If you're paying attention, you may notice a slight deviation in the arc of Crescendo.
While the series comes from Psalm 146-150 and the crescendo of praise that section offers to God . . . we skipped Psalm 149.
OK, I skipped Psalm 149.
I couldn't really figure out how to make it work in a sermon without yanking a few verses out of context.
So I didn't.
Instead, this week's crescendo comes not from the Psalms but from I John 5, a section of Scripture from which I have yearned to preach for a long time.
It's an ideal message for bringing friends, neighborhoors, and relatives.
Because together we'll all see how good it is to know.
About six weeks ago, I dropped by the office of Chris Macedo, our Music & Worship Pastor.
I was working on a message for the Crescendo series, this one from Psalm 150. Here's the text of Psalm 150 in the NIV:
1 Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.
So anyway, I asked Chris, "can we DO that Psalm instead of read it? Can you make all those instruments work as part of the Scripture reading?" I was envisioning a musical rendering of the Psalm.
Chris said yes.
And he then took the raw material of that idea and produced something remarkable, something far beyond what I could expect or envision.
He and his team composed music, arranged lighting, and edited video to create a multi-sensory experience of Psalm 150.
