Nothing to Envy

I highly recommend this book. The author, Barbara Demick, after spending years interviewing North Korean defectors, weaves each of their stories into an informative and even spellbinding documentary.

this holy tide of Christmas, all others doth deface

1st Grade today:

Teacher sings all the verses to "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". (teacher is thinking in her head: this song is really old, why am I making 1st graders sing all these words they don't know?)

Teacher sings verse 1.

Students sing verse 1.

Teacher (Me): (writing on the board) Tidings = news.

Student who I thought wasn't listening: Oh I get it! I get it! I get the whole song! It's like 'Jesus is born! Jesus is born! Jesus is born'! (not sure why he waxed poetic right then)

Me: Yes, it's like, someone came and said, "Guess what I have good news! Jesus came!" And the angels were telling the shepherds the good news...

Student who I thought wasn't listening: It's like, I have good news, I have a new monster truck for you!

Student who is apparently right with me *says something about songs about Christmas

Me: Yes that news was so great that people were happy enough to write hundreds and thousands of songs about it! Was there ever any other news that made people THAT happy?!

Students who are usually right with me: no, no, there never was!

Student whose IQ is little too high for my taste: What if it was like... God sent a huge pinata down from heaven, and a really big angel hit the pinata and all these little angels came out and were singing...



So take that all you 'old song naysayers'. Today I prepared my kids for the Christmas program, SAT's, gave them some apologetics, brainstormed on a future pinata themed Christmas pageant, and the kids managed to be 100x more charming than if we had been playing some sort of age-appropriate singing game.

facebook and friendliness

Apparently I haven't cleaned out inbox messages from 2007. I was a lot less jaded back then. Facebook was an exciting tool to get back in touch with old acquaintances and friends, and I shamelessly inboxed people to see how they were doing, strike up conversations, talk shop or talk church.

Now that stuff needs to happen in person or I feel like a creeper, or conversely, that I've somehow made an important friendship less sacred. I guess it's a combination of evolution of facebook; and me getting more socially intelligent and realizing that not everyone and their mom wants to hear from me.

Psalm-singing

So every year I write and put on a little show for "Grandparent's Day" at school. This year I themed it on the Pilgrims. I decided to feed my purist/history geek/reformed side and make the kids sing psalms, since that's what the Pilgrims sung. The result has been somewhat boring.

When I was younger singing those 400 year old psalm tunes in a congregational setting was an amazing aesthetic experience for me.

Now as a music educator and all-around sacred music proponent my search for that tune that will get others excited about singing psalms has not been very successful.

I'll be honest, I could do a lot more research. I misplaced the one psalter that I own, and I have always balked at buying a psalter because I just want the real deal like the Geneva Psalter or the Scottish Psalter. (Camera flashes back to me, begging a Philadelphia music pastor to borrow a psalter cause I know I have to pick out music for Grandparents Day. There goes THAT networking opportunity, now that he knows I'm a freak.)

But I know that however much I search, most of those psalm tunes are going to be very plain and not hugely marketable to my people.

I want someone to compile the old tunes (Scottish Psalter, Genevan Psalter) that are most sung today by psalm-singing congregations. I don't know why the OPC hymnal only has a few psalms. And it seems like publishers tend to publish a lot of untested compositions when they put out a new psalter or hymnal. Someone just tell me the good stuff, please.

Anyway here are some interesting websites I came across.

Here are all the tunes of the Genevan Psalter, recorded by this one guy. He is in my itunes now. I don't know how that helps except that one day, if I learn these by listening, when I own a Psalter and I'm having my devotions it will be easier meditate on the words as I sing them. I didn't take the time to listen to these before making the 'Grandparents Day' script.

And then I came across what Doug Wilson's church does. Apparently the guy there is composing new psalm tunes. My mom heard one of the videos in this article and said "so they went back to chant?" It's definitely not chant but I can see the parallels.

Anyway, I know as a musicologist I have much to learn (I'm describing the tunes as "simple, plain" when I should be saying "unmetered, syllabic" etc., and I don't know my psalter 'genealogies'). But I'm just throwing it out here, on my blog, that I'm interested in this stuff and I want to learn more.

Also I'm using this forum to say that I feel terribly bad for making my students practice psalm tunes all week and learn ALL the verses to 'Come Ye Thankful People Come.' November to January lesson plans are going to be ALL pagan singing games and folk dances.

the faith of a child

Luca, a first grader, composed a song on the bus. Some older girls sitting near him helped him with the rhyme scheme. He included a chunk of the Apostles Creed and has the makings of what could be a musical bridge.

I have a recording if you're interested. Not sure about I feel about putting students' stuff on my blog.

Margie, another first grader not to be outdone (or maybe just inspired), wanted to sing a song to me after class today

Her song also dealt with praise to God.

The sacred theme of their songs in contrast with almost the almost all secular curriculum I implement in music class (they sing one hymn per class and all their other sacred songs are learned in the regular classroom or chapel) reminded me of something my professor said this summer. My professor teaches in a Catholic university and found that her students most closely identified with choral music with sacred texts; because, she said, of their upbringing.

Luca and Margie, and even these college freshman, own something beautiful. They have a simple faith in God; not because they dialogued with proponents of every religion and then chose, not because they memorized books of the Bible, not because they read primary sources on canonicity; but because they believed what was told to them.

Is that kind of faith really beautiful? Aren't I supposed to give my children alternatives? To my way of thinking raising Christian kids does feel like a bit of brainwashing. But I can't ignore the fact that Jesus said 'Unless you have faith like a little child you cannot enter the kingdom of God.'

That kind of faith must be valid.

I have been accused of being sheltered from different worldviews and the otherwise nebulous 'world.' I suppose it could be conversely suggested that I have somewhat of a 'blind faith.' This accusation is not true, but I can only thank God that he accepted the faith in Him that I had when I was three, and ask him to continue to cultivate that faith that took seed back then.

'now say you're sorry!...'

Growing up Christian one often hears youth pastors and other teachers preach against 'going through the motions.'

I am here to preach for it.

Today I had a disagreement with a good friend. She texted me to say she was praying about the issue. I feel deeply that I am right. I don't want to pray about it; I just want her to stop putting me off by 'praying' and listen to my side of the story!

But guess what. Since she's praying, I have to pray too.

I don't want to, probably because she 'thought of it first.' But, I have to.

So, I prayed a prayer that I didn't feel. Lord, please show me the right way to act in this situation and change my heart if need be.

Only in my head it was more like (Becky grits her teeth) Lord... please... show... me... (grunt from exertion) how... to... act...

etc.

I will tell my children to apologize after a fight with their siblings, even if they aren't sorry.

I will pray with my children, even if they didn't think of it first.

I will pray that icky prayer again tonight...

hack thoughts on Eastern religion, forgive me for any ignorance

God's and Christ's relationship to one another provide food for thought regarding another question that has been nagging in my mind.

This summer I experienced a measure of peace and acceptance. Suffice it to say that it was relief from self-doubt, regret, and judging. I feel that the teachings and proverbs that brought me there stemmed from *eastern religion.

I live in the moment. I don't look to the past for nostalgia or regret. I don't look forward to a 'better time.' I accept where I am in my journey in life and I don't constantly wish to be more knowledgeable. I accept others because I know they are on a journey as well.

I know the Bible tells us to 'forget what's behind'. But stating the negative version of 'live in the moment' has not always solved my problem. In this case Yoda says it better, to my way of seeing things.

So I bought a book on Zen. I read the first two pages and realized that trying out any of that stuff means to go all out. Try it. Do it. Is that how the children of Israel felt when they worshiped idols? They wanted to try something new?

Though I don't know much about eastern religion; my gut feeling is that it is a rejection of a personal God. I have a feeling that in a way, the proverb about 'living in the moment' stems from a philosophy that is antithetical to my own worldview.

This is why: relationship.

On my 21 hour drive home from Minnesota I heard a sermon about the latter part of John 1. The pastor, Brian, was talking about Christ's reaction when John the Baptist's disciples started randomly following him.

They wanted to be Jesus' disciples because John told them Christ was the Lamb. They didn't know how to say that to Christ. Christ said "Why are you following me?" They said, "um, can we come over?" Christ said "sure."

As Pastor Brian said, Christ didn't say: "You want to be a Christ-follower? Ok. Believe in these three things and you're an official member." Instead he said: "let's hang out."

Relationships. It would seem that the highest realization of an 'Eastern' religion would advocate an inward meditation, one that is devoid of relationship with another person.

Perhaps a mystical relationship is achieved? A contrast with Christianity which asks us to literally dip ourselves in water and to literally taste bread and wine.

Here's another thing though:

Relationships in the real world are messy. They hurt. On the positive side, they are often based on memories and not 'living in the moment.' "Remember that time that we..." or, "you have proved a faithful friend." Do I reject all that for a peaceful, sterile, 'living in the moment?' Maybe I will, if those relationships hurt enough.

I feel that there are friends in my life that are denying my a chance to explain myself. Whether it is purposeful or not, whether they are hurting like I am or not, the thought exists: that I want reconciliation.

And I am finding that conversely there are other friends who I am not granting reconciliation to. But it's incredibly complicated. Even as a firm believer in communication, I don't know if we can fix the problem.

Relationships involve deep hurt and deep happiness.

All this is an allegory.

God offered us friendship. We blew it. He offered us reconciliation. Hence sin, evil, and unhappiness. Hence joy, peace, and gladness.

Here's to relationship.

*Disclaimer: I hope that my catch-all term 'eastern-religion' is not offensive to anyone. Perhaps there is a better term for specifically all the various forms of Buddhism and descendants of Hinduism? In this area I call upon the spirit of Bono "what you don't know you can feel it somehow" which is sort of my 'mantra' (haha mantra, get it?) this year.

I acknowledge that while any prominent religion is much more complex and well-reasoned than its opponents allow, and I have not studied in depth these religions, I do have a good measure of awareness of basic tenants of east-originated religions.

Finally, although the paradigm that has governed Christianity for the past 600-1000 years has been nicknamed 'western'; I am looking forward to discovering the 'eastern' in Jesus' teachings.