On January 31, 2016, we introduced Steven Rodriguez’s “Psalm 78: Remember the Deeds of Our God,” the 2015 COS New Psalm Contest winner. It went swimmingly. Steven was on piano and Jonathan Gabhart sang and played guitar. They were joined by a host of COS musicians, including their former professor at Western Seminary, Ron Rienstra (bass).
“Was that the only music in the service?” You ask? Why, no, there was much, much more, including this glorious rendition of “God Himself Is with Us,” featuring a fiendishly difficult violin descant executed nimbly by Maria Poppen. That hymn segues directly into last year’s Psalm contest winner, “Psalm 104: O Rejoice in All Your Works,” by Wendell Kimbrough.
The final song in communion is a favorite at Western Seminary and is slowly working its way into COS’s repertoire, “Psalm 103: Bless the Lord, O My Soul.”
All in all, it was a good day to be in church.