Sunday shot by Tommia Wright

Happiness can be found in the simplest of things. Going to service with a reassuring psalm to start the day – Psalm 98, not only was I reading over words about songs, I was remembering the choir from another congregation and how this psalm was sung. Alas, that music has not been found.

Following the introductory reading, the first hymn of the service – “How Lovely Shines the Morning Star” written by Phillipp Nicolai in 1597 also rang words about song in the start of the sixth verse:

‘Lift up the voice and strike the string, Let all glad sounds of music ring In God’s high praises blended.’

There is something about the echoing music from an organ’s pipes. Something to the tone of a trumpet or the bellows of a bagpipe. While some may think they can never carry a tune in a paper bag, just listening to the voices from the various instruments surrounding is soothing.

1 John 3:18-20 were also comforting and a gentle reminder of how actions are stronger and more helpful than words sometimes.

Follow that with the hymn, “O Christ, Our True and Only Light” by Johann Heerman and one can be comforted when emerging from darkness.

The first epistle lesson and Gospel were just as nourishing as the remaining hymns. The warmth of the sun, the glow of the light made this first Sunday of May a true delight.