Praise to "Alpha and Omega"

Our choir at Bristol Baptist Church sings a song based on scripture in Revelation 21 that declares Jesus Christ to be the "Alpha and Omega," the "Beginning and the End."
Jesus is the Lord of all, the One Who is alone worthy of our praise!

(My "cameraman" is learning how to use my cell phone. I hadn't shown him how to use the horizontal view for videotaping.)

We have sung "Alpha and Omega" a couple of times with the first rendition at Easter and the most recent this past Sunday as we prepare to sing it at an event here called ChoirFest.
ChoirFest is the opportunity for 13 or 14 choirs from churches in our Baptist association to share a couple of songs and the style of praise they support at their churches. Like anything else men and women participate in, ChoirFest can be a great worship or simply performance.
I have nothing against great music ... I have always loved music - of many varieties, but especially the music that God, the Creator, inspires His people to create.
The scenes depicted by John in the Revelation often involve singing around the throne of God, so I eagerly anticipate being at the foot of the throne for thousands of years. (For the more timid Christians, other forms of worship are revealed by John's writings ... shouting of many voices that combine to sound like a raging waterfall or rapids of water and bowing, lying face-down actually, at the feet of Jesus. I keep encouraging them to get used to this sort of thing here so it isn't such a shock when it occurs there.)
At some point in this blog, I may review the seven Hebrew words and their different meanings that have been translated into the word "praise" in English. The revelation of what is scriptural praise may be eye-opening - or eye-popping - to some folks.

Getting My Blog-Feet Under Me

Please ... for just a little longer, I am asking for patience. This is still new to me.
I wanted to try uploading video, but I didn't have anything that would successfully upload. The only video available that was related to worship (in particular, related to our choir and worship) would not upload ... it was a video of our 2010 Christmas music service which included manger tableaus by the children and a concluding song where the children's choir joined with the adult choir. The photo below (which I must in all integrity admit focuses on our grandson, Christian) is from that service.

I will go on the record. I reiterate that music is not the totality of worship, though for many children of God, it is a large part of the expression of vocal worship.
I spend much of my time attempting to help our church members express worship corporately through music. I am called to do that and enjoy the praise and worship process. I also get paid as a bi-vocational music minister.
Worship is possible with little or no technology involved ... worship does not depend on technology ... instruments, sound systems, projectors, etc. I however love to use them and can easily defend their use, especially the use of musical instruments, scripturally.
Our church projects the lyrics of hymns and choruses. We use an iPod Classic loaded with a couple of thousand songs as our main choir accompaniment, though we can still use CDs. We have DVD soundracks.
We are limited, though blessed, with one instrumentalist, our pianist. Our goal is to inspire anyone who is in the church or may join the church who plays an instrument to play it for the Lord. We were able to add a clarinetist for a brief time.
I desire to facilitate anyone with breath or anything that is capable to praise the Lord.

(I also want to incorporate video, audio, etc. into this blog. If anyone ever reads these threads, may they not be bored. I might not be able to replace another available blogger, but I aspire to enhance the benefits others provide.)

OK. Paint me incorrigible! I don't have a video of my favorite soloist and choir (my wife, Kathy, with the Bristol Baptist Adult Choir) on "Lord, You're Holy," but I can provide a "poor" substitute, a Youtube video of the Prestonwood choir.

Make a Joyful Noise!

Psalm 100:1-4 ... "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladnsss: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."

Worship is certainly the main focus of my life, a focus ordained by God. Anyone who knows me recognizes how music directed to God in worship and toward my friends, especially brothers- and sisters-in-Christ, as encouragement for them to worship fills my life.
Worship, which incorporates more than music, but is more a lifestyle of service that shows adoration for the Lord and exalts His name among men, is supposed to be the focus of all children of God.
This blog ... a trial, because I'm not sure how it will work ... will deal with worship - and more, because through Jesus Christ, my life is the sum of many things He is doing in me that are acquainted with worship and yet will seem to be other issues.
My opinion will be shared ... carefully ...  and with the intent of being filtered through the word of God.
This first note is just an introduction as I create the blog page.
Then I will come back to blog more ... and discover if anyone is reading and being illuminated by the Spirit of God. Anything less, and it won't be worth your time spent here.

Don't focus on me, PLEASE! Don't return for human wisdom. Look up to God!
As C.S. Lewis wrote: "Aim at Heaven, and you will get Earth thrown in. Aim at Earth, and you get neither."