Necessary Roughness

First of all, I would like to thank Pastor Lehmann for inviting me to sing during both services at Peace With Christ Lutheran Church in Fort Collins.

Secondly, Pastor Lehmann preached a must-read sermon on Luke 15:1-10, found on his LiveJournal blog. My favorite part:

At this point you might be thinking, so what about the one? I’m here. I’m not starving. I’ve heard the Word of God read. I’m listening to this sermon. I’m being fed. I’m in the green pasture. I’m by the still water. I’m one of the ninety-nine. That may be so. But if you are one of the ninety-nine, it’s only because you were once the one.

Both services were done according to the LSB Service of Prayer and Preaching. The congregation took the refrains on the OT and NT Canticles, while I joined some pieces of the choir in singing the verses. The NT Canticle without the organ almost doesn’t sound like it should sound good, but the organ makes the vocals make sense.

As previously noted, Pr. Lehmann asked me to take a verse out of LSB 709, “The King of Love My Shepherd Is.” I chose verse 4. The first time sounded good, but when I listened to it on the recorder, the “short a” vowel sound of “Thy rod and staff, my comfort still,” was too nasal for my liking. I fixed it in the second service, and the result is decent. I left the latter half of verse 3 by the congregation in, because it sounded good and made a nice introduction.

Music and lyrics: Public domain.