… angels in the air.

Up above my head, angels in the air. Singing “Do not fear”, people everywhere. We’re bringing good news, we’re bringing good news to share.

Up above my head music in the air. Up above my head music in the air. All around the world singing everywhere. Well, there’s enough love and there’s enough joy to share!

Please join us tomorrow when we celebrate the 4th Sunday of Advent. We’ll sing in both services at 8:30 and 11:00am.

For more information about our worship times tomorrow, including the “Blue Christmas Prayer Vigil” at 6:00pm and on Christmas Eve, please visit our church website at www.tlumc.org.

‘BORN IN TRAGEDY 

Living words are often born in darkest times, when the Light of Christ illuminates.

Horatio Gates Spafford was a prominent American lawyer, best known for penning the Christian hymn It Is Well With My Soul, following a family tragedy in which four of his daughters died.’

Bertha Spafford Vester, 1878 – 1968, Horatio Spafford’s daughter, wrote the following in her book “Our Jerusalem”;

“In Chicago, Father searched his life for explanation. Until now, it had flowed gently as a river. Spiritual peace and worldly security had sustained his early years, his family life and his home. All around him people were asking the unvoiced question; “What guilt had brought this sweeping tragedy to Anna and Hoaratio Spafford?” Father became convinced that God was kind and that he would see his children again in heaven. This thought calmed his heart, but it was to bring Father into open conflict with what was then the Christian world.

On the way across the Atlantic (in 1873), the captain called Father into his private cabin.”

“A careful reckoning has been made and I believe we are now passing the place where the Ville du Havre was wrecked.”

“To Father, this was a passing through the “valley of the shadow of death,” but his faith came through triumphant and strong. On the high seas, near the place where his children perished he wrote the hymn that was to give comfort to so many”.

When peace like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea-billows roll,

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to know;

It is well, it is well with my soul.

Please join us on Sunday, September 20, 2015. We’ll sing “In Remembrance” and “It Is Well With My Soul” in the 8:30am and 11:00am services. It also will be the second Sunday in our new sermon series, “Five Marks of a Methodist”. This week: A Methodist Rejoices in God. For more information please visit www.tlumc.org

“Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, all fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future

and life is worth the living just because He lives.”

It says it all, doesn’t it?

Sweet Harmony will sing on Saturday, April 25, 2015, at the Bells and Brass Concert (7:00pm ~ Tri-Lakes United Methodist Church) and on Sunday, April 26, 2015, in both services at 8:30 am and 11:00 am.

Cantate Domino Canticum Novum –

Sing to the Lord a new song,
    for he has done marvelous things.

If the grace of God puts a new heart into our breasts, it will put a new song into our mouths.

The Lord has made his salvation known
    and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
He has remembered his love
    and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
    the salvation of our God.

Sometimes it needs a new song, for a new covenant, to celebrate the fact that God has given us a new and lasting promise. A promise of grace which can’t fail to accomplish His purposes.

Please join us during this Lenten season to learn more about the

“Power and Passion: Six Characters in Search of Resurrection”

The story of Jesus’ Passion dominates the season of Lent and, while the focus is on the road to the cross and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, it’s some of the other characters in the story and their reactions to Jesus that give us a window into the ways in which we encounter him ourselves.

Sweet Harmony will sing on Sunday, March 15, 2015, in the 8:30am and 11:00am services.

In remembrance of Me eat this bread
In remembrance of Me drink this wine
In remembrance of Me pray for the time

When God’s own will is done

When Ragan Courtney, the author of the song “In Remembrance”,  graduated from Louisiana College, he enrolled in The New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, but left after one semester to study acting in New York City. After graduating, Ragan worked at various jobs in the city while working toward the goal of a career in theater. His break came when he and his cousin, C.C. Courtney, wrote and starred in the musical, “Earl of Ruston.” After touring the South the show opened on Broadway in the Billy Rose Theater, but it closed within a week. Devastated at this sense of failure, Ragan was deeply depressed; however, at his lowest point he had a profound spiritual experience that transformed his life.

Out of this experience he wrote, “Celebrate Life!”, a musical about the life of Jesus Christ, with his good friend Buryl Red that went on to sell over a million copies and be performed in countless venues.

This story reminds us that things in life aren’t always going the way we hope for but God is with us every step of the way. He reveals Himself when the time is right.

Please join us on February 15, 2015! We’ll sing “In Remembrance” in the 8:30 and 11:00 am services. This will be the last Sunday in our sermon series about The Book of Revelation ~ you don’t want to miss it!!

“Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels waged war upon the dragon” (Rev 12:7-9) Pieter Bruegel the Elder narrates the above passage in his painting “The Fall of the Rebel Angels”.  A war between good and evil. The painting also reminds us in vivid colors of all the evil that was happening in the first century: Persecution, oppression, torture, murder and manslaughter. Freedom of speech or religion didn’t exist back then. As it doesn’t in many parts of the world today, like in North Korea, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Irak or Somalia.

There is much need for peace in this world. “Dona Nobis Pacem” is as relevant today as it was in ancient times.

We’ll be singing on Sunday, January 18, 2015, at the 8:30am and 11:00am services. Please join us for Part 3 of 7 in our sermon series, “The end of the world as we know it? The Book of Revelation”.

“Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella” (French: Un flambeau, Jeannette Isabelle) is a Christmas carol which originated from the Provence region of France in the 16th century.

The carol was first published in 1553 in France, and was subsequently translated into English in the 18th century. The song was originally not a song to be sung at Christmas, but rather dance music for French nobility. 

In the carol, visitors to the stable have to keep their voices down so the newborn can enjoy his dreams. To this day in the Provence region, children dress up as shepherds and milkmaids, carrying torches and candles to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, while singing the carol. The painter Georges de La Tour painted a nativity scene based on the carol.

It’s one of our songs this Advent and Christmas season we enjoy singing very much. There are quite a few more. Come see us, either at the Christmas Music Concert @ TLUMC on December 14 at 7:00 – 8:30pm, or at the Christmas Handbell Concert at the Monument Community Presbyterian Church in Monument on December 13, 2014, at 7:00pm (238 Third St., Monument), or on Christmas Eve, December 24, at our 7:00pm service (TLUMC). Lots of great music this season!

Just found a little gem in the archives 🙂

There is an endless song, echoes in my soul,
and I hear the music ring.
And though the storms may come, I am holding on,
and to the rock I cling.

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!

Sing, o earth His wonderful love proclaim.

Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness.

Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song.

Thinking about a “joyful song”, we inevitably think about psalms. What are psalms actually? A psalm is a sacred song or hymn, in particular any of those contained in the biblical Book of Psalms and used in Christian and Jewish worship.

‘Christians have long recognized the importance and value of the Psalms for worship and spiritual formation. The Psalms have been central to the life and worship of the people of God through the centuries even though they are less prominent in many churches today. Martin Luther called the Psalms a “mini-Bible” stating that all the key themes of the Bible are summarized here.’

Not everything in the Bible is about us. The Bible is about God first and foremost, God’s self-revelation. We always want to ask, “What does it teach us about the nature and character of God?” when doing our Bible reading.

‘The Psalms with their evocative imagery, prayers and songs help us to experience the truths of God’s words in the midst of life and worship. And if we recover the practices of singing and praying the Psalms, we can help ourselves and others encounter God and his truths in powerful ways.’

Praising God with songs is what we are all about. If you are into perfect pitch and love singing harmony, come check us out! We practice every Sunday from 9:30 – 10:30am at the church (lower level, choir room). Usually, we sing every third Sunday during both services at 8:30 and 11:00 am.