Words of Welcome

  Psalm 126 Once upon a time, the nineteenth-century “singing evangelist” Knowles Shaw wrote a gospel song titled “Bringing in the Sheaves.” While it isn’t in our hymnals, it regularly pops up in popular culture. You might have heard versions of it in episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, Batman , and especially the Simpsons . For some reason, it appeals to the popular mind, even if Mainline Protestants rarely sing it. Shaw found his inspiration for the song in the King James Version of the sixth verse of Psalm 126: “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”  And so we sing: Bringing in the sheaves,  bringing in the sheaves, We shall come rejoicing,  bringing in the sheaves. If we’re going to bring in the sheaves, what’s a sheave? The answer: It’s a bundle of grain. Since  Shaw was the son of a farmer from Ohio, he knew what a sheave was. The same was true of t...

Psalm 133 The 133rd Psalm is one of my favorite passages of Scripture, because it speaks to one of my passions in life. That passion is the pursuit of Christian unity. It’s a blessing to hear the words: “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” This is especially true when the course of history seems to be pulling nation and world further and further apart. The Psalmist reminds us that there is a better way, a way of unity. Perhaps this is why I was moved so powerfully the other evening, as  the Madrigal Chorale brought their concert to a close by singing Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” Yes:  I see trees of green........ Red roses too   I see em bloom..... For me and for you   And I think to myself.... What a wonderful world. Yes, what a wonderful world we live in, a world of God’s creation. Our Disciple identity statement offers a vision of wholeness taking hold in a fragmented world. This is a ...