I love introducing my child to good music, especially worship music.
Sarah and I made a playlist on the iPod that we play softly for Kezzie (19 months) every night as we put her to sleep. She usually doesn’t make it that far into the playlist before falling asleep, but we made the list long just in case. I’m curious, what’s on your kid’s bedtime playlist? Is bedtime music helpful or a distraction for your kids?
Here’s Kezzie’s playlist, in no particular order. I put some thoughts about each one in the caption. If you click on each one (as of writing this), it will take you to that album on Amazon.com (I’m not getting any cut from the sale, I’m just linking it to a place to find the album if you like)….
You know, Moonlight Sonata, Fur Elise, you get the picture….. (real instruments, by the way)I'm not as crazy about this one, but its on here anyway. The music is played by electronic sounds of xylophones and strings. I much prefer the actual studio recordings of tangible instruments.Probably my favorite song of all time, Cantique de Jean Racine, is on here. And this album is sung by one of the world's greatest choirs (Rutter's Cambridge Singers)My mother-in-law gave us this CD. It has some simple melodies with worshipful lyrics.The Hallelujah Chorus might be a great song, but we don't put it on this playlist. We stick to the lighter songs on here (He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd, Behold the Lamb of God)We play the softer songs from this Aaron Copland set (i.e. not the "beef commerical" song from Rodeo).We start with these songs. They are our favorite ones. The music is perfect, the lyrics are deep theologically, and there is even an accompanying book.
I am happy to announce that my PhD dissertation has been published to ProQuest, an academic database for published research. I have made the dissertation open source, which means anyone anywhere can access the full content free of charge. Here is the full dissertation: https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/holy-fools-exploring-journey-calling-christian/docview/2622316783/se-2 Please share far and wide. I am very much excited…
This is probably the easiest large group game ever invented. If you can think of an easier one, please let me know in the comments. Heads or Tails! This game of heads or tails involves EVERYONE in your large group. It is actually better the larger the group gets. There is an elimination factor to…
One Sunday last month, I taught the children’s sermon. In our church, the children are with the adults for the first half of the Sunday morning worship. Then they come to the front for a blessing and/or children’s sermon before being dismissed for a separate teaching time during the adult sermon. I have found that…
On September 26th, I will be facilitating a breakout session at the KidzMatter Conference in Evansville, IN called “When God Calls Kids: Helping Kids Discern and Grow in Their Callings.” If you’re going, come find me on Thursday at 4:30pm in Locust D at the conference! Check out my free resources from my talk right…
“Out of the Mouths of Children” Sermon from Sunday, April 21, 2024 Dr. Jesse Joyner *Scripture passages are from the NIV unless otherwise noted. Matthew 21:6 “…and they said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and…
