To Chant or not to Chant

In the process of planning for a youth service, a question came to my mind and came across a great solution. How could I encourage the congregation to quiet their hearts and prepare for worship?

I came across a Gregorian Chant CD. The songs "Angus Dei, Benedictus, and Sanctus" were my top choices. I would explain the music and have the lyrics on powerpoint (to avoid being charged with using tongues in the absence of interpretation)

Sanctus
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth!
Pleni suni coeli et terra gloria tua
Osanna in excelsis

Holy, Holy, Holy
Lord God of Sabaoth
Heaven and earth are full of thy Glory
Hosanna in the highest

Benedictus
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, Osanna in excelsis

Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest

Angus Dei
Angus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem.
Angus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem sempiternam
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant them rest
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant them everlasting rest.

Anyway, I solicited a few second and third opinions and decided it might not fly with a small town church in upstate New York.

Have you ever used Gregorian chant in personal or corporate worship setting. Was it effective? Can it be? Why/Why not?

Money

I've been thinking about money lately. It's presence or absence can be both a burden and blessing. I had a charge on my bank account that I am quite sure was unauthorized. It wasn't for a large sum of money, but the possibility that someone accessed my account is unsettling. Today at work, one of our waitresses received a counterfeit $50 bill. The police came. It is weird that people do that sort of thing. Someone else winds up eating it. Then, I lost my paycheck from two weeks ago.

My overall feeling is that one, I need to be more careful and two, money cannot be trusted.
Jesus talked a lot about money, it needs to be shared, used wisely, yet not hoarded or trusted.

What are your thoughts about money?

Watch This

Last Sunday night at church we watched, "beyond the gates of splendor". It is an inspiring story of Jim Elliot and four other missionaries who truly gave their lives for Christ. To whom it may concern, this story has been made into a movie to be released to theaters Jan 20th. Have you been challenged to follow Christ with deeper intensity? This movie might do it. Do you need to take a break and just watch a movie? Why not this one. Just wanted to lend my support in getting the movie known out there.

GWC Youth

Skating is canceled for tonight. We will try again next month.

GWC Youth

We're Engaged!!!!

I am engaged to a beautiful woman! Karen is awesome and I love her.

Joseph

Re: Missing Links

I think I figured out a compromise. I think I cannot get the font because it does not exist. The words (Archive, Recent Posts) as they appear are saved on the web somewhere, made for this template specifically.

Missing Links

Does anyone know how I can add a section for "links" on my side bar. I played around the other day and could get "links" over there but I could not get the correct font (I copied and manipulated html from another template). It is fun trying to figure it out but it takes hours.

Thanks

Birthday for someone special

I just want to give a shout out to my mom because it is her birthday. She is a great mom. She has raised 4 children that turned out pretty good and I do not care if that sounds a little biased.

Love ya!

Funny Story

At one point during work today, I had two tables in my section. At one table was a man and his wife. He was an auto mechanic and was wearing a work shirt with his name patch on the front and an American flag patch on the sleeve. A fork's throw away at another table, a man sat with his wife and their son who couldn't have been more than 9 years old. As I handed the kid his drink in the cute Friendly's kids cup, he asked me a question loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "Sir," he said, "is that man a cub scout?" pointing to the mechanic donning the work uniform. I mumbled "no," walked away, laughed really loud on the inside and then shared the laugh with all of my coworkers. Is he a cub scout.