Hymns

This Sunday will be about more than picnics and fireworks. The Fourth of July also will be celebrated in most, if not all, area churches. While there won’t be any hot dogs or cherry bombs, there will be a festive and patriotic mood created not by food and noise but by hymns and prayers. It will be a red, white and blue worship service. Traditional “church music” like “How Great Thou Art,” “God Our Help of Ages Past,” and “Amazing Grace” will be played and sung, but pastors and ministers of music will ask congregations to turn in their hymnals to the pages containing such patriotic hymns as “My Country ’Tis of Three,” “God Bless America,” and “America, the Beautiful.

Dear Editor, I would just like to respond to the story in Monday's Advocate-Messenger about the complaints of the new Baptist church. I lived right next door to Lexington Avenue Baptist Church for 24 years and every day the bells would ring and the hymns would play. What a beautiful sound it was. To have a church still stand up for what they believe in. I pray that it does not come down to the neighbors filing a lawsuit against the church, because you know what? You just might lose that case.

Dear Editor, Perhaps we have discovered the primary reason it has been so difficult to sell downtown Danville as a place to live. Little did we know. Near the west end of Main Street is The Presbyterian Church, which has a carillon playing chimes and hymns. In the middle of town is the courthouse clock, which chimes on the hour. Next in line east of the courthouse is SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, which plays chimes and hymns at set hours. Trinity Episcopal Church just across from the courthouse tolls its bells during funerals, marking the years the deceased lived.

East Nashville, Tenn., resident Matthew Smith will perform Sunday in Danville. Smith, 28, has been described as an anomaly. "He's a man whose personal passion bleeds through every line of his music, yet he rarely writes his own lyrics," according to www.matthewsmith.us. "He is an artist who plays music that is used for worship, but he's not a 'worship artist.' He's a songwriter who gushes over the talent of his collaborators, though he's never even met them. His music is most likely to be tagged as 'contemporary,' but he seems strangely traditional at times.

First Baptist Church recently moved into its new building on the Danville bypass, but some nearby residents aren't exactly thrilled with their new neighbor. "These chimes and hymns that go off all day long - who are they for?" asks Ricky Kirk, whose family lives on Stirling Drive behind the church. "The bright lights that came on out of nowhere were bad enough, but this just goes beyond the boundaries. " First Baptist is built below the neighborhood, but its steeple can be seen, and its chimes and hymns heard, clearly from houses above.

April 20, 1984 A bell-ringing musical program was presented by the Belleaires from Arlington Christian Church, Lexington, to members and guests of the Live Longer and Like It (LLL) senior citizens club. Several hymns and gospels were presented by the 11-member group under the direction of Lois McCoy. Plans for the annual Field Trip of the Kiddville Homemakers Club were finalized at the April meeting, held at Clark RECC, Iron Works Road. The group will visit Wakefield Scearce Galleries in Shelbyville on May 2. "Greystroke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes" starts Friday at the Leeds Theatre.

The Winchester Music Club held a program entitled "The Hymnody of Isaac Watts," Jan. 25 at Beverly White Tower's house. President Gail Blakeman welcomed the guests and introduced Billie Pace, program sponsor. The group was accompanied by Pace as they sang Isaac Watts' "Joy to the World. " Cecil and Betsy Garrett sang two more songs by Isaac Watts entitled "How Shall the Young Secure their Hearts" and "The Lord is My Shepherd. " Ruth Westerfield then gave a short talk about the life of Isaac Watts.

The LLL Club met July 21 at Central Baptist Church for the regular monthly meeting and potluck luncheon. The meeting was conducted by Jim Crowell. The meeting was opened with prayer by Mr. Crowell. Clair Stewart introduced the Rev. Ron Montgomery, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, who gave the devotional "Be Prepared," based on Psalm 18. Billie Pace introduced Gene Noel, who led the club in several hymns. Billie Pace, adult director, informed the club about Reach Out at the Winchester Centre July 28. For "Out to Lunch," the club will go to Bread of Life in Casey County on Aug. 4. The club would be going to Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center, in Asheville, N.C., March 29, 30 and 31, 2010.

Tammy Denham Norris, a Lincoln County native, will present a concert at Grace Fellowship Church in Stanford on Sunday, Oct. 8 at 6:30 p.m. The church is located on Fairgrounds Road just off Hwy. 27 south of Stanford. Pure Southern Gospel is the sound of Tammy Norris. She is a lady committed to spreading the good news of Jesus Christ as she travels across the U.S. proclaiming His glory in song. Her music ministry includes classic gospel hymns in addition to her new projects on Morning Star Records.

It's one thing to promise to give up candy, cigarettes or NFL ball games on Sundays. These are serious addictions but resolving to break the habits is a personal deal and those habits are generally conducted in your home, workplace or vehicle. It's quite another thing to make vows between yourself and your Creator and do so in His house. At the risk of seeming irreverent at the least and blasphemous at the most, I have a few suggested New Year's resolutions for both pastors and parishioners.

RICHMOND — Eastern Kentucky University professor Marie Mitchell and fellow Kentucky author Rebecca Mitchell Turney will perform four newly-discovered Shaker hymns Saturday at Pleasant Hill, as part of a special Shaker Music Day celebration. “These are authentic songs specifically written by Pleasant Hill Shakers in Central Kentucky,” Turney said. “It is quite possible they haven’t been heard for 150 years.” Turney, of Park Hills, and Mitchell partnered with Shaker scholar Carol Medlicott of Northern Kentucky University in searching out the religious music written at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill during its peak of success — the 1830-1840s.

This Sunday will be about more than picnics and fireworks. The Fourth of July also will be celebrated in most, if not all, area churches. While there won’t be any hot dogs or cherry bombs, there will be a festive and patriotic mood created not by food and noise but by hymns and prayers. It will be a red, white and blue worship service. Traditional “church music” like “How Great Thou Art,” “God Our Help of Ages Past,” and “Amazing Grace” will be played and sung, but pastors and ministers of music will ask congregations to turn in their hymnals to the pages containing such patriotic hymns as “My Country ’Tis of Three,” “God Bless America,” and “America, the Beautiful.

The LLL Club met July 21 at Central Baptist Church for the regular monthly meeting and potluck luncheon. The meeting was conducted by Jim Crowell. The meeting was opened with prayer by Mr. Crowell. Clair Stewart introduced the Rev. Ron Montgomery, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, who gave the devotional "Be Prepared," based on Psalm 18. Billie Pace introduced Gene Noel, who led the club in several hymns. Billie Pace, adult director, informed the club about Reach Out at the Winchester Centre July 28. For "Out to Lunch," the club will go to Bread of Life in Casey County on Aug. 4. The club would be going to Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center, in Asheville, N.C., March 29, 30 and 31, 2010.

"The Infamous Ephraim," written by Pioneer Playhouse Artistic Director Holly Henson, was honestly quite a surprise. Based on the occurrences in physician Ephraim McDowell's life leading up to the first successful surgery to remove an ovarian tumor, the play is mostly set in the early 1800s. I must admit - my feeling toward the historical subject matter was not one of "excitement" at first. Henson, however, does an excellent job engaging the audience's attention as soon as the lights go down.

April 20, 1984 A bell-ringing musical program was presented by the Belleaires from Arlington Christian Church, Lexington, to members and guests of the Live Longer and Like It (LLL) senior citizens club. Several hymns and gospels were presented by the 11-member group under the direction of Lois McCoy. Plans for the annual Field Trip of the Kiddville Homemakers Club were finalized at the April meeting, held at Clark RECC, Iron Works Road. The group will visit Wakefield Scearce Galleries in Shelbyville on May 2. "Greystroke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes" starts Friday at the Leeds Theatre.

Dear Editor, I feel confident most folks would agree that life is not exactly what we want it to be at all times. On a daily basis, there are countless difficult problems and numerous trying situations on every hand that must be faced. Things don't always go just right, for we don't live in a world of dreams that is some Utopian paradise or imagined Garden of Eden. We live in a real world where, with annoying frequency, the beautiful blue sky above us is obscured by dark clouds that are ugly and foreboding.

East Nashville, Tenn., resident Matthew Smith will perform Sunday in Danville. Smith, 28, has been described as an anomaly. "He's a man whose personal passion bleeds through every line of his music, yet he rarely writes his own lyrics," according to www.matthewsmith.us. "He is an artist who plays music that is used for worship, but he's not a 'worship artist.' He's a songwriter who gushes over the talent of his collaborators, though he's never even met them. His music is most likely to be tagged as 'contemporary,' but he seems strangely traditional at times.

The Winchester Music Club held a program entitled "The Hymnody of Isaac Watts," Jan. 25 at Beverly White Tower's house. President Gail Blakeman welcomed the guests and introduced Billie Pace, program sponsor. The group was accompanied by Pace as they sang Isaac Watts' "Joy to the World. " Cecil and Betsy Garrett sang two more songs by Isaac Watts entitled "How Shall the Young Secure their Hearts" and "The Lord is My Shepherd. " Ruth Westerfield then gave a short talk about the life of Isaac Watts.

Dear Editor, I would just like to respond to the story in Monday's Advocate-Messenger about the complaints of the new Baptist church. I lived right next door to Lexington Avenue Baptist Church for 24 years and every day the bells would ring and the hymns would play. What a beautiful sound it was. To have a church still stand up for what they believe in. I pray that it does not come down to the neighbors filing a lawsuit against the church, because you know what? You just might lose that case.

Dear Editor, Perhaps we have discovered the primary reason it has been so difficult to sell downtown Danville as a place to live. Little did we know. Near the west end of Main Street is The Presbyterian Church, which has a carillon playing chimes and hymns. In the middle of town is the courthouse clock, which chimes on the hour. Next in line east of the courthouse is SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, which plays chimes and hymns at set hours. Trinity Episcopal Church just across from the courthouse tolls its bells during funerals, marking the years the deceased lived.