Southwood Lutheran Church

Will You Come and Follow Me

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Matthew 9:9 (NIV)

Jessie Schut had been asked to do the children's sermon. It was to be on Following Jesus, so she asked members of the congregation to take part in acting out the Bible story of Jesus calling the disciples. So, she began telling the story: Jesus called out, "Matthew, will you come and follow me?"
She said her heart sank as a teen came shuffling forward, mumbling, Yes, Jesus, I will follow you. One after another, "disciples" came forward as she called them, each one showing more stage fright than enthusiasm. That certainly wasn't what she had hoped for.

Finally, she called out, Peter, will you come and follow me? And John, the young man playing Peter, exploded from his pew, his face radiant with joy and excitement. Yes! Yes! he shouted as he danced up the aisle. He heartily embraced Jessie and the other "disciples", delighted to have been chosen by Jesus for this great privilege.

They were all silent. John is a member of Friendship Group, a ministry to people with mental impairments. Jessie says, John may never be able to do all that some of us can, but that day he became God's messenger to show us how to express the joy of following Christ.

Are WE as joyful?

(From a blog posted Rev. Wayne Garvey, pastor of Marion United Methodist Church in Marion, Kentucky, on May 8, 2008 http://marionmethodist.blogspot.com/2008/05/discipleship-delight.html )

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me

Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean, and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?
Will you love the 'you' you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?

Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?
Christ, your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In your company I'll go where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

(words by John Bell © 1987 Iona Community, admin. GIA Publications)

Praise to the Lord

“Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” (Psalm 103:1-3 NIV)

Praise to the Lord the Almighty was written by Joachim Neander, born in 1650, whose father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather—all Joachim Neanders—had been preachers of the gospel. But as a student, Joachim was wild and rebellious. At 20, he joined a group of students who descended on a church in Bremen Germany intending to ridicule the worshippers, but instead after listening to the sermon, he gave his heart to God. A few years later, he was the assistant preacher at that very church.

Joachim often took long walks near his home in Hochdal, Germany. They were worship walks, and he frequently composed hymns as he strolled, singing them to the Lord. He wrote approximately sixty hymns and composed many tunes. Nearly all of his hymns are triumphant expressions of praise. When he was 30 (the year he died) he wrote this while battling tuberculosis:

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,
the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him,
for he is your health and salvation!
Let all who hear
Now to his temple draw near,
Joining in glad adoration!

Praise to the Lord, who over all
Things is wondrously reigning
And, as on wings of an eagle,
uplifting, sustaining.
Have you not seen
All that is needful has been
Sent by his gracious ordaining? 

Praise to the Lord, who will
Prosper your work and defend you;
Surely his goodness and mercy
Shall daily attend you.
Ponder anew
What the almighty can do
As with his love he befriends you.

Praise to the Lord! Oh, let all
That is in me adore him!
All that has life and breath,
Come now with praises before him!
Let the amen
Sound from his people again.
Gladly forever adore him!

from Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan.

Sweet Sweet Spirit

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. (Matthew 3:16 NIV)

Noted recording artist, music arranger, and director Doris Akers was born in Brookfield, Missouri, and started writing songs at age ten. Many of her more than three hundred songs are found in many songbooks and hymnals and have been sung by millions of worshipers. In addition to songwriting, Doris also directed the Skypilot Choir of Skypilot Church in Los Angeles.

One Sunday morning, Doris said to her choir, “You are not ready to go in.” She didn’t believe they had prayed enough! They were accustomed to spending time in prayer before the service, asking God to bless their songs. Doris had communicated to her choir that prayer was much more important than great voices. Although the choir members had already prayed this particular morning she asked them to pray again, and they did so with renewed fervor.

As the choir members continued to pray, Doris began to wonder how she could stop this wonderful prayer meeting. Finally she was compelled to say to the choir, “We have to go. I hate to leave this room and I know you hate to leave, but you know we do have to go to the service. But there is such a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place.” The next morning she went to the piano and began to write, “There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place.” In her song she recognized the “Spirit” in the room as the “Spirit of the Lord.” She could see in the “sweet expressions” of the choir members that they also recognized the “presence of the Lord.” The chorus of the song calls us back to the New Testament’s description of the Spirit of God descending like a dove, lighting upon Jesus at His baptism (Matt. 3:16).

Doris Akers passed away in 1995, but her songs will live on in the hearts of those of us who have sung them and have learned to love the God she wrote about. Until her last day on earth, Doris strongly believed that god wants His children to pray. From The Sacrifice of Praise; by Lindsay Terry.

There's a sweet, sweet spirit in this place And I know that it's the spirit of the Lord

There are sweet expressions on each face
And I know that it's the presence of the Lord

Sweet Holy Spirit
Sweet heavenly dove
Stay right here with us
Filling us with your love
And for these blessings
We lift our hearts in praise (hearts in praise)
Without a doubt we'll know that we have been revived
When we shall leave this place

Words & music: Doris Akers © 1962, renewed 1990 Manna Music, Inc.

Denise

Lord I Lift Your Name On High

“Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.” (Psalm 148:13 NRSV)

The song, “Lord, I Lift Your name on High” was written by Rick Founds. The song was written when he was serving as the music director at a church in California. It was born out of Rick’s typical morning devotions. He had a small Macintosh computer and an electronic Bible, which he would bring up on his monitor and begin reading where he had left off the precious day. Rick had developed a habit of playing his guitar while reading the Bible on his computer screen.

One day, As Rick was having his daily devotional, the Lord impressed on his heart that His work on our behalf was a cycle of events—Christ came from heaven to earth, gave His life on the cross for us, was buried and three days later rose from the dead, and went back to His heavenly Father, making the cycle and our salvation complete. That, essentially, is the lyrics of the song. Rick picked up his guitar and began to sing “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High.” Rick explained, “It is just a simple song, but it is what the Lord dropped into my heart. The whole song came quickly; I didn’t struggle with it at all. . . I sang it for an evening Bible study. They seemed to love the song. At the time I had no idea that it would be so popular—I had simply written another song, much as I had done so many times before.” The song has become widely popular and now can be heard in other countries of the world, in many languages.

From The Sacrifice of Praise; by Lindsay Terry.

Lord I Lift Your Name On High
Words & Music by Rick Founds

Lord, I lift Your name on high
Lord, I love to sing Your praises
I'm so glad You're in my life
I'm so glad You came to save us
You came from heaven to earth
To show the way
From the earth to the cross
My debt to pay
From the cross to the grave
From the grave to the sky
Lord, I lift Your name on high

Here I Am Lord

And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, "Jacob! Jacob!" "Here I am," he replied. (Gen. 46:2 NIV)

“Here I Am Lord” is a devotional song about discipleship. Each stanza ends with God’s question in Isaiah’s vision: “Whom shall I send?” (Isaiah 6:8 NIV). The refrain begins with Isaiah’s response, “Here am I,” but it immediately recounts other voices of response. The second, “Is it I, Lord?”, recalls the Disciples at the Last Supper wondering if each was the betrayer, as well as the disbelief many heroes of the faith have expressed at their own calling: Moses and Gideon tested God before saying “Yes”; Jonah tried to run away from his call; and Jeremiah pleaded his youth as an excuse. To all of these human responses comes the faithful voice of the child Samuel, “I have heard you calling in the night.” This gives us faith to dare to sing, “I will go . . . if you lead me.”

The stanzas sing of God’s love in the creation of the world and in response to the needs of the world. Stanza one puts the divine compassion in the context of Israel’s salvation history such as is recounted throughout the Hebrew Scriptures: the people stray from God, fall into sin, cry out, are heard and saved. Stanza two joins the Suffering Servant of Isaiah with the figure of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, and closes with God’s promise to give us new hearts and new spirits of faithfulness (Ezekiel 36:26). The third stanza points to the kingdom through the promises of Isaiah 61/Luke 4: “The LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor . . .” (Is. 61:1 NIV) and through the Eucharistic feast. From Wonder, Love, and Praise: Leader’s guide, by John Hooker.

Here I Am Lord
I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin,
My hand will save.
I, who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?

Chorus:
Here am I, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my words to them.
Whom shall I send?

I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will send the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide,
'Til their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?

Words © 1981 Daniel L. Schutte
Reprinted under license #A-705211

Now The Green Blade Rises

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25 NIV)

It is always joyous at this time of year to see life spring forth from the bare trees and ground that seemed to hold no life, and be reminded that what appears dead is very much alive. This is the miracle of Easter!

Jesus was very dead. The disciples saw the beating he took at the hands of the soldiers, the blood leaking from around the nails and his body sagging on the cross, slowly draining the life out of him. They saw the soldier’s spear deliver the wound, piercing both the lung and heart, confirming that Jesus was in fact dead. As those who prepared his body touched his skin and looked into his lifeless eyes, they knew he was dead. I think we often miss their grief because we know how the story will continue, but for those gathered at the cross, he was dead. End of story.

But of course it’s not. As we are reminded by the trees and flowers around us, life wins. And more to the point of our Easter journey, love wins. The story of God’s love come to earth, is very much alive and continuing, and not only when Jesus defeated death and rose on Easter morning. Each and every day, we have the opportunity for the risen Jesus to live in our hearts, to strengthen our lives and relationships and to make us an instrument of love in others lives.

Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain,
Love lives again, that with the dead has been,
Love is come again like wheat arising green!

In the grave they laid Him, love by hatred slain,
Thinking that He would never wake again,
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen;
Love is come again like wheat arising green.

Forth He came at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain;
Raised from the dead, my living Lord is seen;
Love is come again like wheat arising green.

When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
Your touch can call us back to life again,
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been;
Love is come again like wheat arising green.

There Is a Balm in Gilead

“Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?” (Jer. 8:21-22 NIV)

“There is a Balm in Gilead” is based on the writings of Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet. In Chapter 8, after voicing again his grief (verse 21), Jeremiah inquires, "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?" (verse 22). In the Old Testament days, Gilead was the name of the mountainous region east of the Jordan River, mentioned 80 times in the Old Testament. Gilead was famous for having skillful physicians and for an ointment with special qualities made from the gum of a tree peculiar to that area. The balm, a fragrant, transparent, pale yellow ointment, was known far beyond the boundaries of Gilead. Many believed in its mysterious, miraculous powers to heal the human body. Jeremiah's question is answered in the spiritual with the assurance that the work of the Holy Spirit makes the wounded whole, and heals the sinsick soul. (from the "History of Hymns" by William J. Reynolds)

There Is a Balm in Gilead
(African American Spiritual)

There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.
Sometimes I feel discouraged, and think my work’s in vain;
But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.

There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul.
If you cannot preach like Peter, if you cannot preach like Paul,
go home and tell your neighbor, “He died to save us all.”

There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul,
to heal the sin-sick soul.

Were You There

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.(Gal. 2: 19-20 NRSV)

This Sunday is Jazz Sunday. We will be singing a variety of spirituals including “Were You There.” Were You There when they crucified my Lord? This song about the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord is perhaps the most beloved and provocative of all African American spirituals. It is a potent reminder every Easter season of the wounds received on our behalf, of the life given up, of the victory over the grave. Through the words of this song, the confines of time evaporate in our encounter with the cross. We are taken to that bleak scene at Golgotha and made to feel the press and hear the shouts of the unsympathetic crowd. We are made to hear the ringing of the hammer, to witness the thirst and the agony, and to shudder at the thrust of the sword. We are brought to our knees and made to week over the lifeless body of the Lord of Life as he is laid in the tomb. Were you there?

What a question this is. If you were there, what was your capacity? Bystander? Instigator? Rabble rouser? Friend? Protester? Where was your heart in those moments? What became of your hopes? Oddly enough, no one can escape these questions. It does not do to claim “I wasn’t even born yet. How could I have been there?” What the slave originators of this song are saying is that all humankind was gathered at the foot of that cross on that day. It was a moment out of time, a moment upon which all human history turns. We all participate in the mystery of those holy days because they were accomplished for us. So, were you there?

From My Soul is a Witness, The Message of the Spirituals in Word and Song, by Marsha Hansen

Were You There?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they pierced him in his side?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when he rose up from the grave?

Refrain:
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

Jazz Imitates God's Creation

On April 6, we will have jazz worship at Southwood. There are many reasons for using jazz in worship. One reason is that Jazz is spontaneous. The essence of jazz is its improvisation. Performing everything as rehearsed is not jazz. With jazz, you are supposed to play it "your own way." When you listen to jazz, you are hearing raw ideas being given substance even as they must adapt to the musical setting. Many musicians describe a sense of ideas flowing through them rather than from them. In this sense, jazz is sacred, as is all of God's work. Jazz imitates God's creation - ever evolving.

Jazz at Southwood evolved when we realized we had several jazz musicians worshiping at Southwood. Among these musicians was Tom Larson, a jazz pianist and teacher at UNL. Tom was approached with the idea to lead a jazz worship at Southwood, and he agreed. He organized a group of musicians from Southwood and the community, and the first jazz worship was planned for the summer of 2005. We have had jazz services several times a year since then under Tom’s leadership. We are thankful for his willingness to arrange all the music for these services. We are also thankful for the musicians who play as part of our ensemble: Rusty White, bass; John Scofield, percussion; Paul Haar, sax; Paul Krueger, trumpet; Bob Krueger, trumpet. Paul Krueger is a music student at UNL (and member at Southwood). He will help arrange one of the hymns for the April jazz service.

I hope you'll enjoy the feeling of the spontaneous, evolving, never-the-same-twice music we'll hear on Sunday. And I hope it will give you a new way of experiencing God moving in our midst.

Denise

What is your “Song Story”?

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph 5:19-20 NIV)

What is your “song story”? The hymn tells us “Good Christian friend rejoice and Sing!” Singing is an important way of sharing our faith stories. Songs have a way of getting into our head and not letting go of us. They have a way of allowing us to express or experience feelings that aren’t easily expressed in other ways. Even hearing certain songs can bring to mind places and people in our past. These songs don’t just live in our minds—they work their way into our hearts, into our lives and even into our beliefs.

Some songs find their way into our hearts because of a powerful message that stays with us. The song, “Be Still and know” is meaningful to a friend because it reminds her that when things aren’t going well, she needs to be still and recall that God is God and she is not, that whatever is going on, God has it under control. Other songs have more personal meanings. The hymn “Children of the Heavenly Father” was sung at my grandmother’s funeral. Singing that hymn reminds me of her and that “neither life nor death shall ever from the Lord his children sever.” “Song stories” help us see how the Spirit worked and continues to work in our hearts. We can see how our life’s journey has been shaped by the words of Scripture and the words of songs relaying the truths of Scriptures. Is there a song that has special meaning for you? Think about why it became important to you and then, if you like, let me know your “song story.” I’d love to hear it!

Good Christian friends Rejoice and sing
Now is the triumph of our King
To all the world Glad news we bring
Alleluia alleluia alleluia

The Lord of life Is risen this day
Death’s mighty stone is rolled away;
Let all the earth rejoice and say
Alleluia alleluia alleluia

Praise we in songs of victory
That love, that life Which cannot die
And sing with hearts Uplifted high
Alleluia alleluia alleluia

Your name we bless O risen Lord
And sing today with one accord
The life laid down The life restored
Alleluia alleluia alleluia