Having recently moved I've had an excellent opportunity to inventory the hymnals I own and the sheet music I have been given, inherited or on rare occasion purchased.  In addition to the standard fare, I also have a few booklets that were compiled by friends in an attempt to distill the true, the good and the beautiful.  To be honest, I value these dog-eared little booklets more than any of the hymnals I own.

Prior to moving to our new home a neighbour graciously gave me an instrument that was owned and played by his sister in the 1940's.  Despite suggestions that he keep it in his family and give it to a grandchild (I can't imagine a more exciting or moving gift) he insisted that I take it and return when I feel competent enough to play him a few tunes. 

As I find a place for my music, I've kept my eyes open for pieces appropriate for learning a new instrument.  I have also reflected on the discussions we have had here about music and worship.  I wondered, as I thumbed through my music booklets, what shape a compilation would take with contributions from the Remonstrans readership?

Consequently, to any who are interested, if you were asked to recommend a song or group of songs for a hymn compilation (for corporate worship), which would they be?   If there are enough responses, and if enough songs are in the public domain (that isn't a pre-requisite for recommendations), I'll create a pdf and make it available to any who are interested.

READER BEWARE: What follows is the next installment of my architectural shutterbugging.

For the interested, the private homes are in the New Orleans Garden District; there are also some shots from one of the more modest "cities of the dead", Lafayette Cemetery #1.

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We'll get this out of the way and return to less picturesque subjects.

Now they are getting serious about recreation. Remember I warned you people that nothing good would come of this pursuit of seriousness.

The Church Recreation Pastor is an important ministry in the church of the 21st Century. When it comes to recreation, Christians today are as sheep not having a shepherd. The cry has gone out in the land, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send out ministers of recreation into the harvest".

Pastor Burrell has launched several new "ministry initiatives"; and, in the opinion of this observer of American Christianity, we have waited long enough for the church to shoulder its New Testament responsibilities to go out into the world and entertain all nations.

According to Pastor Burrell's own testimony, he is an independent thinker and a "conservative". (Just to give you some frame of reference.)

Viewpoints are as varied as the people who hold them.  Sometimes, we tend to stereotype viewpoints, just like we do people.  Breaking those stereotypes with whit, [sic] humor and the occasional rant is what Dan Burrell enjoys doing.  A theological conservative, Dan is also an independent thinker who can rile folks on both the right and the left of the philosophical spectrum with his views on faith, family, philosophy and life in general. Dan Burrell is the Senior Pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC, an educator, author, father, husband and a regular columnist with Evangelical Press News. You won't always agree with Dan's "Whirled Views", but hopefully, he'll make you think about things from a more Biblical perspective.

We sardonically agree with Pastor Dan Burrell's views and facetiously wish him well as he expands the church's role to minister to the crying need of our times: the need for more and better recreation.

A watching world looks to the church for serious recreation.

Our apologies for the absence. The great Remonstrans crash of 2007 was not as much fun as I'd anticipated, and if any other bloggers out there are considering a similar strategy for alarming friends and readers, I would discourage it.

The data center where our server is located went down and we were told it would take about a week to fix. Thanks to Dave's work we at least have an internet presence again and we're trying to tidy up some things. Please bear with us.

I was in New Orleans monitoring Dave's progress from the laptop. Things, when they started coming together for us, came together pretty quickly. Or so it seemed from a distance; actually Dave put in some long hours to do it. The bags of money you all have been sending me should be sent to Dave for a while.

We're now scrounging for the missing posts and comments since 15 January. They exist, but I'm not the judge of how well my copies will serve as replacements. I'm as excited as anyone to find out.

I'll reload Monday's post. A few of you may have seen it before we faded to black, but I can't imagine many did.

And then sometime there will be the dreaded vacation pictures as well.

Or maybe not.