dondoss.com
Greetings!
Six months have quickly gone by and I have not updated this site! My excuse is building a new home while trying to fix one to sell – that has taken ALL my time! A quick recap…
I retired at the end of August 2025 which is now going on a year – we took a trip to Yellowstone then and we’re going again this September. All that to say I will begin budgeting a day a week to keep up with my writing, especially the Psalms which I already have written, just need to edit them for pubic consumption — stay tuned!
The last old version of my this website was updated was November 16, 2013! A LOT has happened in those 10 years so let me give you a quick review! First of all, I retired from my Music Ministry life on Sunday, May 26 of 2025 from the Fredericksburg United Methodist Church in Fredericksburg, Texas… and immediately following our last Sunday service after we changed into travel clothes, Jennnifer and I were on our way to two weeks in both Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons!!
I have worked at FredUMC for 18 years… that is a long time! Between this and my 10 years at Trinity Baptist in San Antonio, I taught at a private school, at Ingram ISD and Harper ISD all as a band/choir director.
At the last update (2013), Jessica was a Freshman (High School) and now lives in Corpus married to Jeff Powell and has provided to Jennifer and me both a grand-daughter and grandson! Never thought I would be a grandfather, but God has blest me greatly. Jeff runs a construction business and is in real estate work.
The youngest who was in 6th grade is graduated from Baylor with a Music Ed degree. She spent her last few college summers as a Trumpet section leader and soloist with Carolina Crown and receiving the outstanding brass recognition. She spent last summer married to Saxton Rios living in Telluride!
There’s an old poem that says our lives are only a weaving between ourselves and God, and we don’t see the pattern, but he sees the underside. We can do all the planning we want for how our lives should happen – but in the end, it is God’s design and leadership we trust in, not our own.
My plan for my life was to be a music minister and/or school band/choir director and/or composer and arranger. Most of those things have happened but not in the way I had imagined. The last one I need to work on so I will be doing some writing in the near future!
Through the years of ministry God has been good to me and blest me with a place to serve him and some great kids, adults and families that I have come to love. I have many friends for life, and If I haven’t contacted you recently, please give me a shout!
My ‘new’ page will be changing more often now that I have time to do something about it, so check back! I’ll be sharing some thoughts from the Psalms that I have written for my FBG choir and some videos and recordings from past ministries. Expect picture overload and more music and much more from the grandkids!
Send me a note… God bless!
Psalms for Singers
Ten years ago on May 26, 2015, I began sharing with my Fredericksburg choir some thoughts about the Psalms. As church musicians, a lot of our time and energy is spent in using the church hymnal for congregational singing decisions – or even in contemporary worship, the hymnal is a basic tool used to write contemporary arrangements and understand the basics of worship. All that to say, our hymnals are important to us. So it was for the Hebrew worshipers under the guidance of King David. The book of Psalms is the ancient hymnal of worship and being that, it is a treasure trove of information and inspiration and we as church musicians should spend time in studying and being familiar with it.
So I began to share some thoughts and devotions on a psalm a week (or so I thought). I only made it to November then Christmas took my time! However three years ago in February of 2022, I decided to start again back at the beginning on the first psalm. I don’t want you to think that these are all from my studies and discovery, no borrowed quite a bit from various sources to give my choir some morsel of the deep and sometimes intricate theology that is found in them.
So I will edit these as I can get to them and make them more for a global audience removing personal information pertaining to choir members of occasions – Thanks for reading!
Psalm One Hundred…
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
September 30, 2024
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
You may or may not remember that back several months ago I mentioned the section division in the songs of the Psalms. The first two psalms are basically an index of the main themes, then psalms 3-41 deal with beginning foundations of the covenant, 42-72 cover the hope for the messiah’s coming, 73-89 the problems of the exile and the longing for the Messiah, 90-106 The God of Israel is the King of all Creation, and 107-150 the Songs of Ascent and Poems of Praise.
We find some of the greatest worship lyrics in the fourth section. Some Hebrew historians believe the 5 sections relate to the 5 books of the Pentateuch; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – but Numbers doesn’t seem to go with songs of worship? In fact, Psalm 100 is one of the shortest songs, and ‘short’ doesn’t fit the book of Numbers!
On 1967 at a Chapel Service at Wheaton College, Dr. Raymond Edmon who had served many years as the Chancellor was speaking on the importance of worship. He related an experience from his past while a missionary in Ethiopia. In order to meet with the king of Ethiopia, he had to observe a strict protocol and if he didn’t do it right, he wouldn’t be worthy to see the king. Dr. Edmond then told the congregation of the Wheaton students, “You have an audience with the King of kings, the ruler of Ethiopia or any other nation would fall on their face and cast his crown in the presence of the Almighty.” Dr. Edmond then began to make some practical suggestions about worship, then at that moment he fell dead. They say this was the greatest sermon illustration he ever gave! Falling down to worship God face to face!
Being nearly the shortest of all songs, this one packs a huge wallop, especially to worship leaders like us! It gives us the protocol of worshipping our God. We probably shouldn’t think that we just barge into the throne room of heaven without taking some proper actions, so here they are…
Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth. We raise our voice to God! The word ‘shout’ also means a loud blast on a trumpet – an announcement to throngs of people that the king is about to appear among them. We don’t worship ‘loudly’ in order to draw attention to ourselves – we shout for joy because the Lord is among us.
Serve the Lord with gladness. Give honor to God. We honor God by serving him with our worship. We glorify God by ascribing to him the honor and adoration due to him. We need to visualize and be amazed at the inconceivable greatness and splendor of Almighty God.
Come before Him with joyful songs. We draw near to God with our singing. Through our voices in song we draw near to God – just like it will be in heaven. Music is a vehicle that can stir emotions and express our hearts, but the singing isn’t where we find the joy, the music is how we react to the joy that is within us – sometimes we get that backwards! Music is not worship – it’s part of the protocol TO worship. It sets the stage for us to worship God, it helps us get ready to be ready to be in God’s presence. Music can be a distraction to worshipping God if it’s not used in the correct way.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God. At this point we stop and, in our thoughts, we remind ourselves of who God is. Like a salute to a general, like signing the cross for Catholics, like a curtsy or a bow – something we do to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. God is our Creator and Supreme Commander, we are His people. This is the intellectual part of our praise, our firm foundation to worship.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. We open the door to worship. The gates were a part of the outer wall that surrounded the temple. To come to worship, they had to come through the gates and be thankful. Once through the gates, you’re in the courts and from there comes praise. Praise is like ringing the doorbell to the temple, and when you’re invited inside, that’s when we worship. God is enthroned by our praise and that creates the atmosphere for an audience with the King.
Give thanks to Him and praise His name. The most often used version of the Hebrew word for ‘praise’ means to kneel. By kneeling we show honor and homage to God as the King of kings and Lord of lords. Even in today’s world where we feel so important… we can’t worship if we don’t fall at the feet of God
A growing collection of various previously written or spoken articles for the choir at Fredericksburg United Methodist Church…
A New Song – Psalm 40 – Don Doss, January 7, 2021