Voices shouting out in praise, Branches and cloaks laid on the way To herald the approach of their true king. Through all those upheld hands, They couldn’t see His plan To be the ultimate pure offering.
How often have our noble dreams Been going swimmingly, it seems, When suddenly they derail with a great crash. All progress has been lost, At far too great a cost, And we are left with handfuls of cold ash.
We could wallow in our pain and rage And lock ourselves inside a cage Of bitterness, resentment and despair; Or remember that he sees The fruits in eternity Of our current struggles, toils and prayers.
So in that hopeful context, try to see and understand That your pain is part of an almighty plan; So as you play your role, It grows and shapes your soul, To be ready to embrace the great I AM.
For anyone sent to this page on your wedding anniversary, congratulations!
As promised, here is the song I wrote for my last year’s wedding anniversary, complete with music video. May it bless you and encourage you to fondly remember that most wonderful of decisions to embark on a great adventure together, be grateful for the life together that you have and bond that you share, and look forward to the future with hope in our loving Lord.
The lyrics are:
It’s that time of the year again To look back and remember when We wore our smart shoes, Said our “I do”s, And our new life began.
Much more than a friend to me, I’m with you to the end, you see; That ring on your hand, We both understand Foreshadows eternity:
Enveloped by love, In heaven above, Our spirits set free In pure harmony, There with the Living God.
Oh wife of my youth, I’m declaring this truth: We share the same dream To be more than we seem, Bound strong with our Loving Lord.
So today I still promise to Always love, honour, cherish you All the days of our lives, Despite the world’s lies, We’ll hold on to what is true.
Now put your sweet hand in mine, Let me see your eyes’ full shine As I look at your face, I’m in the right place, Our hearts fully intertwined.
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Lyrics, melody, arrangement, vocals, audio mixing, and VST instrument programming by Ben Zwycky in Reaper using virtual instruments from Orchestral Tools, Spitfire Audio and the Virtual Playing Orchestra, and video editing in Hit Film Pro 13 using stock footage and images from Pixabay, and stock footage provided by Freepik, downloaded from videvo.net.
The third track of the Virtual Orchestra: Heavenly Light Album
is about the beauty of creation displaying God’s handiwork and giving a foretaste of eternity in His presence, His knowledge of our struggles and awesome love and care for us despite our flaws and failures, His unique character, and the wonderful future He has in store for His children. English and Czech subtitles are available.
The lyrics are:
You paint the sunrise and pour down the rain, Sculpt towering mountains and wide open plains; Grant comforting friendships and welcoming smiles, Warm invitations to rest here a while.
Glittering waterfalls, flowers and trees, Delicate butterflies, hardworking bees; Breathtaking beauty is nothing compared To the radiant glory we’ll see from you there
You’re the Holy one, Uncontainable God’s own Son, Flanked by angels, enthroned on high Your love will never die
You went to find me when my soul was lost, Were willing to suffer, you’d counted the cost. You see my cowardice, selfishness, wrath, Sigh as once more I go down the wrong path;
You witness my failure again and again, Know all my sorrows and share all my pain. When I’m broken-hearted, you bleed with me there, Ensuring that I bring my head up for air.
You’re the Holy One, Unmistakable God’s own Son, Irreplaceable Prince of Peace, You give my heart release.
You’re full of tenderness, justice and mercy; I long for that great day when finally we’ll see You face to face, There in that wondrous place,
For You are the Holy One, Mighty, powerful God’s own Son; Truly wonderful Counsellor, We couldn’t ask for more.
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Lyrics, melody, arrangement, vocals, audio mixing, and VST instrument programming in Reaper using virtual instruments from Orchestral Tools and Spitfire Audio, 3d rendering in Daz Studio, and video editing in Hit Film Pro 13 by Ben Zwycky using stock footage and images from Pixabay, and stock footage provided by Freepik, downloaded from videvo.net
I am pleased to present the music video for track 4 of Virtual Orchestra – Heavenly Light
which is about how Christ understands the isolation, pain, and suffering that is endemic in our world and especially among young men, and the rich, meaningful life that He offers that the world cannot compete with. English and Czech subtitles are available.
The lyrics are:
You deeply understand my loneliness, Abandoned by your closest friends; And when you prayed alone in deep distress, You clearly saw how that day would end.
Subjected to all of man’s cruelty, You died so that others might live; And as they all mocked you with vicious glee, You cried out, “O Father, forgive!”
You’re more than worthy of all my praise With all my strength, for all my days; You’ve taken away all my guilt and shame, And shown me the way I should live.
Help me to become a better man, With love to give and strength to serve. I know my life is safe within Your hand; I won’t receive what my sins deserve.
Give me wisdom to see through the world’s great lies And courage to go against the crowd; Fixing my eyes on the eternal prize, With my whole life declaring out loud:
You’re more than worthy of all my praise With all my strength, for all my days; You’ve taken away all my guilt and shame, And shown me the way I should live.
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Melody, lyrics, vocals, instrument programming, arrangement, audio mixing and video editing by Ben Zwycky using Reaper and Hit film pro with virtual instruments from Orchestral Tools. Guitar accompaniment by Petr Mares.
As promised, here is the second music video from my first album, this time for the titular track, Heavenly Light. May it encourage you and help to keep things in perspective in all your daily struggles. It seems especially appropriate at this time of year, traditionally a time when we look back and seek to learn from our mistakes as well as looking forward to a new year and all the promises of new beginnings that it holds. (Both English and Czech subtitles are available)
The lyrics are:
The world loves the shadows, And living in fear; Corrupting its fellows, More brazen each year.
Devouring its seed corn to put on a show; Regarding with deep scorn All those who don’t know.
But I choose to follow Your heavenly light; Despite all my sorrows, I’ll stand up and fight
For things that are beautiful, The Good and the true; Since everything wonderful Points right back to You.
Grant these frail bones strength enough To persevere when the road gets rough, So there’s purpose in my current pain; I won’t live in vain.
When my time here’s done and I see Your face, I’ll be welcomed by Your warm embrace, I’ll have kept the faith and run the race, And at last I’ll be home.
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Lyrics, melody, arrangement, vocals, audio mixing, and VST instrument programming by Ben Zwycky in Reaper using virtual instruments from Orchestral Tools and Spitfire Audio, and video editing in Hit Film Pro 13 using stock footage and images from Pixabay and videvo.
Earlier this week, in between dropping off some of my children at a club meeting, buying some groceries and going back to pick them up, I sat in a local shopping mall with nothing to do and nowhere to be. A great peace washed over me as I sat in between two market stalls and watched the people hurrying about, so I started to document the experience in verse:
An Island of Serenity
An island of serenity amidst the milling throng All around me darts a world to which I don’t belong, Convinced a slice of heaven can be found here on a shelf, Or else at least a key to unlocking your true self.
Calming Christmas music wafts down the glassy walls, Drifting over harried workers at the market stalls, The peace that washes over me warms me to my core, Giving me a foretaste of that Life that lies in store
When my time down here is done and Your face I shall see, And you give me the great prize that you won at Calvary. Your love is so unmerited, so shockingly divine, It seems so insufficient to just give you all that’s mine;
Give me an opportunity to be a blessing here, A broken soul with eyes to see and a listening ear, That a fellow traveller might find the hope you give, Find rest from all his mortal woes and truly start to live.
The temple had lain in ruins for around 50 years. Destroyed, but not forgotten, just like Jerusalem itself. It still had immense, painful value to the Israelites. The visible sign of God’s presence among them desecrated and useless for anything except a reminder of what once was. Hence the strong emotions of both joy and sorrow, joy that the temple, and through it the nation of Israel, is being rebuilt with God at the centre, and also sorrow that it will never be like it was under the glorious rules of David and Solomon.
It’s hard to imagine the task of rebuilding an entire nation, but I’d like to look at the process of reconstruction, of renewal, from a different angle, using some modern examples from youtube. There are a lot of channels that focus on this sort of project, whether it’s restoring a classic car, a boat, an airplane or a house, but there are some projects that stand out.
A youtuber with a lot of followers often drove past a hill that had a ruin on the top of it. It wasn’t a castle or temple or anything like that, it was an incomplete construction project that had been planned to be a great mansion, but for various reasons construction halted and the partially completed house was abandoned to the elements for nearly twenty years, had been frequently snuck into by teenagers and animals, every window was broken, rain had gotten into the stonework, there was dirt, rubbish and broken glass everywhere, and many of the timbers were rotten. What could have been a very valuable property was now useless. He saw the potential of the place, bought it for a vastly reduced price and began to work on it, documenting his progress in various episodes and updates. He cleared debris and filth, tore down rotten beams, parts of the roof and walls until there was nothing left but the foundation and the interior walls and floors that had remained intact and undamaged by the elements, then over the next two years new frames and walls are added, roofs and windows replaced, plumbing and wiring done, doing a lot of the work himself alongside various professionals, learning new skills from those professionals, and in the process made changes and expansions to make the house even larger and more practical for his family, finally moving into it recently while some areas surrounding the house are still being worked on.
The viewership of his channel increased enormously, he obtained sponsors for the individual episodes that enabled him to pay for professionals to implement his more ambitious plans, His viewers are excited and happy for him, supporting him financially through buying his merchandise, giving him advice as well as professional contacts on all sorts of aspects of the project.
Another youtuber who specializes in restoring planes and motor vehicles was offered a plane for free if he could get it running. It had cost half a million dollars new, but had broken down and been left to rot outside for fifteen years, inhabited by birds, rats, mice and spiders. It was filthy, stank of mould and every kind of droppings, its engines were clogged with all sorts of gunk and seized up with possible corrosion.
Step by step he took the engines apart, scrubbed and cleaned the various components, cleared the lines with pressurized air, put them back together and after many failed attempts got first one engine to start, and with the help of some spare parts sent in for free by a viewer, also the second. Both engines will be sent for a full professional service later, the exterior has been given a deep clean, and recently crawled around the filth and foul stench of the interior to clear the trash, remove the seats and carpets to begin the process of giving the whole of the inside a deep clean.
Again, his channel received a major boost in viewership from this project, he’s raised over $200,000 via crowdfunding for the project, from people who will get nothing in return, only the knowledge that they helped make this project succeed.
Why is that? What is it about these projects that so captivates the audience? Is it following the progress of a pleasant, enthusiastic and skilled individual working hard to achieve their goal? That’s definitely part of it, but these cases also touch on something deeper.
Something that was clearly valuable was overlooked and written off by the crowd as worthless, beyond saving, too much work to consider bothering with. But then a wise and kind individual came along and fell in love with the beauty and potential and true value of the thing, currently spoiled as it may be. That person then lovingly and patiently and skilfully sacrifices their time and effort, working to restore and polish that treasure so it’s true magnificence can be seen by all.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone loved me or you like that? Are we dirty, broken treasures that can be repaired, cleaned, renewed and transformed into something wonderful? I have good news. You are a treasure, loved deeply by God himself, though you are full of dirt, brokenness and corrosive sin. He is ready and excited to work on you to clean, repair, renew and transform you into something glorious. If you have already given Him your life, then he has already begun that work, it is called sanctification. This process takes a long time, can be unpleasant and for long periods it can seem that no progress is being made. Parts of you need to be scrubbed clean of all the corrosive sins and attitudes that threaten to eat them away; that can hurt. Some parts will need to be thrown away and replaced entirely with something new and better, so we can become a new creation; that can be scary. Parts that have been seized up your whole life will begin to function, giving you capabilities you didn’t know you had.
You are a temple of God, a place for the Holy Spirit to dwell, a great treasure in a pot of clay. You might think that you are too broken, too polluted, to be of any use, but a whole new abundant life awaits you, if you only allow the master renovator to do his work.
Last time I gave a sermon, I introduced a new song, and played a video connected to the sermon that also served as a pre-sunday-school message for children. This time, I have (almost) combined all of those into one (I’m not sure it quite works as a message for children, but they might enjoy some of the images at least)
Many people struggle to love God because they can’t grasp who and what God is, how indescribably wonderful he is and worthy of our praise and attention. This passage provides us with one key to grasping a whole lot more of who we are called to worship and follow.
God is love. Would you say that the song was telling the truth about love? We see examples of love in the world that reflect those aspects, those properties of genuine love. Even if we aren’t experiencing them directly ourselves, we have certainly witnessed something like them in the lives of others around us, or in stories that really resonate with us, because they are showing something true and pure, the love of good parents or grandparents, of good and honest friends, a motivated rescue worker or doctor, the camaraderie and sacrifice of an honourable soldier, a helpful colleague at work, a kind-hearted stranger, a loving husband or wife. All of those loves that we can see concretely are weak reflections of the perfect, abundant, generous and powerful love of god. All of those loves that we see around us or hear about ultimately come from him.
God is love. So everything that the song said about love, we can say about God. He is patient and kind; he won’t leave us to our fate, he looks us in the face; he sees our flaws, but that doesn’t discourage him; he gives us a place where we truly belong, he continues to care even when we turn our backs on him, he forgives us and welcomes us back when we realise how stupid we have been, he gives us room to grow and empowers us to be the person we were truly meant to be.
God is love. A key aspect of God is that He is a powerful, active, invigorating, joyful, and supremely generous relationship between three persons. God is so overjoyed by this relationship that he wants to share it with us! Imagine that. He wants us to be as loving, as joyful, as generous and fulfilled as He is—to have live in abundance. To grow the gifts that he has already given us and become more and more the magnificent creations he made us to be. Now that is an invitation worth accepting. If we have already accepted that offer, it is one worth remembering, being grateful for and living accordingly with all our heart, all our strength and all of our mind.
Perfect love casts out fear. What is the message that the world, our governments and news organizations has been telling us for the last two years?
Be terrified. Suffering and death is around the corner. Hide. Everyone around you is a threat; keep them away. Don’t meet together, don’t celebrate, don’t sing. Wear a mask, or two, or three. Be responsible and show everyone around you how terrified you are. I recently saw a video of a man on an airplane putting on six masks. He was very proud of himself, making a show in front of everyone of adding mask after mask, as if to say, “Look at me! I’m better than all of you, because I’m more afraid.” It’s absurd. Other people scream hysterically whenever anyone comes near them, as if standing next to someone is the same as attempted murder. Some just play at being scared so they can look down on others and bully them, others have become addicted to this foundation of fear and are unable to cope with things going back to normal. They should be pitied.
What else does the news try to terrify us with? War is coming with Russia! (Now that the war between Ukraine and Russia has begun, that it’s the start of World War III and nuclear catastrophe) Democracies are turning into tyrannies all over the world. Civil wars are on the horizon. Economies are collapsing. Everything is unstable, out of control and you’re powerless to do anything about it. Despair, cower, and most of all, be terrified.
How do we respond to that? We could quote Mark Twain:
“If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.”
Because so much of the news is distorted, if not invented, and important events and contexts are often ignored completely. Unfortunately this is not only true of the tabloid press, the never-ending news cycle means that reaction and attention is everything, and the easiest attention-getting reactions to evoke are fear and outrage. (The fact that these reactions also make the viewer/listener easier to manipulate is a bonus). There will be some fragments of truth mixed in occasionally, but without a reliable direct source for comparison, it becomes very difficult to know what is really going on (even moreso during a time of war, as all you will hear on the news is propaganda from one side or the other), so ignoring the sensationalized version of what a given news source wants you to think becomes more appealing, even healthy.
Even if every danger they warn of is real, the words of C.S. Lewis that have been recently circulating online in various venues come to mind:
In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb.“How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”
In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.
— “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays
If all of our hopes are in this life, then despair and terror are logical responses. It has always been that way. But our hopes are not all in this life. We are promised persecution, struggles, difficult tasks and difficult choices, but also the strength to endure and grow through them. We are not abandoned and helpless, we are treasured children of a loving God. If the worst happens and we die, we go to be in the arms of God, fully plunged into that amazing relationship, seeing His infinite beauty face to face.
Getting back to the song, a blind friend of a friend by the name of Michael Bayus listened to it, liked it and shared the following thought:
“Being deeply loved by someone gives one strength, loving someone deeply gives one courage.”
So know that you are deeply loved by someone stronger than the world, who has defeated the world, and take strength from that to deal with the discomforts and troubles of life, and we are still very well off compared to any era in history.
Let’s have the courage to love those that God loves around us, work to make our little part of the world a little closer to what it should be, create something beautiful and share it, renew a relationship that’s been neglected, support a friend in their efforts to improve themselves, work on developing the gifts we have been given, aim to be more like Christ in the way we treat others. Meditate on what it means that God is love, and that He loves you, and learn to love him back.
The Zwyckyverse 