Come sing with us! Maybe that might seem like a strange invite to our churches, that we would love nothing more than for you to come sing with us, but, truly, sincerely, we would love nothing more than to sing with you and worship with you. From the earliest days of the Lutheran churches, this has been our heritage: we sing! Some people are in tune; some people are out of tune, but we sing anyway–we sing our faith.
Martin Luther had a huge job to do in teaching the basic truths of the Scriptures to the leaders and churches that followed him, so, he decided to do it by writing hymns for the people to sing. How could the people learn the Lord’s Prayer? Sing a hymn. How could the people know their confession of faith in the Nicene Creed? Sing a hymn. How could the people know the ten commandments? Sing a hymn. How could the people know the story of Christmas, of Easter, of Pentecost? Sing a hymn. How could the people learn that God’s love doesn’t need to be earned? Sing a hymn.
I am a licensed music teacher in the state of Wisconsin. Though I don’t have a classroom of my own anymore, I still substitute teach for music teachers in the area, judge vocal competitions, write music, arrange music, perform organ recitals and concerts, and teach vocal and keyboard students, but nothing fills me with more joy and satisfaction and inspiration than hearing God’s people sing God’s love each Sunday when we gather to worship. Whether you have a good voice, a confident voice, an off key voice, or ready-for-broadway voice, we want you to worship with us and sing with us. We want you to give yourself a chance to sing home to your own heart, in the words of a few different hymns, “Jesus loves me this I know,” and “What a friend we have in Jesus,” and “By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless,” and “Heaven is my home.”
I have been infatuated with music since the age of 5 when I played the pump organ we had in our family home, since the age of seven when I memorized a phone number on a billboard advertising piano lessons and had my parents call that number when we arrived at home, from the age of 10 when I first started playing organ, and from the age of 13 when I played the organ for my first full church service, leading 250 worshippers in song. Whether I am preparing a sermon, preparing a Bible Study, doing a home visit, or planning an event, at least one tune or another is sure to pop into my mind and accompany the pastoral work I am so blessed to do at our churches.
In addition to music filling my life, and in addition to pastoral ministry, I try to take care of the body God has given me with a regular work out routine, gardening/growing fruits and vegetables, and cooking healthy foods as well as comfort foods. I am a husband and father of three kids (2 girls and 1 boy) and am blessed to be married to a licensed clinical massage therapist. Blessings abound, though seldom as I expect them to be.
How often have you been asked the question: where do you envision yourself in five years? I have been wrong at every turn every time I’ve answered that question; my life has never taken the direction I have thought it would, but, by God’s grace, our good Lord “determining the exact times and places we would live (Acts 17)” has brought me to the beautiful Chippewa Valley area serving our churches and communities, and I am thankful for it. Ascension and Pinehurst churches are a wonderful place to call home, a warm family of believers, and a connected body of Christ. I look forward to hearing your story, singing with you, and seeing how I might serve you. I pray that, maybe fives years from now, we might be singing with you and about you when we sing together “Faith of our fathers living still.”
With much warmth in Christ,
Pastor Lloyd Harter