....Well, maybe not all night! But I think I could have gone on a lot longer if given the opportunity. Last Saturday(June 21) I got to really dance for the first time in my life! It was one of the most exciting events I have ever attended, I think! We did mostly Country dancing; Quadrilles, Circle dances and reels! My favorite was probably the "Indian Queen"; an English country dance, or another one we did of which I don't remember the name, oh well! Jedidiah took a few videos and I must commend his skill with a simple point and shoot camera. I'll share the two that came out the best! The first one is a modification of the Virginia Reel, I don't remember what that one is called. The second one is the "Circassian Circle" That one was a lot of fun as well! For better or for worse, I am the one in the black and white skirt and the blue blouse! I look at these videos and think I look goofy, but perhaps that is just my perception of things! Elliot didn't want to dance, Gabrielle and Arianne couldn't make it and Jedidiah on down were too young, Timothy, Mommy and Daddy and I, however had a blast! My Brother Timothy is the tall one in the pale yellow shirt, most of the camera time, I think was spent on him during this dance and my parents are in the group to the left; a lot of the camera time was spent on them too! The Circassian Circle is the one below. I was silly enough to wear NEW heels and actually did stumble and slipped twice in the first dance, that was embarrassing! But by the time we got to this one I had learned to 'slide' with them but still it was hard moving fast, I felt like I was being dragged forward and back when we all went in together and I was in constant fear lest I should fall in the middle of it, and mess everyone up! Next time I shall scuff up the shoes until they don't slide at all, or wear a different pair! But, anyway, I was so thankful the Lord gave me this opportunity!
I always considered the months of June and July to be the "Patriotic" months of the year. Memorial day is on the last Monday in May and I almost count it as part of the two months. Then with D-day on June sixth, Flag day on the fourteenth and, of course, Independence day on the Fourth of July, it fills the months; well, almost! Any way, why am I writing this now and not on the eve of one of those holidays I just mentioned? Simply for the reason that I want to! Besides I already missed most of them and have something else in mind for Independence day. There was a time when there was no America and but for the courage of a few men who saw beyond the years we may have been still to this day colony of Great Britain. And but for the Christian faith of many of these men our revolution may have turned out as horrific and disastrous as that of the French or worse! Truly, we in America have much to be thankful for and so many of us, myself included, take it all for granted. Yet imagine the scene of a field after a battle, imagine the bodies strewn over the grass the blood, the cries of those who are not quite dead, but, will be soon. There is nothing more you can do for them. Most of them in the bloom of youth; perhaps there is a sweetheart at home or perhaps a widowed mother or a young sister or brothers. Perhaps he is the only son of his father, the pride of the family, lying here almost dead, his life cut short; and yet not wasted. Imagine if you were the young man out there breathing his last. Or maybe you are the family member waiting in vain for Johnny to come marching home! What ever the case, war is ugly and freedom comes at a cost, always! Today I want to share with you a ballad; a ballad of Washington and of one man who lost all in the cause of the Revolutionary war: The Blacksmith of Brandywine. I love singing this song when I'm out walking and want to sing some thing rousing. I like to sing it with my brothers, I sing the verses and they all join in on the chorus! It is a fun, lively song, written in the nineteen sixties. Yes, a relatively modern song but keep in mind, I am not against all modern songs. I am simply against most of them! It doesn't matter when it's written if it is good And this one is certainly good! Though I certainly wouldn't sing it in church or in praise to God! So Here are the Lyrics:
As we went down to Brandywine There was a sight to see A giant of a man with a hammer in his hand Beneath the old oak tree And scattered all around there In fatal disarray A score of men who would never fight again Nor travel on the King’s Highway.
We dug his grave, covered him o’er And sadly wept a tear And passed the day a ridin’ on our way Till we met with a musketeer. He told us of the story of A brave and angry man Who undertook the British enemy With a hammer in his hand.
Chorus Make it one for Washington and all his gallent men And one for the girl that once was mine Make it one for the darling boy I’ll never see again And don’t forget the blacksmith of Brandywine!
There lived a man in Chester town Away from the cannon’s roar Of manner mild, his a woman and child No man could ever love more One day he heard a Tory plot To waylay Washington He left his home and family alone And to the General he did run.
His errand done he journed home But sorrow there he found, By British gun his wife and son Lay still on the cold hard ground Well the Blacksmith took his heavy sledge And gave a practice swing. They say down the line at Brandywine You could hear his hammer sing:
Chorus
And here is a video so you can hear what it sounds like: Now after all this, the question may come up; what is a Ballad? I was hoping you would ask! A Ballad is a story in verse. They used to be sung in castles and great halls in order to remember things that happened in history; many would speak of a brave warrior or king who distinguished himself by unusual acts of bravery. Many were about battles fought and many were quite long. The word is derived from the French "ballare" to dance and was used in reference to dancing songs, "ballares". This is probably a little much to remember, so just keep in mind that a ballad is simply a story, turned into a song! Maybe sometime you'll write a ballad about some thing that happened to you or someone you know! But enjoy this lively song! Until next time.......
I have not posted in some time, and now feel the need to show my few faithful followers that I have not quite abandoned my blog! I want to share with you today a song that I learned through choir and I have taken as my own. A melodious, contemplative hymn: "Spirit of God Descend Upon My Heart." Every single one of these verses is wonderful and such a common appeal from the heart, I can relate to each verse personally. The song was written in the early eighteen hundreds by George Croly; a Pastor and author. It is the only one of his hymns that has survived! The tune writer, Fredrick Atkinson, also wrote the tune to "Abide With Me", and it is interesting to hear the similarities between the two tunes, notice how the notes go down in the first line where he asks the the Spirit to Descend upon his heart and the rising crescendo in the end as he begs; 'stoop to my weakness, Mighty As Thou Art!' The tune, in fact fits wonderfully with the soft pleading tone of the hymn. I love the second verse where he states, "I ask no dream, no prophet Ecstasies; no sudden rending of the veil of clay. No angel visitant, no opening skies; but take the dimness of my soul away!" Here Croly renounces a very common wish of men, we want to be visited by angels, given visions in the night and we say, "Lord, if only I could see you or have a vision of heaven, I would be content and know that you are God." And yet did not Christ Himself tell the pharisees that even if someone were to rise from the dead they would not believe and does not He call us whom He has led to believe to walk by faith not by sight? Are they not blessed who do not see and yet believe?" The Author, recognizes this and is like Solomon asking for wisdom instead of riches; "I ask none of these great wonders and signs!" he proclaims humbly, "I ask only that you take away that veil over my heart that blinds me to the horror of sin and the the existence of Almighty God; I want to feel your presence fully though I see no great visions and dreams!" What a wonderful prayer for all of us! Let us all follow God first; He sends the little miracles and gifts as we go along, when we are not expecting them; when we really need them. It is not our place to ask for it. Though in a few cases, as of Gideon and some others, he granted it any way. We cannot expect the same! I have realized how much the Lord loves to send us little surprises and blessings when we're not expecting them! But I fear I have run on over long! Because the video I like best doesn't have all the verses, I will put them down here first and then post the video, make sure you read ALL of them before you watch the video! And tell me how you liked the tune; I love getting comments, post as many as you like! :)
Spirit of God, descend upon my heart; Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move; Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art; And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies, No sudden rending of the veil of clay, No angel visitant, no opening skies; But take the dimness of my soul away.
Hast Thou not bid me love Thee, God and King? All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind. I see Thy cross; there teach my heart to cling: O let me seek Thee, and O let me find!
Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh; Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear. To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh, Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame; The kindling of the heaven descended Dove, My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.
After the bleakness of winter, it is so wonderful to watch the grey and brown break out with pale pink, purple, yellow, green and white. I love hearing the birds begin to sing and to see the rabbits nibbling the tender new shoots. What a wonderful creator we have! Truly, I look at all this and wonder how it is that men can think we came about by chance, a mere random accident. All creation shouts with a loud voice, all we have to do is stop, keep silent and listen.
Can order be born from confusion?
can beauty be caused by a chance?
can God be a childish delusion?
or life be a meaningless dance?
Does purpose result from disaster?
or laughter be born of woe?
Can a piece of the smashed dish run faster
Than the great deer herd's heaviest doe?
Behold how the small sparrow travels,
with no one to point the way.
Truly God's glory this earth tells.
Mistakes cannot rule the day.
So in light of this wonderful season I want to share a song from one of my favorite musicals, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", on the wonderful occurrences in this wonderful season!
May The Almighty reveal Himself to you through His creation!
Good Friday, indeed! The world had never seen another like it nor would it ever see one again. What parody, what lunacy is this? That the perfect one should become sin, that Almighty God should be killed by His creation? Indeed, what God would deign to die for His little clay figurines after they had purposely disobeyed His law times without number? What kind of God would allow worms to nail Him to a wooden tree with never a word of protest? What kind of God would forgive the scum that yelled profanities and curses at Him no matter that His agony was already great? What kind of God would be willing to become so vile in His Father's sight that He must turn His face away from Him? "Well, might the sun in darkness hide, and shut its glories in, when Christ, The mighty maker died for man, the creature's sin!" No God of our invention, certainly! Our God turns things on their heads, He does the unexpected and His acts are incomprehensible to us "mere mortals"! When we think of a God, we turn our thoughts to the physical qualities; Can He rule the entire world? Can he do anything He likes? Can He read our thoughts? We forget that "He who ruleth his Spirit is greater than the mighty and he who controls his anger is greater than he who captures a city!" We forget that "Love never fails" and "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lays his life down for his friends!" Indeed, God is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and has ALL power and dominion and authority before all time, now and forever. But I want, right now, for us to think about how much greater those "non physical" qualities are! How many of us can hear someone snicker about our faith and not start feeling a "holier than thou" attitude rise up in our hearts? How many of us can have some one spit in our face and not feel an incredible urge to punch him in the face? How many of us can listen to our words, twisted to make us sound bad and not speak a word in our own defense knowing that it will do no good? How many of us can say truly and with a pure heart, "I love you!" to one who has done everything in his power to show us that he hates us and you know he will probably slap you in the face if you do say it? We underestimate the greatness of the Love Christ had for us! We do not fully understand the power it takes to do what he did! We talk about Him being silent before His accusers, without a thought. If you have ever gotten into a fight with a sibling and then brought before a parent and asked each to explain what happened, you may now how hard it can be to keep from interrupting the other while he twists the story to his own advantage and your detriment, now perhaps you will do the same come your turn but at least you know that you will have a chance to say something and know that justice will be administered. Imagine if you weren't before justice and you knew you would not be believed though you spoke the truth! Indeed, when with a word he could have summoned ten legions of angels, which, by the way, is a temptation none of us could have resisted, yet His love was so great, He chose to deny His own nature and bear on His back the weight of numberless transgressions for His own ungrateful rebellious creatures! What wondrous love is this? Nothing from this planet!
I have a song I want to share with you all to day in light of this momentous day! "Alas, and did my Saviour bleed?" I think we all know the traditional tune but I wanted to share this beautiful arrangement with you today. I usually don't like people tampering around with the traditional hymn tunes, but I think this tune accurately conveys the message of Watt's hymn in a truly majestic arrangement. Note the rich, contrasting harmonies and the crisp pronunciation of the words. Truly a masterpiece! Also, the first verse has been changed. I couldn't find a version without it but I will share the original lines below. I guess people don't like calling themselves worms, but I think we really are as worms in God's sight! To use "worm", highlights the contrast and shows how mighty was the gulf that God did span at Calvary!
Alas! and did my Savior bleed And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head For such a worm as I?
Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine— And bathed in its own blood— While the firm mark of wrath divine, His Soul in anguish stood.
Was it for crimes that I had done He groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity! grace unknown! And love beyond degree!
Well might the sun in darkness hide And shut his glories in, When Christ, the mighty Maker died, For man the creature’s sin.
Thus might I hide my blushing face While His dear cross appears, Dissolve my heart in thankfulness, And melt my eyes to tears.
But drops of grief can ne’er repay The debt of love I owe: Here, Lord, I give my self away ’Tis all that I can do.
Indeed, 'tis all that I can do! May you give yourself away to Him fully, this day as we remember that great sacrifice!
I completely forgot about Palm Sunday until today; not that I forgot it was happening but it never occurred to me that it would be nice to post about it! At first I thought, "All Glory Laud and Honor", of course, I should have no problem finding a video, right? Wrong! I spent half my afternoon searching for a simple arrangement with only the three verses and nothing else. Couldn't find a thing; either the verses were all mixed up or the choristers waving their palm branches, and the priests swinging their censors and waving their crosses, were simply too distracting, or it was a medley with another song, or the words were unintelligible, or, as was most common, all of those at once! Finally I gave it up! I have an excellent recording of it on a CD which is next on my list of songs to post on youtube, but I haven't done it yet, being that I still have to create a slide for it and write out all the words. So I will instead share with you my previous youtube project which is also a "Palm Sunday song".
"Come Ye Faithful, Raise The Strain"
After I reviewed this one, I decided that I like it better right now, (granted, listening to the same song over several times will make any other song seem attractive!) The song, is a call to believers to come and sing of Christ and His great works. In the first verse the writer, John of Damascus(696-754), speaks of God's works in Israel when He led them from Egypt. He goes on to describe how our sins flew from the light of Christ's resurrection on that Easter morning. In verse three, he relates Jesus' coming to Jerusalem, and, in verse four, His triumph and power over death!
Come, ye faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness; God hath brought forth Israel into joy from sadness; Loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke Jacob’s sons and daughters, Led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.
’Tis the spring of souls today; Christ has burst His prison, And from three days’ sleep in death as a sun hath risen; All the winter of our sins, long and dark, is flying From His light, to Whom we give laud and praise undying.
Now the queen of seasons, bright with the day of splendor, With the royal feast of feasts, comes its joy to render; Comes to glad Jerusalem, who with true affection Welcomes in unwearied strains Jesus’ resurrection.
Neither might the gates of death, nor the tomb’s dark portal, Nor the watchers, nor the seal hold Thee as a mortal; But today amidst the twelve Thou didst stand, bestowing That Thy peace which evermore passeth human knowing.
The tune in the video above was the oldest tune Ave Virgo Virginum, written in the fifteen hundreds by Johann Roh, but when Arthur S. Sullivan wrote "St. Kevin" in the eighteen hundreds, this tune became the most popular and is the one you'll find first if you search youtube! This tune is lovely as well, but I prefer the former, perhaps because that is the one I grew up with! but if you would like to hear "St. Kevin", here is a link to it, http://youtu.be/U_UvwsR84v0 .
Once more, I beg your pardon for my tardiness and wish you a wonderful Resurrection day! What a glorious Lord we have, "Lowly and humble, seated on a donkey, even the foal of a beast of burden!"
To this man we must ever be indebted for one hymn that has stood the test of time and come through as one of the most popular hymns ever written; "Rock of Ages" by Augustus Toplady. It is, indeed, a rich theological hymn and full of praise to the Almighty; however, be that as it may, the hymn was born not out of a personal need or experience, though indeed, Toplady was inspired to write it when he found himself caught in a storm and found shelter underneath a large, overhanging rock by the side of the road, but the hymn itself is an aimed spear shaft at the fundemental teachings of Arminianism of which John Wesley was a leader. The two men had been friends in their youth when Toplady was a young christian and still held to the Methodist teachings but this changed drastically when he became convinced of the doctrines of Predestination, Election and other similar teachings that make up reformed teaching. The disagreements became so sharp that Wesley and Toplady became bitter enemies and were continually sparring with eatchother for the rest of their coexistence. There was fault on both sides and black marks on both of these men's records but I have not introduced this man to speak of those things. But you can see the frequent jabs at Arminianism in the verses; notice where he says, "Be of sin the double cure, save me from its guilt and power." which is a direct stab at the Methodist doctrine which states that there are two processes in the saving of a man; first he is saved from his sin nature by the blood of Christ when he repents and asks him into his heart; and then he is cleansed wholly from inward sin by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We know this teaching is erroneous for it not only teaches that the blood of Christ is inadequate to save us wholly, but it also teaches that full Sanctification can be achieved before death! But, any way, Toplady turned this to his own use and asked Christ to be his complete "Double Cure" as opposed to needing the Holy Spirit to help things along. Some say that Toplady actually wrote "Be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure." But after doing a bit of research on the subject I have become convinced that his original verse consisted of the former version. Also notice the lines "Could my zeal no languor know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone thou must save and thou alone!" Which is yet another stab at the idea that we could do something to save ourselves and consequently could lose our salvation. Which, I must say, is a horrible thought. Because if I had anything to do with my own salvation; I would most assuredly be damned. I am such a fallen creature that, as John Macarthur so aptly stated, "If I could lose it (salvation) I would lose it!" it is also fearfully presumptuous to say that it is possible for us to get ourselves to heaven! I am so glad that God hasn't left any part of our salvation up to us! But I fear I have just succeeded in boring my readers to the point of scrolling hastily through the rest of the page and leaving the half of it unread and unwanted. So, here are the four verses of the hymn, as far as I can figure, in their original state and want to leave you with one note: the last verse has often, in more recent years, been changed to read "When I soar to worlds unknown, and behold Thee on Thy throne!" Instead of "When I soar to worlds unknown, see Thee on Thy judgement throne!" I believe this was done to escape thinking about God's judgement or merely because in this day people can't stand the thought of God judging any one; this change vexes me sorely and I must admit I rather fear that this may eventually become the accepted version. So please, sing it the right way and teach it to your children that it may not be lost! We don't want to lose the balance of grace or truth!
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee; Let the water and the blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure; Save me from its guilt and pow'r.
Not the labor of my hands Can fulfill Thy law’s demands; Could my zeal no languor know, Could my tears forever flow, All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to the cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress; Helpless look to Thee for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath, When my eye-strings break in death
When I soar to worlds unknown, See Thee on Thy judgment throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.
May God be our Rock and may we find in Him our hiding place!
