Now playing: "Make us Your family" A prayer for unity and harmony amongst the faithful.
"Trust Me, I will provide..." NEW An encouragement to trust that the Lord will provide all that we need.
"Come, Holy Spirit, Come" NEW Meditative. A prayer for renewal.
"Glory, Hallelujah!" An 'old time' gospel style song. Bright and cheerful.
"We are here..." A modern hymn of praise, worship and preparation for outreach.
Jesus is Lord A bouncy mission / praise song in retro disco style.
I receive A journey of healing, praise and empowerment.
"I'll be your hands" About the needs of carers and sufferers, calling for awareness and personal reflection.
"Praise the Lord" A bright song to lift the spirits, using affirmation statements from the Psalms.
'Sing, O Israel" Zephaniah 3:14,15 Folk ballad style with medieval flavour.
"Praise the Lord upon the Mountains" Thoughts from the Psalms. The melody has a slightly American Indian flavour. Praise and wonderment regarding God's consideration of us. Environmental conservation theme in 3rd verse.
"The Secret Place of Your presence" From the Psalms. For quiet worship and meditation. Ambient with use of major 7ths and suspended 4ths.
"And with His Stripes we are healed" An affirmation of the healing work of Christ in our lives. A modern hymn.
"Jesus called me out of darkness" A statement of new life.
A different tune for "The Lord's my Shepherd"
"Thank you" Written to commemorate the life of a church organist who died suddenly in '98. It is a simple, friendly song that should appeal to children.
Notes: Printable sheet music is provided in the form of gif files. If the pages do not print correctly resize print pages to no more than 27.5cm high if print page size indicates longer. Quality laser print copies can be provided, on request. The Midifile is an aid to the feel of the song and not necessarily a guide to choice of sounds. MS Powerpoint files are for use in video projected slide presentations if that medium is available to you. Sheet music with midifile is also combined into a single zip file.
Thank you for visiting this music site. Your feedback is warmly appreciated. Email You are most welcome to use any of the songs in any appropriate Christian gathering if you notify me that you wish to do so. If you want to record any of these songs: please seek permission first as all songs are copyright. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This collection, which started in the early 70's, contains a number of different musical styles. Unfortunately, it doesn't really fit into the form of "modern popular religious music" that has, by and large, taken over the modern church music scene - mostly to it's musical detriment. These songs constitute our contribution to help promote meaningful worship, meditation about, and praise of Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ - the human embodiment of God - and the workings of The Holy Spirit - the Divine Breath - within the lives of those who accept the most amazing and valuable gift ever on offer. Background and philosophy. My husband and I spent many years providing accompaniments for congregational church music. In fact, we originally met each other in that context. Some years back, it became rather obvious that church music was getting so varied that the old pipe organ or the insensitive, battered, out-of-tune piano just couldn't do the job anymore (without murdering things!) and ... guitars alone can't give much of a lead unless there is a strong lead singer. Being a church musician is a very difficult ask these days, due to the incredibly varied range of styles required, just to keep everyone happy. It has never been an easy road to travel and it has not been an entirely happy journey.
We came to the conclusion that synthesizer keyboards were probably the best way to go. Well, they are - if you can find ones with the right sounds and learn to play them with some sensitivity or emotion, so to speak. A lot of perseverance and patience are a primary requisite but the result is worth it.
We all have to adapt to changes and that is often painful when people are stuck in the "this is what I have always done" mentality. It's just as bad, on the other hand, dealing with the "throw out all the old stuff" brigade who want to turn church gatherings into pop concerts. A balance is needed!
Everything around us is changing and the church must keep on adapting (and by that I don't mean becoming yet another consumer product) if it is to remain relevant in today's either materialistic or "new age" culture. Society is also becoming increasingly critical and no one really believes what they are told anymore. Everywhere you look everything is prepackaged (including church music) and no one is encouraged to think past it. So many industries have disappeared, few people grow their own food or get to enjoy the trees and birds in their own backyard and very few people learn to play music anymore. Many of us are not happy about that and try, where we can, to make a small difference. What does the church do? ... it, more often than not, often shuns us in favour of the banal.
Vigilantly, we should try to guard against Christian music becoming nothing more than a thinly disguised rewrite of current popular music with the addition of a few theologically deficient lyrics - "kinda feels good but doesn't really change much" stuff. Highly profitable, however. Centered on "how I feel" rather than on God. Too much of it is like that these days. Easy modernistic, consumer style religion often with promises of personal prosperity if you hand them your dollars. A few odd personal challenges thrown in occasionally to give a more religious touch. Somehow, I do not like what the church is evolving into these days. Things are not right ....
What has happened to music that you can actually sing and accompany without a huge production? Not to mention the unfortunate fact that Christian music has actually become a profitable industry. God gives you a song and then you make money out of it? This is not and will never be the purpose of this collection of songs. God provides for all our needs in other ways.
I strongly feel that it is incredibly important that the theology and emphasis of Christian music should be carefully considered: as music is an important vehicle for teaching and reinforcement of core beliefs. The importance of words can never be underestimated. I am not a lone voice.
The Christian church wonders why so many people are turning to other types of religions and expressions. Over the while the modern church has turned it's back on all the ancient good and meaningful aspects and outworkings of Christianity and become something that says nothing to those of us that seek a true and deep spirituality - a real and contemplative, quiet communion with God. But I guess that sort of thing doesn't make for profitable TV productions and multi million dollar turnovers.
And now In May '06 we finally left the "established/organised/traditional" church scene and will probably never return to it. This decision was not without much pain and personal mental anguish. Our musical contribution was replaced by badly done DVD music via a computer that we originally donated in order to see creative and well done presentations of church liturgy - these never happened. This arrangement may suit management but becomes something of a cold and impersonal experience for the people on the pews. However, computers are such ideal assistants - they don't have opinions or question the proceedings.
It is a sad matter of fact, these days, that the church organisaions (and that includes the pentecostals) are much more of a business than a simple and honest gathering of the followers of Christ. So caught up with the outward form, performance and political correctness that, in the real outworkings, the power of the Spirit is more of an annoying inconvenience as the Spirit blows where He wills and not according to human plans, money making schemes, parish mission statements or modern innovative strategies. Too many spiritual and personal injustices are metered out in the name of the church - the control spirit is too often at work. Well, I suppose that's OK if the leaders want a mere bunch of sheep... I am not one of those nor are many others - and they, like me, mostly leave.
To the TRUE believers out there who have been passed over, overlooked, damaged, cast aside though ignorance and fear, will not be mentally "controlled", do not “fit in” to the structure, won't tow the "party line" because they can see through the garbage, won't bow to management pressure because they have an inner knowing that says different, … dare to think their own thoughts and act upon them … To these, often spiritually lonely, people: I dedicate the rest of my energy, my concern, my prayers.
I really hope someone, out there, will find this music helpful.
Margo.
Margo and Graham Hinton Music
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