerful way to memorize it and carry it with us into life (and death)!

Leading people in worship is to teach them the songs of the faith and to BE singers of the song of redemption which is so needed in our day! Congregational and choral singing is so vitally important for providing the breath of life for corporate worship. An “entertain the saints” mentality has a numbing effect on corporate worship; participation is the key to involvement. The worship ‘experience’ depends on participation, (choirs model this) may God help us to rediscover the importance of choral and congregational song in a day when our culture favors non-involvement and casual connection with eternal concepts which demand high attention and concentration to connect!! May our singing become increasingly necessary for daily worship in the sacrifice of praise—“the fruit of our lips!!”

We should take delight and encouragement in the fact that Village Baptist Church has had a choir from its beginning, and the pastors and lay leaders past and present have provided, and continue to provide space and funding to maintain the choir over the years! We continue to have the good participation of singers and support from our membership with the goal of retaining a viable and valuable choir; PRAISE THE LORD!! The choir has the goal of reflecting and representing our churches objective of being multi-cultural, multi-generational and committed to doing all we do to the glory of God.

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Choosing Gentleness by Peter Hoytema

Scripture Reading — Ephesians 4:1-6

Be completely humble and gentle… Ephesians 4:2

In the Bible the word for “gentle” is sometimes translated as “meek.” Being meek is probably not something most people aspire to. In our way of thinking, meekness not only sounds like weakness; the two words mean virtually the same thing. But true gentleness resembles strength more than weakness.

Gentle people have the potential to be rude or proud, but they have deliberately decided not to behave that way. They have intentionally chosen gentleness. That actually takes more strength than it does to treat others harshly. Unleashing our anger is usually easier than restraining ourselves. So meekness is hardly weakness. A decision not to retaliate may look like inaction, but it’s actually humility at work. What appears to be a lack of assertiveness is robust spiritual action.

In his book Grace for the Moment, Max Lucado offers a pledge that we could all make our own: “Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice, may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.”

Those words convey how demanding it can be to choose gentleness. But we can do that because we have experienced the Lord’s tender love. We can trust that he will abundantly provide the strength we need to be gentle. His meekness is greater than our weakness.

Prayer

Thank you, Jesus, for being a gentle shepherd who tenderly cares for his sheep. Help us to be gentle with others, just as you have been gentle with us. Amen.

Guest Devotional

Foundations Of Faith

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Immortal, Invisible

Walter Smith, D.D, pursued his Theological studies at Edinburgh, and was ordained Pastor of the Scottish Church in Chad well Street, Islington, London, Dec. 25, 1850. After holding several pastorates he became, in 1876, Minister of the Free High Church, Edinburgh. He based this text on 1 Timothy 1: 17: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever." The six-stanza text was published in Smith's Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life (1867) and, after having been revised by Smith, in W. Garrett Horder's Congregational Hymns (1884). Further revisions were made by the Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee. "Immortal, Invisible" is a strong text of praise to God, who created and sustains the lives of all his creatures. The text focuses on the Creator of the universe, the invisible God whose visible

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works in nature testify to his glory and majesty. "Light" is the prevailing image in stanzas 1, 2, and 4 (see also Ps. 104:2); our inability to see God is not because of insufficient light but because the "splendor of light hides [God] from view."

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Main Adult Choir Website: http://tinyurl.com/guqjtrw

Adventures in Great Singing

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Singing Lesson 6 (final)

At this point in our vocal study, it’s good to review by asking some questions.

• Are you able to sing 20-30 minutes, five to six days a week? Like the others muscles in your body, the voice (and the other muscles associated with singing) must be stretched. If you want to sing better, you must sing often. This is the cardinal rule of singing: you must sing!

• Are you connecting the tone when you sing? As I mentioned early on, this is a critical part of singing well. Perhaps it will help to think of "sliding" from one vowel to the next. We’ll do an exercise for "sliding vowels" in just a few moments.

• Are you "breathing" with your shoulders or are you allowing your midsection to expand as you inhale exhale? As you develop your singing voice, this is vital for a relaxed, comfortable tone.

Let’s begin today’s session by working on "breathing" again. Remember, air is what drives your voice or your vocal folds. The vocal mechanism is often referred to as "vocal chords", but the term vocal folds is a more descriptive term. (More on that later…)

To roughly understand how your vocal folds work, close your mouth. Now slowly fill your mouth with air. (Your cheeks will "puff" out.) If you keep your lips together lightly, the increased air pressure in your mouth will at some point drive them apart either in a quick sustained release of air or "in puffs" if you blow air into you mouth in short intervals. That’s just how the vocal cords (folds) work. As air comes up from the lungs, the folds are forced apart by the air. The vocal folds only vibrate. It’s the air that is the motor move the vocal chords.

The point where the vocal folds come together is called the "glottis". It’s not critical that you know this term, but it will be helpful in the future. What is important to understand is that the air passing through the vocal folds (the glottis) is what makes the vocal folds vibrate at a particular pitch. In other words, when your vocal folds open and close 440 times a second, the ‘A’ above middle C will sound. (A more precise way of stating this would be to refer to the glottis opening and closing 440 times a second.) A soprano that sings very high (a high C) will have her glottis opening and closing over 1000 times a second—or her folds are vibrating 1000 times a second. Wow!

When the glottis opens and closes, the vocal folds vibrate at that particular speed. And it is simply the air that makes everything move. THIS is why breathing is so important to good singing. The more efficiently the air moves through the glottis, the more relaxed, comfortable and easier will be the singing process.

Now let’s go to a new breathing exercise!" We’ll call it: sit—bend—grab—and expand!

Sit straight in a chair and begin to concentrate on your breathing. Breathe in over a count of five, hold your breath for five and then breathe out for five.

Now bend over and touch (or grab) your ankles. (If you’re like me, grabbing my ankles will never happen—but bend over as far as you can.) Breath in on a count of five, hold your breath for five and then breathe out for five. Do this several times.

In this exercise you will definitely feel how your midsection expands when you inhale and how it contracts when exhale.

Sit up with your hands positioned just under your rib cage and repeat the process several times replicating exactly how it felt when you were bending over. (Insert picture of person): 5 count inhaling; 5 count holding; 5 count exhaling.

Now stand up straight! and repeat the five-count breathing procedure several times with your hands still positioned just under your ribcage.

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Now walk around your practice room doing exactly the same thing.

Next return to vocal exercise #1: a sustained tone on a single pitch.

IMPORTANT: Breathe slowly and correctly each time you sing. This is where a mirror is critical—Carefully watch yourself sing making sure that the shoulders do not move and that the midsection always expands when you inhale.

Then go to exercise #2.

As you sing the exercises, ALWAYS try to breathe correctly. Now let’s go to another new exercise. This time relating to connecting the tone.

Exercise #3.

On middle C or (an octave lower for men), sing an ee vowel for two beats and then ‘slide’ into an oo vowel for two beats and then slide back to ee for another two beats. When I say ‘slide’ I mean move from oo to ee without any stop or break in the tone.

(Men: If you like, begin on Bb and go up to F. Remember, you sing an octave (eight tones) lower than a woman.)

Repeat this ee-oo-ee slide on each note as you go up to G.

Repeat the exercise, this time beginning on C# or Db. Sing up to G# or Ab.

Now return to Holy, Holy, Holy. Without any accompaniment, sing through the first stanza on ee or oo. Then sing stanza one or two stanzas in the connected method you have practiced earlier. As you sing, practice breathing AND connecting the tone. Sing slowly and take time to breathe—Remember, no shoulder movement! If you only sing 1 or 2 notes before you have to breathe again, that is OK. The important point is to breathe correctly and connect the tone.

As you practice these exercises each day, try to increase the speed of Holy, Holy, Holy. But no matter what, breathe correctly and connect the tone. If you are feeling adventurous, then go to Abide with Me and repeat the process on this hymn.

God’s Cake A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong. She's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her, and her best friend is moving away. Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack. The daughter says, "Absolutely Mom, I love your cake."

"Here, have some cooking oil," her Mother offers. - "Yuck" says her daughter.

"How about a couple raw eggs?" - "Gross, Mom!"

"Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?" - "Mom, those are all yucky!"

To which the mother replies, "Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves, but when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!

God works the same way. Many times, we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times, but God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

Hope your day is a "piece of cake!"

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The Weight of Glory Part 4 Glory. It’s one of the most oft words used in the Bible. And as we’ve discussed over the past few weeks, it’s a "default" for all those who are "in Christ."

As musicians, it’s imperative that we understand the incredible "glory" within us. Because we are in Christ, the power of His glory, via His Spirit, is the reason and strength for our Sunday music ministry.

In the book of Ephesians, for example, the phrase "in Christ" is mentioned over 40 times. The significance, then, for each choir member is in his/her identity in Christ. Each blood-bought member is"

A saint A child born of God A divine masterpiece A child of light A citizen of heaven

Because we are "in Christ", we have this incredible perspective:

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darknss into His marvelous light, for once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9,10

How great is the love which the father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! 1 John 3:1,2

We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:10

Wow! What a fantastic privilege – and opportunity. And to think that someday, we will all have "perfect" voices to praise and glorify our Lord.

But, remember, the power and glory of God is in us, right now. As we minister on Sunday mornings, we must use this incredible power in our songs of praise and worship.

Roman 8:17 says that Christians are "joint heirs" with Christ – that means that we share in His glory and power.

Therefore, our music must reflect our position "in Christ"; that is, we are alive with Him and we have been "raised…up together and made [to] sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

As we minister this Sunday, may our position "in Christ" be evident to all who hear us sing. For truly we sing,

"To God alone be the glory."

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David Kim David has been singing tenor for 26 years when he started in a high school rock group. Shortly after David gave his life to Christ, he joined the church choir. David had many years of vocal training from Korean and Theatrical training to Opera. David was a musical actor for 7 years performing in several Christian musicals. God has been preparing David for ministry with schooling in Premed, Master of Divinity (at George Fox), Christian counseling, and psychology. For 12 years he was a worship leader and chaplain. David has been at Village 8 years, and he joined the choir in 2011. He enjoys playing the harp and a wide variety of sports (when he’s able!). One of he favorite hymns is “The Love of God”. David has several favorite Bible verses: Chapter 61 in Isaiah and Luke 4:18.

Stephanie Chen

As one of our great sounding sopranos, Stephanie is relatively new to singing in choirs. Her first choir experience was back in high school, and then she sang in her church in Princeton New Jersey about 20 years ago. Stephanie has been attending Village for about 5 years, and has been singing in our choir for just over a year now. Like any good mom who knows how to multiplex, she enjoys texting her son while she’s working out. One of her favorite hymns is “Be Thou My Vision” (a great prayer all of us should make). Her favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 30:20-21: “Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”

Choir Member Spotlight

March 13 - Ester Kim, 15 - Kay Kim, 23 - Joyce Auenson, 28 - Roxy Linville

village baptist church choir newsletter lorem ipsum · sacrifice is the way to produce growth and...

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