Sing and be happy

This month is a month of singing. We are thankful that we can help congregations in their singing. We enjoy the time together as much as they and we all learn something from one another. This has always been a part of our ministry and as long as I can sing it will remain so. God has put a song in our hearts and singing is what we all will be doing together when we finally get Home. 

This month we have several opportunities to help in singing. The congregation in Haarlem (about 2,5 hours north of us) asked me to come and help them learn new songs and learn how to sing better. We went up at the end of August and will return near the end of September. This is a mix of learning music notation - what is a fermata, what is the difference between ff and mp, why do we breathe at a comma - and remembering that singing for God is about singing with your heart and your head. 

I always want to remind people that God made us to sing. Singing is divine, built for who and what we are. It is the only thing that touches mind and soul at the same time. You can literally feel the sound in your body, but you need to pay attention to the words you are singing. So taking time to look at the words in a song, making sure we understand it, is just as important as learning the rhythm or tempo or harmony. 

The group in Haarlem was excited to learn new songs and to learn more about singing. It was also a great time of fellowship, especially for us. We do not get to see the members of this congregation very often, although many of my Dutch roots come from here. I worked as an evangelism apprentice here when I first came to the Netherlands and learned my Dutch in this city. 

This past weekend we were in Cologne, Germany for a day of singing. Every February Uli and I see each other at the Advanced Bible Study Series (ABSS) in Germany. He is from the congregation in Cologne and I am from Maastricht. We started getting together for a singing back in 2014 when we talked about including Aachen again in some way. Aachen is in the middle between the two cities. We organized a singing and have kept this up (with some exceptions during corona years) every year. We have been in Cologne twice, in Aachen twice and in Maastricht three or four times. 

This singing day n Cologne brings us together with another congregation. We had 6 members from Maastricht attend (it would have been 8, but two were incapacitated, including Shirley). The group also included a refugee couple and a visiting couple from the neighborhood. We sing and speak more in German, but this time we also sang some in French. When we started members from Liege, Maastricht, Aachen and Cologne all attended, making it quite international. This time in Cologne we remembered that in heaven we will all be able to sing together in whatever language it will be. 

This coming weekend several of the members from Maastricht will join others from around the Netherlands and Belgium at the Family Day at camp. So we will get to sing and once again enjoy the wonderful fellowship of being together. This time we will simply take part in the singing, rather than lead any of it. But a week later we will be in Eindhoven for our monthly 3rd Wednesday singing there where we also help with learning new songs. Often people simply need to learn a song and see that they can sing it. 

We enjoy singing songs that members in the Netherlands and Belgium have written, songs written by Russian brothers and translated either into English or Dutch (or German), or new songs crossing over to Europe from other areas of the world. It is exciting to see how the song that God has put in our hearts continues to pour over into words of praise to Him. 

(You can find more photos of our time in Haarlem and Cologne here.)

Whodunit Wednesday: Composers

Music has long been a part of this area in Europe. While Belgian Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone, there have been various composers throughout the centuries who have also come from this area. 

In the 15th century Guillaume du Fay was a master of polyphonic music. Another 15th century composer, Adrian Willaert, was born in Roeselare where we will be visiting to preach in May. He spread the Franco-Flemish polyphonic music style to Italy. 

Two composers from the city of Liege, Belgium spread their influence in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Eugene Ysaye was known as the “King of the Violin” and thus played pieces composed specifically for him by such as Debussy or his Belgian compatriot composer, Cesar Franck. More recently Django Reinhardt was well-known in jazz circles and gypsy jazz music. 

On the Dutch side Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck composed music during the Baroque era. His compositions predate Bach and Handel who were both influenced by him. Constantijn Huygens was born at the end of the 16th century. He became a diplomat and poet as well as a musician and played for the Danish court, King James I of England and Willen II, Prince of Orange. 

And of course there have been both Belgian and Dutch influences in popular music to this day. Many of these influences come from areas with which we work even today. More importantly, the members of the churches in Belgium and the Netherlands continue this joy of music and song in the songs we have for the churches. 

Singing soothes the soul and teaches the heart. Throughout the history of the churches here members have collected songs to make sure that singing was an integral part of living with Christ. In more recent years this has meant that members have even composed songs to be sung by the churches. 

Songs have been written for Bible camp and taken up in the church songbooks. The congregation in Maastricht held special days and weekend retreats where songs were also composed by the members. And Song Workshops have included training and opportunities to compose new songs. 

The most recent efforts have now been made by Luk Brazle and I to get some of these songs online in various forms. Acapella versions are recorded so that churches can learn the songs and use them where needed. Versions using music notation help those who read music to learn the various voices as well. Above all, we want to encourage members to sing. These songs can be found on the YouTube channel set up for this. New songs as well as songs we use every week are in Dutch and English, for adults and kids, helping us to sing in our hearts.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.    Colossians 3:15-17

On the Family Side

The end of the year is family time: Thanksgiving and Christmas are all chances to catch up on what is going on and to share time together. We are thankful that we live in a time where technology makes much of that possible. When we were young, being way for the holidays meant not seeing family at all. We have the luxury of being able to connect with family through technology. 

Since we got to visit our granddaughter in the summer, we have looked forward to every single moment we can share with her (and with Stephan and Natalie). Stephan has changed up his time to video call so that this has become even better. In the past, Stephan would call at his lunch time, which was out dinner time. It worked out perfect as we could share a meal and a conversation together. When Sophia arrived, she was usually sleeping at lunch. And who wants to wake a sleeping infant? Certainly not a new parent. 

Now, Stephan calls us in his morning, our afternoon, when he is sitting with Sophia getting ready for the day. She babbles with us, shows us her toys and we get to share time with both her and Stephan. If we sing one of her songs, she lights right up, recognizing the song. We have been sending some video’s off songs with new items - in Dutch. That way she also learns that she can speak that language. 

We also enjoyed following both Stephan and Natalie running a Turkey trot on Thanksgiving. We get a link to their route and can see how they are doing (even their heart rate). At the end we were sent a picture of everyone together. It is amazing to be able to share in these kinds of moments - live and in the moment. We are so thankful for the technology that is now available. 

Over in New York Sean and Jill are also thankful for technology, but in a different way. We have enjoyed seeing pictures and videos of their new apartment which they were able to move into at just the right moment. Sean tore his ACL back in September and was able to have it operated on this past week. So he needs to be taking great care of his leg. Their previous apartment was on the 5th floor, without an elevator. Now they live on the first floor. 

We look forward to being able to say hello, even if it is briefly, to both Stephan and Natalie (and Sophia) and Sean and Jill on Christmas. As it suits young families and couples, they will be busy with their own plans on that day (as will we), but being able to jump on a call together will keep us bound together. We pray that you, too, are able to enjoy your time with family in these days - either because of the wonder of technology, or because you are able to get together. Savor each moment. 

Whodunit Wednesday: Joost Klein’s “Europapa”

Today is a holiday in Belgium, but not in the Netherlands. In Belgium `9and Germany) they celebrate May 1 as “Labor Day”. This is for these countries a day to celebrate workers and to enjoy the Spring weather, if it has come. The Netherlands doesn’t have this tradition, so in our area, the roads going into Maastricht are full of Belgian and German cars looking to shop (since the stores in Belgium and Germany are closed). Europe may have no internal borders, but various differences remain.

Around this same time (middel of May) the Eurovisie Songfestival shows up on tv and in the news. Most people can remember how ABBA became a household name and a mega group after winning this competition with the song “Waterloo” back in the 1970’s. It became so popular and the Europe ended up having so many more countries that the competition had to be split up and not every country gets to partake every year. 

This year the Dutch contribution is considered a real contender to win. Joost Klein sings in many languages about “Europapa”. That he sings in various languages is already unique. In some of the beginning years countries were required to present their song in their native language (otherwise there were too many languages in English). This rule was finally completely abolished in 1999. So now any country causing in whatever language they wish. Klein’s song is unique in that it uses many of the various languages of Europe, while poking fun at them as well. 

While many will hear the conglomeration of languages and images as a reference to Europe, the song is also about Klein’s father. So “Europapa” refers to his European “papa” or father. Klein lost his parents when he was young. If Klein wins with his song, the Netherlands will be the hosting country for the contest next year. This year the contest is being held in Sweden who has won the contest 7 times, as has Ireland. The winner from last year is the only female singer to have won twice (she also won in 2012). 

The contest has always been s how of extremes, including the costumes that are worn. Joost Klein will perform in a blue suit (the flag of Europe is blue with yellow stars) and will be flanked by two men - one dressed as a blue bird, the other as a yellow bird. 

New year, new chances, new life

Yes, we really have started a new year. And we are determined to make sure that we pay attention to the new opportunities and chances that we can have. We want to focus on the reality of walking with Jesus each and every day. That is what matters more than anything else. So, although I have let my exercise slip - even before the year began - and have not been eating as I might wish, I will continue to keep God’s word in my heart every day and look to how to serve Him daily. 

Normally we would be planning a singing workshop for sometime in the Spring. And to be honest, although singing has been one of the major things to have been cancelled in these times, I feel like I have been singing more than ever. In December I was able to finish up work on four more lyric video’s of songs for the church. At the same time, we have been updating our songbook at the church and that has taken a good bit of work as well: fixing comma’s, checking layout, printing and putting the books together. 

In January I sat with a friend to try and translate some songs we want to learn in the church, but in Dutch. They are beautiful hymns, but figuring out how to fit Dutch sentences into the rhythms created for an English sentence is a real challenge. We were able to finish off all three songs which are now ready to be recorded at some time in the coming months. 

In the last few weeks, songs from Listen Up! have been added to the mix. For those of you who know Listen Up! - the a capella singing group with which we traveled much of Europe preaching through song - we stopped singing together in 2011, but have always wanted our songs to be an encouragement to any and all. Now all members have allowed me to make lyric videos of our songs. If you are interested in hearing them again, or singing along, visit the playlist: 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFXofVK3dvg8eiLBFkCqsHGpeTQWFhv0b

January is also the time that we meet to officially plan our Bible camp season. We are not sure what the summer will look like with corona rules, but we are planning for the summer in any case. We were so very thankful for the chance to hold our camp weeks in 2020 and look forward to being able to help our young people grow in faith this coming summer. Shirley and I will be working with the Benjamins and I will continue on for another week, helping to train some new leaders in both weeks. 

In our normal, everyday life, we have also been excited by new changes and chances. A new sister has joined us in Maastricht. She has moved from up north and will be trying to make her life down in the south. We are thankful that she has found her way to us and look forward to how God can help us in helping each other and serving Him. 

We also have met another very new sister in the faith. She gave her life to Christ in the summer and is learning quickly every day what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. We are meeting with her weekly to help her grow in faith and in knowledge of the word - starting with getting to know Jesus better. Keep her in your prayers as she grows and learns. We were excited to welcome her to the worship time this past Sunday. 

Another new situation is the brothers meeting that was moved from a Friday morning slot to a Monday evening slot. The hope is to help young brothers learn from older brothers, to give space for leaders to grow. We want to have a place where questions can be asked and answered in an encouraging atmosphere. We have had our first evening and I am looking forward to the second coming up in February. 

Some things stay the same. We are thankful that we still have mornings and evenings walking with Chester (our Cocker Spaniel). He is showing his age, but still loves chasing after cats when he gets the chance. And we still get to talk to our boys and daughters-in-love almost every week. Isn’t technology great at times! And we enjoy sitting together, sometimes playing a game of Trivial Pursuit, watching a film together or having a good conversation. 

Thank you, Father, for new days, new opportunities and the certainty of Your everlasting love and grace in our walk with You.