Just a quick post with a few highlights from the 9/9 service:

God Himself Is with Us – Check out the violin descant in verse three. It’s not every church that has violinists who can handle this sort of thing–or who can sing this well a cappella.

Blessed Are They – A brand new setting of Psalm 1. Great work by Cindy VanderKodde (voice) and Lisa Hosack (piano).

Lord, When You Came to the Seashore – I’ve always loved this song, but there are problems with every available translation. However, it fit Sam’s sermon so well that I patched together a new translation from a variety of sources, and am pleased with how it turned out.

Arabic Lord’s Prayer – This comes to us via one time COS member, Anne Zaki. This particular arrangement brings out a little more of the Egyptian folk flare than the one published in Global Songs for Worship.

This was not a no-holds-barred Easter-style service, but simple worship with piano, violin and me (Greg Scheer) on a little salt and pepper. But I think it’s a good example of what can happen when you let the people sing, leave some cracks for the Spirit to get in, and add a few creative twists to keep things fresh.