A Presentation for Good Friday

As you are planning for Holy Week and for Good Friday, or even for an Easter Vigil, this PowerPoint presentation – which I posted last year – might be helpful.

• A silent presentation of the Passion of Christ Jesus (English and Spanish)

It’s bilingual, but should be easily edited if you have PowerPoint (and if you don’t, and would like it edited, let me know) to make it appropriate for your church situation.

In His Peace,
Tom

Song of the Week: “Thanks Be to God”

done

Thanks Be to God – Lead Sheet for Voice and Guitar

I lead music in three of the four chapel services we have weekly at our school: lower elementary, upper elementary and middle school (the high school, for better or for worse, is pretty much doing it on their own).

In our liturgically-starved environment, I like to bring little moments of reverence and consistency into the worship setting, and it’s surprisingly easy and well-received.

At my first-ever Anglican church experience (Church of the Resurrection, near Chicago) my then-girlfriend/now-wife, Anne led children’s church. It was an odd, yet rich and beautiful experience for me to see. One of the things I learned was how the kids were led into and out of the reading of God’s Word, with a little song – “This is the word of the Lord, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks be to God” (before) and “Thanks be to God for the reading of His Word; thank You, God, thank You, God” (after).

For the youngest group at our school, I began using that exact tune (which I’ll post sometime, because it’s really sweet and easy for the kiddos to learn!), but for the upper elementary, I wanted something a little less sing-songy, so I created the simple tune you hear on the video above.

It’s the first of several liturgical songs I’ll post in the coming weeks. I hope you can use them or – better – be inspired to sing these ancient words with your own tune!

In His Peace,
Tom

All-school Prayer and Praise at Highlands School, La Paz

My Worship Team

I am a teacher at Highlands International School in La Paz, Bolivia.  There, I wear several hats.

My favorite (a close second being that of Board Games Club organizer!) is that of High School Music & Worship class teacher / chapel worship leader.  I am hoping that the second part of that description will eventually fall away and that the kids will really take charge and ownership.  They are – generally speaking – all showing great commitment and promise.

I mention them because, right now, the vast majority of my thinking about worship centers on my relationship with these high school students and our weekly work of leading others in worshiping our great and worthy God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So, as Highland’s first real season of Advent comes (people here are new to a lot of the historical aspects of Christian faith), and as these kids go from being song-leaders to lead-worshipers, I will often be chronicling our journey together.  I hope this will be informative, and a blessing to you as you read.  Chau for now.