Covenant Presbyterian Church Augusta

The fourth and final hymn of our "Then Sings My Soul" sermon series is "I, the Lord of Sea and Sky," which is perhaps more familiarly known as "Here I Am, Lord." I have a clear memory of singing this hymn in the pews of my home church when I was in high school. My youth group friends and I would sing it with gusto; this hymn was one of our all-time favorites. I'm looking forward to singing it with you on Sunday and considering how this hymn both testifies to God's power and reminds us of God's call to each of us to be part of God's work in the world.

This Sunday we continue with our series, "Then Sings My Soul."  Today's him is "Lord of the Dance."  There are so many beautiful things about this hymn - its summary of Jesus' life, the image of dancing, and the well-known Shaker tune "Simple Gifts." I'm looking forward to exploring the hymn with you more in worship on Sunday, and maybe we'll even be inspired to do a little dancing together!

Last week, we began our July sermon series that we are calling Then Sings My Soul. We will continue our series this Sunday as we contemplate another of your favorite hymns: Be Thou My Vision. Our Scriptural focus will be the story of God coming to Abram in a vision in Genesis 15, and we’ll think together about what it means for God to "be our vision," as the writer of this hymn would have it.

This Sunday, we will begin a new sermon series entitled Then Sings My Soul. This title is familiar to some of you as a line from the hymn How Great Thou Art. This hymn has its origins in a poem by the Swedish minister Carl Boberg, who in 1885 wrote the line, "Then doth my soul burst forth in song of praise / Oh, great God, Oh great God!" An English missionary named Stuart Hine discovered this poem and reworked that line into what we know today: "Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art!"

Mark’s gospel contains several “sandwiches”—where he starts to tell one story, then interrupts himself with another story, then goes back to finish the first story. This week’s sandwich concerns the raising of Jairus’ dead daughter and the healing of a woman in the crowd who touched Jesus’ clothes. This is a familiar story, but perhaps it still has something to teach us. 

This Sunday, we are hearing the story of David and Goliath, which might be one of the top five most famous Bible stories that we have. I think that it is appealing even to people who would never darken the door of a church or a synagogue. Everyone loves the story of an underdog. There is also a depth to this story that popular culture might not appreciate, and I'm looking forward to exploring that with you.

It's a word most of us don't like to hear. (I can tell you from recent parenting experience that three-year-olds are particularly adverse to the word "no.") Whether or not "no" is a word we like to hear, sometimes it's a word we need to hear.This seems to be the case in the on-going story of God and the Israelites that we read in First Samuel.

This Sunday, we're looking at a story in First Samuel when God's people demanded a king. It was a time of great political, economic, and military uncertainty, and sounds in many ways similar to our world today. I hope that you'll join us on Sunday as we explore God's Word (and God's lesser-known Word) together.