Inspiration

I don’t know about you, but I love seeing how people create things. I’m astonished by how people can create. Whatever your “art” is, it’s still art, isn’t it? I think that’s the point of art; to be free and not limited or restricted to the draw within the lines, but to draw outside of the lines, like a child who’s learning how to create.

Maybe this is what inspires me to create art.

Speaking of which, some of my best friends created a great album of art. They are a band called Of Time and Tide and just released their debut album “Hiding May Be the Death of Us All”. You can check them out on bandcamp or if you want to search the internet for them, I guarantee you can find them somewhere, like Facebook or iTunes.

The album is wonderful and very creative.

I’ll let you decide what you think they sound like, but if you like creative rock’n'roll, I guarantee that you’ll enjoy them.

grace&peace

Gregory

Have You Heard?

I’m amazed at how time flys!

It’s almost been an entire year since I married the love of my life. It really is how King Solomon described in the Song of Songs where he says, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” We are now one.

My wife and I truly admire the scripture that speaks of taking a year off from “going to war” if you were just married. Though, I wasn’t in a battleground for the past year, I have been in a couple of different battle zones, that I have been learning a lot about.

These would be marriage & ministry.

We’ve grown a lot in this past year (and I mean a lot) and though I thought that I understood these (marriage & ministry), I was wrong.

God has blessed my wife and I the opportunity to be involved with Jewish ministry. In the beginning it was very difficult, because we couldn’t understand a lot of the culture and issues, but after some studying, being humbled by His presence, and obedience, we’ve been slowly understanding our “battleground” (or territory) and the enemy that wants to kill and destroy.

In short, this past year I feel as if I’ve been “off from war” pouring all of my time understanding this marriage thing and what it’s all about to have sacrificial love for each other. What a blessing it is to be working on our 1st ministry, which is our marriage, and our 2nd ministry, which is advancing the Kingdom of the Living God.

Over the past year, I’ve been ordained a Music Minster & deacon at Beit Chesed Messianic Congregation (pronounced Bait Hey-said). This community exists to worship God in Jewish way, as a Jewish expression of the Christian faith.

Recently we were interviewed for an article and I was quoted in it. Give it a quick read (because it’s short) and maybe you’ll want to come on a Friday night sometime and worship God in a Jewish way with us.

http://clayton-richmondheights.patch.com/articles/beit-chesed-offers-a-new-kind-of-potluck#photo-7571534

There’s so much to tell you, but this is all I have time for right now. I look forward to the future and what’s to come (musically and non-musically).

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and Jesus (Yeshua) the Messiah.” -Romans 1:7

-Gregory

Life Is Moving Along

Hello friends,
I thought I would post a little update on life.

These past few weeks have been pretty crazy, but amongst the craziness, I have been writing, writing, writing. I’m in the beginning stages of writing for my first full-length album. I was previously thinking about entitling this set of songs as “His love endures forever”, but we’ll see what plays out.

Besides writing, my wife and I have been adjusting to married life, which is no easy task in itself. We are learning a whole bunch about life and each other. With our weeks packed with work and services, we spend most of our evenings enjoying each others company and try to spend time as much time with friends as we can.

I’m really excited about the future and what’s to come!

Have a great Passover and Easter!

Grace, Mercy & Peace

|||Gregory

It’s Purim Time!

It’s Purim time! (Sounds like pour ‘em)

“What’s that?!?”, you say…

Purim is a time of celebration! It’s a holiday when we read through the book of Esther and remember how God delivered His people, Israel, from Haman (Boo!).

If you read through the book of Esther, you’ll see how a young Jewish woman, became the queen of the Persian Empire. While she was queen, she found out the new prime minister Haman (Boo!), devised a plan to annihilate the Jewish people entirely, because Esther’s cousin Mordecai didn’t bow down to Haman. She warned the Israelites to pray and fast for three days, while she devised a plan to save her people. After hosting a few dinner party’s with her new husband, King Ahasuerus, and Haman (Boo!), she informs King Ahasuerus of Haman’s plan, to annihilate her people, and the king sends for Hamans immediate hanging. Mordecai becomes the new prime minister and the Jewish people are saved!

Now this is the extremely short version of this story, lots of details are missing, but we’ll be reading through this story as a day of remembrance and celebration this Friday night, March 18, at Beit Chesed: The House of Loving Kindness.

“So what?”… “What does that have to do with me?”… “I’m not Jewish!”…

I’m not Jewish either, but when I read through the Holy Scriptures, I realize that the ancient roots of my faith are Jewish, whether I like it or not. When you think about it, if God allowed Haman to destroy the Jewish people, then my Savior and grace in Jesus Christ, would have never come and I would’ve never known about this day when God saved His people.

Now, we all can share in this gift. We are His people and adapted children, and we’re grafted into the vine. (Romans 9-11)

There are four things involved with the Purim story:
1. Listening to the public reading, usually in synagogue, or church in our case, of the Book of Esther in the evening and again in the following morning
2. Sending food gifts to friends
3. Giving charity to the poor
4. East a festive meal

It just so happens that Purim happens right after this earthquake happened and a family at one of the churches I attend knows a Japanese Christian missionary couple that works with Presbyterian Mission International. They are located in Tokyo, but they are traveling back and forth up north to help out the families in need. If you would like to know more information on how you could help them and “give charity to the poor” you can search on Facebook the group “CRASH Japan”. Otherwise search for the Presbyterian Mission International on the internet and look for Seima Aoyagi.

I hope this was very informational to you all and if you would like to come on Friday nights to The House of Loving Kindness and share in a time of Sabbath, we would love for you to be there!

Grace, Mercy, & Peace

Gregory

Alas, another cold and snowy morning. On the one hand, I’m a little tired of the snow and was looking forward to the 50 degree weather, with tree’s blooming, rain pouring, and pastel colors appearing. But, on the other hand, I’m thrilled that it has snowed yet again, because it proves to me that we, as humans, are not in control of the weather, but that Someone Greater is in charge. In fact, if we humans were in charge of everything, this world would be a cold and lonely place.

I’m comforted to know that we are imperfect people and by being imperfect, we need something or Someone to stand in our place; to perfect us.

I’ve been working on a song recently and I thought I would share it with you today. It’s entitled “He Shall Stand” and it comes directly from Psalm 109:30-31. It’s really been on my heart that as I continue to write, I need to write songs, not only based on the Holy Scriptures, but try to sing them, word for word. It’s only this way, that I envision the early church singing songs, as they meditated on God’s word. It’s also because it’s been pressed upon my heart that, if we begin to sing songs directly from Scripture, then we’ll begin to memorize God’s word, verses kind of knowing what His word says.

Another thing you’ll notice is that the words might seem foreign. They aren’t foreign, but they are in Hebrew, which is the original context that these Psalms were written in. I’ve gone ahead and listed the english translation below the Hebrew. I hope to have a rough version of this song finished within the next few weeks.
Grace, Mercy, & Peace

[verse]
O deh Adonai, m’ode b’fee
I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth
U v’toch rabim ahal’lehnu
Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude
Key va amodeh lee meen evyon
For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor
L’hoshia meesho f’tay nafsho
To save him from those who condemn him

[chorus]
Key anee v’evyon ah no chee
For I am poor and needy
V’lee bee chalal b’keerbee
And my heart is wounded within
Key tov chasd’cha
Because Your mercy is good
Ha tsee lay nee
Deliver me, O Lord my God
Ha tsee lay nee
Deliver me, O Lord my God

Spring Is In the Air

It’s that time again of the year, where the rain begins to fall, the snow is melting away, and we slowly put away our coats and exchange them for a jacket. It’s also the same time when people begin to get back into their rhythms of life. Speaking of rhythms, I am hoping to get back into the rhythm of playing music again in a public setting. I have not played out since September and it has been a nice break, but I think something is brewing within me. It’s time I come out of hibernation and back into rooms filled with people, where music is played like incense arising into the air.

Things have been changing for me over these past 4 months and I’m excited to share with you what has been happening, but the time isn’t here yet to reveal what is going on. It’ll be soon. Yes, very soon.

Until then,
Grace, Mercy & Peace be with you
Gregory Lowe

Hello Winter, My Friends

Welcome to the new year! I truly enjoy the winter time, but some of you may not. I wanted to let you all know that life has been good and busy. You probably haven’t heard from me in a few months, because a lot has been happening in my life, like marriage and the holidays. Did you all have a nice Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year? I did. I have much to fill you in on, but for now, just know that I’m so thankful for all of you!

I’m writing a lot and I hope to be recording in March or April, so please be praying for me for this. I’m very excited to be recording again and get these songs into your hands and ears.

There’s so much more, but that’s all for now.

Grace, Mercy & Peace

Gregory

Time For New Beginnings

As some of you probably know, I am getting married in a few weeks. A lot of exciting things are happening right now, with Shana and I, and we look forward to all of the new things that are going to be taking place in the next few weeks, months, and year. We are so blessed to have a such a great community of friends that love us and are excited about our marriage, just as much as we are.

With that being said, things will slow down a little bit musically. I see my musical direction changing in the future, but I’m very excited to see where God leads me and Shana in our future journey together.

Please keep us in your prayers as we slowly transition from being two separate beings into one.

Grace, Mercy & Peace be with you

GL

Coming Soon

This is my new website. I’m very excited to get this up and running! Thank you to everyone that has helped me out over the years. “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” – 2 Peter 1:2