Hi Team,

Many thanks for another terrific morning of music on Sunday. No less than 5 people came up and thanked me afterwards for your good work. Our church is so appreciative of how we serve them each Sunday in this ministry. It has made me think that we need to take the time to thank others who are serving in less visible ministries. The new song, How Marvelous, went extremely well. A big thanks to X and Y for leading the singing, and also thanks to Z who went to the trouble of notating the song for us. This song will become a church favourite, I have no doubt.

The following team is rostered on for this Sunday -

xxx

X, can you please lead the singing for us? Many thanks.

We are doing the following songs -

How Marvelous
Let Your Kingdom Come
In the Valley
My Hope Is Built

My Hope Is Built

This week we’ve added My Hope is Built to the playlist. The original hymn was written by Edward Mote, a Baptist preacher who lived in England in the early 19th century. In a letter to the Gospel Herald, he explained the origins of the song -

One morning it came into my mind as I went to labour, to write an hymn on the 'Gracious Experience of a Christian.' As I went up Holborn I had the chorus,

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

In the day I had four first verses complete, and wrote them off. On the Sabbath following I met brother King as I came out of Lisle Street Meeting.who informed me that his wife was very ill, and asked me to call and see her. I had an early tea, and called afterwards. He said that it was his usual custom to sing a hymn, read a portion, and engage in prayer, before he went to meeting. He looked for his hymn-book but could find it no where. I said, 'I have some verses in my pocket; if he liked, we would sing them.' We did, and his wife enjoyed them so much, that after service he asked me, as a favour, to leave a copy of them for his wife. I went home, and by the fireside composed the last two verses, wrote the whole off, and took them to sister King.As these verses so met the dying woman's case, my attention to them was the more arrested, and I had a thousand printed for distribution.

In 1998, Nicky Chiswell wrote a marvelous new melody for the song, and it became an instant classic. It is one of Emu’s most popular tunes, to this very day.

Please Pray

Please keep the music ministry in your prayers. Pray for God’s continued favour upon our efforts.

New Song

We will be doing another new song at the start of July, Sovereign Grace’s “It is not death to die”. I will be sending out music in the next week or so.

Start Time

A big thank you to everyone for arriving so punctually at 8:45am in recent weeks. It has enabled us to finish rehearsal at 9:20, and give the singers a good break.

Music Roster

Some people have asked about the music roster, so here is the link - xxx

Please be careful when checking for future dates as it becomes a bit more tentative the further into the future it goes. I receive emails from people every week regarding dates they cannot do, so I have to move things around a little. At the bottom of the roster is a list of dates that people have told me they are not available for. If you know in advance you will not be available for a particular date, please let me know.

Anything Else

As always, any questions, issues or comments, please contact me. My mobile is xxx. Many thanks again for your service to Christ and His people.

blessings,
Craig