There are some special pieces of music I turn to during times of stress and turmoil.

Like the times we're experiencing now.

What a week... right?!

When I think of all the many musical experiences I've had in life, the most rewarding have been those where my music was using in the service of someone who was in need. Someone who needed a lift. A musical hug. Access to the kind of peace only the Savior can give.

And certain pieces of music can actually create that wonderful warm feeling of the spirit as it pours down your spinal cord and floods your emotional soul.

Many pieces I've composed were written with this express intent in mind and heart as I composed.

But perhaps no other piece of mine ever did more to heal my own soul than my setting of Matthew 25, "For I Was An Hungered."

It's not a typical ward choir kind of piece. And it's probably not something you'd sing during a family gathering, unless you have a rather large choir built into your family.

In fact, it was written for my Episcopalian friends at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Cincinnati.

Each time we sang it when I lived in Cincinnati, it healed me.

Somehow, I don't really understand how, my heart, my mind, my soul, and the Spirit I called on over and over to allow me to turn that beautiful text into a tangible spiritual experience... somehow, it worked.

There are several favorite moments for me. But the real kicker is at the end... when the text turns to the response... "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren..."

You know the rest.

Even as I type it now, I can still see myself, garbed in my Episcopalian robes, sitting in the choir pews, and feel the outpouring I felt so many times.

And so, as a way to offer a little more peace in the world during these troubled times, I invite you to listen.

https://douglaspew.com/for-i-was-an-hungered​

Close your eyes. Close your door. Open your heart. And feel the Lord speak peace to your heart as you listen.

And then, if I may, I invite you to go and find someone you can serve, the way these verses implore.

It's a season of service. A time for reaching out. For lifting up.

And tomorrow, on J.S. Bach's birthday... look for another message of peace from me. Nobody could conjure the Prince of Peace quite like the 5th Evangelist. 

My best wishes to you all for a peaceful weekend.

Enjoy!

Doug