SHINE, JESUS, SHINE!

Lord, the light of your love is shining
In the midst of the darkness, shining
Jesus, Light of the world, shine upon us
Set us free by the truth you now bring us
Shine on me, shine on me

Shine, Jesus, shine
Fill this land with the Father's glory
Blaze, Spirit, blaze
Set our hearts on fire
Flow, river, flow
Flood the nations with grace and mercy
Send forth your word
Lord, and let there be light

Lord, I come to your awesome presence
From the shadows into your radiance
By the blood I may enter your brightness
Search me, try me, consume all my darkness
Shine on me, shine on me

As we gaze on your kingly brightness
So our faces display your likeness
Ever changing from glory to glory
Mirrored here may our lives tell your story
Shine on me, shine on me

Graham Kendrick Copyright © 1987
Make Way Music, www.grahamkendrick.co.uk
All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
Used by permission.

In honor of our former priest Fr. Barry Cotter, who loved this song and sang it every chance he got. He left St. Peter's By-the Lake to go to Ohio as a church planter and circuit riding priest. A talented preacher, teacher, and musician, wherever he is on this Transfiguration Sunday, I'm sure he's singing this song. (With Google, I discovered Barry is retired and living in Barnesville, OH.)

1:00 pm. I had a very different Sunday morning at church. With no choir during the month of August, I went with Mike to his Sunday School class. They were discussing the current church controversy with Bruns leading the discussion. Not many have kept up with it like I have, so even though I was supposedly "auditing" the class, I had as many answers to their questions as Bruns did.

Seems several in there are former SouBaptists like me, so a lot of what makes the Episcopal church unique is still a mystery to them. I was able to explain a couple of things in Baptist terminology that they seemed to appreciate, like "priesthood of the believer," and the "via media' as it applies to scripture. I got several invitations to come back. I felt like I talked too much, but Mike said I didn't.

I also learned that +Shannon Johnston is on the short list of nominees for Bishop of Arkansas, and that's the main reason he was preaching two weeks ago in our church. He's on Sabbatical from All Saints, so didn't want to meet with the committee there.

It's hard for me to imagine Ellen as a Bishop's wife, but she'll do fine, I'm sure. I spoke to her Thursday night after Evensong, she was in the Conference Choir, and wished afterwards I had asked about Ruth Liveakos, my favorite teacher at THS and one of the frail, elderly members of All Saints, last I heard. I wonder if she's still living. Ellen was our choirmaster at St. Peter's before she married Shannon, and we combined with Tupelo All Saints choir to sing at their wedding, a very lovely affair and loads of fun.

Our whole Eucharist today was with no music. David and most of our choir were at the Music Conference concert at the Cathedral. Consequently, we got out of church a half hour earlier than normal. While we were eating lunch at McAllister's, our friend Abby came by to give us a gift card for answering a survey about the recent renovation of the store on Pear Orchard. She's working as a management intern this summer before going back to school at State for one more year's work on her Masters.

Skip sent word that Julia Sims Wood was born yesterday. Congratulations to Granny Helen and the new parents!