It takes a little time to edit, but I try my best to keep this blog updated with recordings from recent services. It’s one of the way I can thank the musicians who took part and highlight some of the things that are going on in COS’s worship. Here’s the latest batch:
When Guitarchestra played on 10/28, I went into rehearsals with two possible Lord’s Prayer songs, this and the Arabic Lord’s Prayer. I was not convinced that this would be appropriate, but I was jazzed about it because I was finishing up a recording of the song that featured the soon-to-be-98-year-old Dorothy Otte. We tried it out and the Gstra voted to use mine. It’s a little out of COS’s sweet spot, but was a good change of pace.
COS has the distinction of having more Bruce Benedict songs in their repertoire than any other church except Bruce’s own church in Raleigh, NC. We’ve sung this one before–last week as a matter of fact–but this time we added string quartet.
This is one of my favorite hymns. Ever. I found it in the old maroon Presbyterian Hymnbook in my first church position back in Pittsburgh, but have only had the opportunity to use it a few times over the last 20 years. This week, I finally found the time to arrange it and the perfect opportunity to use it–as a response to Jack’s sermon on peacemaking. Read more about the hymn at Hymnary or click on the link above to listen to the MP3.
The last time we used this hymn arrangement at COS was at Jud Mereness’s memorial service. Not a lot of people would remember that, but I bet his wife Cele would. That’s one of the things music can do in a congregation: remind us of the cloud of witnesses who surround us.