Singing for Joy

On Saturday over 60 people gathered for our second singing course.  This time called 'Sing for Joy' it was led by Katie Leaver and Steve Davies at St. Andrews Church, Barnt Green.

First thing in the morning we had a general warm up and then some worship, before splitting into ladies and men for some vocal coaching - in the ladies' session Katie covered all things from a good diet through to how to keep your throat muscles relaxed as you sing high notes.

We then put all of these techniques into practice as we learnt some choral pieces together:
All in the April Evening by Hugh S Roberton
Little David, play on yo' harp - a Negro Spiritual arranged by Malcolm Sargent
Ave Verum by Elgar
The Lord bless you and keep you by Rutter

At the end of the day we performed all of these pieces in a little concert, and Katie and Steve also performed some solo items and duets.  We also had a sneak peek of the forthcoming evening with Devon, as Devon and Katie performed All I ask of you from Phantom of the Opera.

It was a lovely day, and we were really blessed by the folk at Barnt Green who looked after us so well.  Thanks also to the team - Amy, Annie, Rob and Libby.

Renewal Evening

We continue our series of Renewal Evenings on Sunday 18th March at 6.30pm at Christ Church Burney Lane, Ward End, Birmingham.  The speaker this time is Mark Marx.  We're really excited to have him along - he is from Causeway Coast Vineyard, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, and he started off the Healing on the Streets ministry.

One of our associates, Margaret, has been involved with Healing on the Streets, and even travelled to India for a mission.  Here are three pictures of her in India.

Annie and Helen often lead musicals in a day, but they aren't the only ones.  Sarah Moreton in the Hemel Hempstead/Watford area is putting one on at the end of April:

Sunday at Saltley

Since taking up the role of children's worker one day a week at Saltley, Helen has so far only had chance to lead worship a few times on a Sunday at the church.  This week however, she was given the whole service.  The church have been working through Acts for several months, and this Sunday it was Paul's emotional farewell speech to the Ephesian Elders found in chapter 20.  There was more than enough meat in the reading to go on, so the sermon plan was roughly:

• Holding nothing back - Paul has held back nothing from the church in Ephesus, and neither should we hold back - we must not trim the Gospel at all, and we must be thorough in who we take it to.
• God has held nothing back - he bought us 'with his own blood' - God is constantly pouring out his love, his Spirit and his grace on to each one of us
• Let nothing hold us back - we must run the race, and not let the wolves of this world stop us from sharing the Gospel and using the gifts of the Spirit.

The congregation was mostly made up of black British people, many of whom have family roots in the West Indies, and they have a very distinctive style and music which appeals to them.  So when Helen picked the song 'All to Jesus I surrender' she had unwittingly stumbled upon a winner!  James led worship really well, and Helen even managed a couple of hymns on the piano as the regular organist Margaret (who incidentally taught Roger to play piano originally) was ill.

Simeon coming to an end

Two weekends ago the CMM Choir's performance of Simeon at Holy Trinity West Bromwich was cancelled due to the snow.  Now, apart from the rescheduled performance there, the mini-tour of the West Midlands has come to an end with performances at Six Ways Baptist Erdington and Annie's own church, St. Germain's in Edgbaston.

The choir have had a wonderful time performing the musical, and we even have some photos from St. Germain's to show you!

Events coming up...

Before Roger went away on sabbatical, he was worried his CMM staff wouldn't have enough to do.  How wrong he was!  The CMM Events wing is particularly busy, beginning a run of events on Saturday 25th with a singing day at Barnt Green.  Over 60 have booked already, which is really exciting, and Katie and Steve have great plans for the day.

Then on 3rd and 4th March we have two evenings with Devon - one in Marston Green and one at his home church on the edge of King's Heath.  We've had a couple of these in the past over a year ago, and it's great to try again, as they were such lovely evenings.  Devon will share some testimony and do some singing accompanied by the CMM choir and various instrumentalists.

On 11th March we have an evening with Alison, which will be similar but starring Alison's wonderful lyrics and poems.  This evening will be at Harborne Baptist Church, where some of the CMM choir rehearse every week.

Finally on Saturday 17th March we have the first ever CMM youth and young adult day.  If you know any young musicians/actors/dancers do encourage them to get in touch with us.

Details of all the events can be found here.

Roger in Israel part 2

It's been nearly a week since I added an update about Roger's trip to Israel, and he just has a couple of days left.  Before he gets back and gives a fuller report, here are his latest updates:

Friday 10th, 0945:
Just got my first Israeli cache - on Mt of Beatitudes!

Saturday 11th, 0531:
We are leaving Galilee today and travelling down to Jerusalem, via Nazareth, Mt Carmel and Caesarea.  I think the next few days will be action-packed, come to think of it, as they were for Jesus as he 'set his face to go to Jerusalem'.

Saturday 11th, 0704:
All going well and really inspirational, challenging and informative.

Sunday 12th, 1311:
Just been to a great worship service at Christ Church Jerusalem - excellent teaching from rector David Pilaggi - lovely worship.  Going to King of Kings Praise tonight.

Monday 13th, 0523:
An exciting day in and around Jerusalem today, including visits to Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum) and Bethlehem.  Even though I have been in this place many times there is still so much to see.  The Lord is really blessing our group.

Monday 13th, 1208:
Just had visit to Yad Veshem (museum).  Significantly developed since last visit.  Incredibly moving and upsetting.

Monday 13th, 1922:
Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum) was one of the most moving and distressing experiences of my life.  Everyone should know about this and make sure it never happens again.  To think that the leader of Iran tells his people that the Holocaust never happened is one of the most abominable stances imaginable.  We need to watch and pray with urgency!

Tuesday 14th, 0929:
Standing at the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem.

Wednesday 15th, 0510:
We had a wonderful day walking around the old city and temple mount yesterday.  Today we go to the dead sea and Massada.  Shalom from Jerusalem!

Apostle in a day, Oxford

On Saturday, Helen and a team travelled to north Oxford for Apostle in a day.  The invitation had come from Elizabeth Kirby and the Christian Music Fellowship Choir in Oxfordshire.  CMF Oxon have been supporters of CMM for a long time, and it was great to be able to travel to them.  The team were Paul Herrington, Eddie Smith, Ann Steer, Amy Carter and Rob Holman.  It was Rob's first event with us - he is at Regent's College in Malvern doing a degree in Theology and Performing Arts.  He played guitar for the day, and was absolutely brilliant.

We had a choir of over 20 singers, some of whom had been looking at the music a little before the day, which helped enormously.  The choir worked really hard and produced a lovely blended sound.  Eddie sang the part of Paul, and did a great job, particularly as it is a very big part.

It was lovely to be able to use live instruments rather than backing track - Paul was the maestro on the piano, and as well as Rob on guitar we had Amy playing clarinet and flute.

The audience weren't huge but they were very appreciative and the performance went very well - almost without a hitch!  Ann, a member of the choir, provided the narration - she is the regular narrator for the choir and puts in a huge amount of expression.

CMF Oxon are a wonderful example of a choir that have become a family, a wonderful fellowship group.  At every rehearsal they have a worship time, and spend a lot of time in prayer.  God is clearly doing wonderful things with them.

In the bleak midwinter...

Snow has finally hit the UK, and we've been feeling it here at CMM.  Last weekend the CMM choir's performance of Simeon at Holy Trinity West Bromwich had to be cancelled, which was an incredible shame.

Helen spoke at a fellowship meeting at Catshill Baptist on Wednesday, and thankfully she had access to the car, as cycling wouldn't have been much fun in this weather.  Numbers were down due to the snow, but there were still a good 20 present, and they seemed to really appreciate the session.  The cheese scones were certainly worth going out in the cold!

Don't worry - this is last year's snow.
This year isn't nearly so bad!

Tomorrow Helen takes a team to north Oxford for Apostle in a day, which should be good fun.  The roads seem to be ok, so as long as there isn't too much snow the day should still go ahead.  Do pray for safe travel for the team.

Roger in Israel

Do pray for Roger and his friend Mick who are in Israel for a few days.  They have an amazing programme and are travelling with Shoresh.

These are Roger's first couple of updates:

Tuesday 1324:
At Heathrow about to take off at 1420.

Tuesday 1913:
Just landed in Cyprus!  Problem at Tel Aviv!  Don't know what happens next!

Golan Heights

Wednesday 2200:
I'm now staying overnight on the shores of Galilee, having travelled from Tel Aviv, Joppa, Mount Gilboa and Beth Shean.  We go to the Golan Heights and Caesarea Philippi tomorrow (Thursday).

Thursday 1033:
Just visited synagogue remains in Golan.  Rabbis when teaching would have encouraged "tweeting".  That's how folk learn by questions and interaction!  My Weston vicar is entirely biblical!


For the next few days this is their programme:
Thursday 09: Golan Heights - Katzrin - toward Mt. Hermon - Caesarea Philippi - nature reserve of Dan

Friday 10: Cities of Chorazin and Capernaum - Mount of beatitudes - fish lunch - contemplative time by the shores of the lake - Kibbutz Ginossar - sail on lake

Saturday 11: Biblical city of Beth Shean - Kibbutz Alfa - overlook of Jericho - Jerusalem

Sunday 12: Worship at Christ Church Jerusalem - Tower of David - museum - evening worship at King of Kings

Monday 13: Christ Church heritage centre - Yad VaShem - Jerusalem model - optional walk on the walls of the Old City

Tuesday 14: Temple mount - Western Wall - tunnels under the Western Wall plaza - Jewish Quarter - excavations at the southern wall - Jewish Passover Seder meal

Wednesday 15: Judean wilderness - oasis of En Gedi - Dead Sea - meeting with Director of Palestinian Bible Society

Thursday 16: visit a tomb from the time of Jesus - Mount of Olives to Gethsemane - Antonia Fortress - Church of the Holy Sepulchre - Garden tomb

Friday 17: Fly home

Last month Roger sent out his regular monthly missal with an added bonus - a free track from the latest recording, Seasons and Reasons.  The track he shared was 'Faith and truth and life bestowing', because it really sums up what CMM and EBRG are thinking about at the moment - there's a line in it which says 'So in scripture, song and story, Saviour may your voice be heard'.  This is most of CMM's ministry in a nutshell.

The response to the song was beyond what we expected:

"Many thanks for the New Song. We intend to use it at our Palm Sunday Musical Evening. Every Blessing! Jill"

 

"We had Church Cell at our home on Thurs and these words / song were perfect - thank you. I gave a copy of the words to our other 3 couples as they are so relevant to meeting together & exploring the bible and God's words to us. The theme for our meeting was "listening" so hearing Helen sing this so beautifully during our worship time was wonderful.Thanks again.Love, Helen & Mark"

 

"A great song - we intend to use it!" (Facebook comments)

Back in the swing of things...

On Sunday night the CMM choir got back into action after their Christmas break with a performance of Simeon at Lickey Parish Church.  The choir were welcomed warmly by the vicar, Margaret Brighton, formerly a member of the choir.  The audience was a good size, and the choir made a lovely sound.  This time Simeon was played by Pete, Anna by Maria, Mary by Debbie and Joseph by John Harvey.  Debbie managed to hit some amazing high notes - a top Bb at one point!

The choir also featured some instrumentalists during 'Let us go to be' - Linda and Elaine on recorders and Alan on Trombone.  Then Annie picked up her viola and played during the instrumental in 'I waited patiently for the Lord'.

A huge well done to all concerned - even to Alan and Sue who managed to forget their line in 'Caesar's Fractious' at exactly the same moment and substituted the identical wrong line - very impressive - clearly they think with one mind!

Looking ahead to Easter

We're always delighted when we hear about choirs and churches who are using Roger's music for mission and outreach.  I received a call this morning from Maureen in County Durham.  She leads a choir called 'The Witness Choir', and whenever Roger writes a new musical, we can depend on them to take it on.  She says they had a wonderful time performing Rock.

This year they are working on Two Sisters and a Funeral, and they aim to perform it in Crook on Friday 6th April, which is Good Friday at 6pm.  But that's not the only thing for that day.  In the morning at 11am the choir are going to be singing 'Jesus comes riding in to town' and 'Were you there when they crucified my Lord' at a Churches Together in Crook outreach event outside in the middle of the town.  Maureen is particularly excited about Jesus comes, as it is at that point that representatives from all the different churches are arriving waving banners.

Do pray for Maureen, and all other choirs out there using CMM resources for mission.