Author: ScuderiMusic

Here is a song called, Lovely Jesus, that Billy wrote which shows people worshiping Jesus on Palm Sunday as he rode into Jerusalem, (on a donkey). In the song it says, “the gates of my heart are open wide.”

Palm Sunday always proves to be a fun day. People love to worship in with nature, and move their bodies to music. Holding the Palm fronds gives us a chance to interact with God’s majestic beauty and lose self consciousness to move with ease and grace.

This is how I feel today as the darling buds of Spring are stretched towards the Sun, to meet the sky, about to POP open! Over the past two years I served as the Children’s Ministry Coordinator at The First Congregational Church of Burlington. The Easter Season is a busy time for the staff of the church. My past two Palm Sundays consisted of handing out Palm Fronds at the back of the Sanctuary as frantic kids run up and down the aisles passing them out to the congregation as the choir sings “Hallellujia!Hallellujia!Hallellujia!Hallellujia!Hall-e-llu-jia!!!!!” from the balcony. 

My hus-b& Stephen recouts that the day he chose to attend St. Michaels College was during a Palm Sunday Worship Service where litergical dancers were moving beautifuly down the aisles of the Chapel holding palm fronds.

We wish you a wonderful begining of Spring and Holy Week as we dance towards Easter in harmony with Nature.

With Love,

Lauren, Stephen and Bella

I am so grateful for YOU reading this passage, watching our video and listening to this beautiful duet between my biological father, Billy Masters and me, Lauren Larken (Spees) Scuderi. Find handwritten sheet music below. Also thanks to Kelly Willard, for helping Face to Face to be published in the Maranatha! Songbook.

Face to Face is also Susie’s favourite song, Billy’s Mama, my grandmother. We sang it many times while she played the piano. I sang it at her funeral in the Spring of 2017.  I know she and Bill are Face to Face in heaven with Nana and Pop-up, Evie, Catherine, Paul Backer, all of our loved ones are our “Mighty Cloud of Witnesses” who are our Guardian Angels!

These lyrics come from the Bible verses about being Face to Face with Jesus in Exodus 33

¹¹ The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend…
¹⁴ The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

In a world like ours with ceaseless streams of information, content and possibilities as well as work, tasks and daily routines; the promise of rest is so helpful.

Also I think that looking at ourselves in the mirror we are able to see a glimpse of the work God is doing in our lives.

On a personal note, people often see me and cannot believe how much I resemble my biological Dad, my Mom, my Aunt, and how my behavior models after my adoptive Father.  We are reflections for each other of the work God is doing through us.

This song says, “Jesus Loves You, when you Feel like an Old Black Shoe”…”caught between the black top and the cement where cars are driving.”

First of all a major shout of praise for “Aunti-Gram”, Pamela Bejarano, who helped us afford a nice used car. Seat warmers in VT are so cozy and it is very helpful to not have to shlep instruments, art projects and the car seat in the same way each time we leave the house. Even tho we prided ourselves on not owning a car for about a year; not having a car was making me feel like an OLD BLACK SHOE.

We are currently a family of 4 (with Maya visiting) so we are carpooling and still use public transportation and bikes for local commutes!

The old black shoe symbolizes, being lonely, worn out, lost, displaced, homeless, outcast, and without hope.  Surrounded by fast paced cars zooming around who don’t give us the time of day or offer help. Perhaps they even splash us or run us over!

When we get kicked to the curb we often feel worthless, when things don’t work out we may start to think that we aren’t valuable.

God reminds us that even when we are not valued by our family, friends, community, even if we are low self esteem or low class-that God still loves us. 

This video was really fun to make. We had shooting and editing help from UVM Film student Ruby Bates. Maya, who is in town doing the Very Merry Theatre Production of RENT stars, and we had lots of help from puppets we borrowed from the Honeycomb Waldorf School in Richmond, VT (Thanks Ellen!).

The next few weeks we will be undertaking some green screen projects and music video projects that weave projections and videos of Billy Masters playing music on the television. Each video may take more than a week to make and edit but we will post plenty of the behind the scenes footage for our Patrons… https://www.patreon.com/guardianangelmusic

Love,

Lauren, Stephen and Bella

GuardianAngelMusic.com

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

I always thought this song was directly from my Father, Billy Masters, to me. And while it is nice to feel that way, it is also all about God and their relationship to Us. 

Some of the Biblical Relevance behind, the lyrics…from my study this week.

The Things that Matter now are what the Father Says about you….

What does the Father/God say about us?…and why is it important?

In Luke and in Matthew it says that God takes care of nature and the birds-and they don’t worry about what they are going to eat and encourages us to trust that we will also be provided for, and that he knows how many hairs are on our head. I understand this meaning that God cares very deeply about us each personally.  In Genesis it says that we are created in God’s image.

Many times, I notice that in the past many of  the thoughts in my head have been self incriminating, derogatory towards my body/actions and hurtful to myself. God loves us. When one of my friends says something evil about themselves or when I think hurtful thoughts I say to myself, “Don’t speak that way or treat God’s creation like that!”

The Things that Matter now are what the Father Says is True…

Some of the things that the Father says is true that I find particularly relevant to myself, others seeking chronic wellness and for our country.

2 Kings 20:5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you.

Jeremiah 22:3 This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

I love you in Jesus’ name keep looking at me

John 6:26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.

and you’ll Never be same

Hebrews 1:12 You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

There’s Nothing You’ve Done my Love Won’t Wash Away

God offers unconditional love and forgiveness, with God, all things are possible.

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

and when you seek me with all of your heart

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Oh you’re gonna find out I am well Pleased with You

How nice to hear that our God is “Well Pleased” with us. I so often seek approval from my family figures who I look up to or my peers in the activism and entertainment world. God is saying that my singing pleases him.

Luke 3:22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Beloved children

Deuteronomy 33:12 About Benjamin he said: “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.” (God takes the weight off of our burden).

Song of Songs 2:10 My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.

I am open to hearing what the songs inspire for you in your journey and also any Biblical sparks that you find. Comment below or email us at: ScuderiMusic@Gmail.com

We shared our project idea through the Patreon website in the end of October and thanks to the subscriptions and independent donations  we have received from YOU we have reached our first goal of $500/month project support! THANK YOU!   We are still accepting donations and subscriptions and would love to have your support.

Using these funds we plan to remaster and release a song every week and we are choosing to do this for 40 weeks starting THIS WEEK! We also plan to shoot and release short videos each week.  We imagine that the project support will continue to grow as the project expands and have already been in touch with many people who knew Billy at formative times in his life. We have also been offered the opportunity of creating a radio show with Contemporary Christian Radio Station!

We are working towards a tribute concert /multimedia show to perform at a to be decided venue or venues in the end of September 2019.

This opportunity to delve deep into the living legacy of my biological Father, Billy Masters, comes at a perfect time for me.  Creating healthy weekly habits around music creation, collaboration and sharing is perfect; especially as a new mother. Also the skills that Stephen and I are developing through these processes are building our capacities as professional musicians. The support you are giving affords us the ability to share the work we have been doing over the past few years. As we play with platforms and spaces to share, we are open to your feedback and we know that new ways of doing things will evolve. (Artistic Evolución!)

For now we plan to release our music and podcasts through Bandcamp and here on this blog!  We will share behind the scenes project creation posts through Patreon and texts/emails.

Over the past 3 months as our family traveled to Hawaii, Los Angeles, Mexico and Arizona-we were able to connect deeply with people who knew and loved Billy and we have gained deeper insight into our role with Guardian Angel Music.

Psalm 96:1 O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.

We plan to share multiple remastered versions of Billy’s songs as he created them. We plan to harmonize with his works. We are inspired to allow his works to have new lyrics, and to allow the Spirit of his works to inspire new songs.  There are quite a few songs that as we work on them, are open to feedback-particularly as we reconstruct lyrics that resonate the most deeply with the current moment of the prayer mantras we wish to sing.

Another aspect of the project is around the beauty of the natural remedies that exist on the Earth. I am living with the reality of creating healthy daily rituals to stay balanced while also having Hashimotos (an autoimmune disease).  Billy died of an autoimmune illness and many people who we have been in contact who knew Billy are in the process of healing, recovering and shifting their lifestyles to reflect a desire to live pain free and fully expressed.

Stephen is currently involved practicing Sacred Ecstatics experimentally with the scholarly experience of his teachers, The Keeneys. The basic premise of their work is to spark the heart song and heat up the internal temperature of our bodies so that we may be tuned instruments dancing and singing the divine.  We see singing, dancing, sharing healthy (consensual) touch, and exploring natural remedies found in plant allies as being in complete alignment with Guardian Angel Music. In Hawaii and Mexico we were blessed to develop our “Sacred Circuit” workshops at Yoga Studios and Theatre Spaces which offer co-formance opportunities for community to practice helping each other heal through the lens of Guardian Angel Music and Sacred Ecstatics.

We hope you were able to download the Bandcamp album we have already published of Billy Master’s Music with the codes we sent earlier. We are taking requests regarding which songs to work through next.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us launch! We truly appreciate your support!

With Love, In Song,

Lauren, Stephen and Bella Scuderi

Guardian Angel Music