Happy Birthday to my lovely little blog!

Wandering Heart is one year old today, and it's unbelievable to think about everything that has happened in one short year! So many stories to tell, but only a fraction made it onto these pages. Over the next year, I hope to write many more!

For today, I just wanted to share part of a paper I wrote for a fantastic Leadership Communication course. This was from the Organizational Communication Study I wrote on the SVCC, with 9 sections totaling about 24 pages. However, the final section made my mother cry (which doesn't happen very often!) and she suggested I share it on here.

So, without further ado, here is what I truly believe about singing.

"Every area of life has been touched and transformed by the Creation, Fall, and Redemption, including the SVCC. We know that singing was a part of God’s perfect creation, because Adam quite literally sang the praises of Eve when he first saw her! In a slightly less factual, but nonetheless beautiful image, C.S. Lewis metaphorically describes Creation in his book, The Magician’s Nephew. “If you had seen and heard it...you would have felt quite certain that it was the stars themselves which were singing, and that it was the First Voice, the deep one, which had made them appear and made them sing.” In the pure and perfect creation, the SVCC would exist just as those stars, singing to the glory of their Creator! However, man chose to rebel against God, leave His presence, and stain the world with sin. Our hearts are no longer in rhythm with God, and we vainly try to sing our own songs rather than the unique melody He wrote for each one of us. The Fall is clearly evident in the SVCC: directors leave, arguments occur, money is scarce, and notes are flat. However, the Fall was not God’s final concert. He orchestrated the most brilliant encore performance the world has ever seen by sending His one and only Son to live perfectly, die undeservingly, and resurrect triumphantly. To those who acknowledge their utter depravity and dependence on Jesus and His sacrifice, He gives us the gift of Redemption! Although sin still runs rampant in the SVCC, there are also countless glimpses of Redemption: a director who loves the Lord, our songs of praise to Him, the kindness and love between choristers, and so many more! Although many choristers are not believers, it is wonderful to know that there are several of us in the SVCC who are singing for an audience of One. I pray that we are lights in the darkness and that God might use us to bring His song of Redemption to our fellow choristers, leaders, and community."

~ Riley