Starting New Book Reading List for 2013

I have downloaded this e-book by Butterfield from the Amazon Prime Lender Library.
Dunnett's first of an 8-book series paperback. Dorothy Dunnett's books, for me, must be read in traditionally printed formats either as paperback or hardbound book.

An Ancient Amorous Date

Valentine

John Charles McNeill
(1874-1907)

This is the time for birds to mate;
To-day the dove
Will mark the ancient amorous date
With moans of love;
The crow will change his call to prate
His hopes thereof.

The starling will display the red
That lights his wings;
The wren will know the sweet things said
By him who swings
And ducks and dips his crested head
And sings and sings.

They are obedient to their blood,
Nor ask a sign,
Save buoyant air and swelling bud,
At hands divine,
But choose, each in the barren wood,
His valentine.

In caution's maze they never wait
Until they die;
They flock the season's open gate
Ere time steals by.
Love, shall we see and imitate,
You, love, and I?

Leopold Godowsky's Birthday Anniversary

Leopold Godowsky
Polish-born American pianist and composer
(13 February 1870 - 21 November 1938)
The MP3 below expired on 03-07-2013.
Click here to play the current selection.

Stephen Hough, piano (1999)
- Alt Wien "Old Vienna" (Tirakontameron No.11)
(Godowsky)

A Graduation Congratulatory Letter

12 February 2013

Dear E.A.:

It is an auspicious occasion for this New Year, when news of your completing the academic disciplines of a secondary education came in the post a fortnight ago. Surely, the photograph of you in the graduation announcement is a shower of beauty. A portrait poised with confidence with an eye toward the future. Congratulations, indeed!

Only your family can truly treasure with deep affection and satisfaction of your arriving at this milestone. Looking back at the path and aisles of the years, through your parents, you are shaded by God’s verdant mercy of the leaves overhead; on nurturing you along the way they have leaned on the strong pillars of His faithfulness and steadfastness.

Your allusion to Romans 15:4 calls to mind the family man Jacob's return to Bethel. After twenty winters of vicissitude, Jacob reconsecrated himself at Bethel. It was there young Jacob had wrestled God and in awe called the place, “the house of God and the gate of heaven.” Whether you stay in Foyil or seek ventures elsewhere, allot time to return to the haunts of your childhood. Your parents’ abode is where you first witnessed the altar of communion with God. Home is a place of blessing; it is where “steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.”

Enclosed is a graduation gift for your achievements. May the “beauty of His countenance” always shine on “where’er you walk.”

Chinese New Year 2013

10 February 2013
Chinese New Year
Year of the Snake

Thou Hast Bid Me Gaze Upon Thee

At today's Sunday worship, the congregation was blessed by hearing the choir rendered a version of the hymn, "Jesus, I Am Resting, Resting." This offertory hymn was accompanied by our resident organist/pianist and guest cellist, Ira Lehn.

A less known Irish poetess and hymn writer Jean Sophia Pigott wrote this hymn. James Mountain, an English pastor, contributed the tune for this wonderfully reflective and tranquil psalm. The hymn was first sung in County Kildare, Ireland, 8 September 1845.


Jesus, I Am Resting, Resting

Jesus, I am resting, resting,
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.

Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee,
And Thy beauty fills my soul,
For by Thy transforming power,
Thou hast made me whole.

O, how great Thy loving kindness,
Vaster, broader than the sea!
O, how marvelous Thy goodness,
Lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in Thee, Belovèd,
Know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise,
And have made it mine.

The Rise and Fall of America...

...is its

Character

"The prosperity of a country depends, not on the abundance
of its revenues, nor on the strength of its fortifications,
nor on the beauty of its public buildings; but it consists
in the number of its cultivated citizens, in its men of
education, enlightenment, and character; here are to be
found its true interest, its chief strength, its real power."

- Martin Luther

CRC Heidelberg Catechism e-Book

I have created a mobile e-book of the Christian Reformed Church's Heidelberg Catechism. Among other doctrinal standards and liturgy, this catechism is found in the 1976 edition of the Psalter Hymnal.

Copies of these e-books in both epub and mobi formats have been provided to the pastoral staff and other memebers of the church community.

If interested, this ebook may be downloaded at:

Christian Reformed Church
- The Heidelberg Catechism (version Psalter Hymnal 1976)

Mendelssohn's Birthday Anniversary

Felix Mendelssohn
Romantic period
composer and musician par excellence
(3 February 1809 - 4 November 1847)
The MP3 below expired on 02-13-2013.
Click here to play the current selection.

James Last and His Orchestra (1969)
- Andante aus Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op.64 (Mendelssohn)

Fritz Kreisler's Birthday Anniversary

Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler
Austrian-born violinist and composer
(2 February 1875 - 29 January 1962)
Fritz Kreisler, violin (1938)
Chanson Indoue from Sadko
(Rimsky-Korsakov; arr. Kreisler)

Click here to view this L'Envoi YouTube.