Maybe
you’ve seen the merchandize that says, “I’m silently correctly your grammar.”
(Here’s one place to start if you’d like to purchase any.) Or maybe you’re one
of the types who already purchased some. Yes, I must confess. Grammar nazi is
one of my vices. I’m a stickler for accuracy in anything I read. I recently
heard about a man who sneaks around England at night correcting error’s
errors on signs. It’s not something to which I aspire, but I understand his
motivations.
Grammar.
Punctuation. Spelling. Word usage. Years ago, I worked as a technical editor,
and I still can’t turn off that side of me. Indeed, one thing I learned early
in my writing career was to never read my work after publication, so I wouldn’t
see the errors that made it into print. To this day, I silently wince when I
see errors in books, on signs, in news stories, or on the projector screens at
church (when I’m supposed to be concentrating on using the words of the song to
praise God, and all I can think about is the punctuation error on the wall).
One of
the songs that gets me every time is “Amazing Grace.”
When we've been there ten
thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We've no less days to sing God's praise, Than when we first begun.
Do you
see the phrase that annoys me? A common word usage mistake many
people make is to misuse fewer/less. Use fewer
for things you can count: I have fewer M&Ms than you (so hand some over).
Use less for things you can’t count:
I put less butter on my toast this morning because I’ve decided I need to cut
back. (That’s what happens when I eat too many M&Ms.)
So why
would the writer say “We’ve no less days”? Days can be counted, so fewer is the grammatically correct word
choice…except the topic is eternity, and in eternity, the days can’t be
counted. Is this
a usage error to keep the phrase to four syllables? Or is it a brilliant use
of the English language to make a point? I haven’t decided, but I must admit,
it certainly focuses my mind on the meaning of the words every time.
(Oh, and if you find a typo in this post? Please don't tell me. Its all ready published, so there's nothing I can due.)
As web mistress for our church, I update the website and social media pages, and place Facebook ads when necessary. That means researching images and videos when we're hosting special guests. Last week, I was previewing videos for the Watoto Children's Choir out of Uganda, East Africa, and I was struck by the sheer joy they show when they're singing and dancing.
As I watched their video I was drawn to the abandonment with which they sing and dance. They reminded me of King David in 2 Samuel 6 when he is bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jersulam and we read in verses 14 & 15: "Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets."
Did you see that...dancing with all his might. With his arms waving and knees raised high like the Watoto kids in the video? Yes, I can picture it. Another example using joy in singing came to light this week as I watched a video of Revv52, a Calgary-based performance group. Our daughter Jessica had to go through 2 auditions before being accepted as a soprano in this unique group. Sometimes they are accompanied by a band, and at other times they sing a cappella. In the following video, you can see Jessica at the 13-15 second mark as she appears on the right side. She's the brunette in the lacy top with her hair partially pulled back, exactly as you see her in the cropped photo above.
And although this next video of Revv52 was taped prior to Jessica's joining last fall, I felt their joy as they sang and danced to Pharrell Williams' tune, Happy... Jessica has been on my mind this week because on March 20th she'll appear with Revv52 at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
That's quite an adventure for a small town prairie girl, yet it shows what can be done when you accept and use God's gifts. The joy of singing has always been in Jessica's blood and it shows on her face when she lifts her voice.
Just like it shows on the faces and movements of the Watoto kids...Spirit-filled and dancing with joy. The Watoto kids sing and dance with joy now, but it wasn't always so. The fact that they are part of the Watoto holistic organization means that before they were rescued, they were one of 4,000 children who were orphans, former child soldiers, or born to rebel leaders during the civil war. Today, Watoto has over 3000 of these children in their care. But Watoto isn't just the children. It restores dignity to women in "vulnerable" situations, empowering them with literacy, business and practical skills which ensure their own children have a better future. When was the last time you sang or danced with joy?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anita Mae Draper's stories are written under the western skies where she lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. When she's not writing, Anita enjoys photography, research, and travel, and is especially happy when she can combine the three in one trip. Anita's current release is Romantic Refinements, a novella in Austen in Austin Volume 1, WhiteFire Publishing, January 2016. Anita is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at www.anitamaedraper.com
When I was a girl…no, wait, not even that long ago,
congregational singing at church involved a piano, an organ, and a hymnal. The
music leader would announce the next song and the hymn number, then we in the
congregation would reach forward to grab the volume of songs from the rack on the pew in
front of us. If you were daydreaming and missed the announcement, it was
generally okay because most churches also posted the numbers on a board at the
front of the church.
The hymns themselves were almost always in four-part
harmony. Four verses and a chorus was a common pattern, although there were
variations (like three verses and a chorus, or four verses and no chorus). At
some churches, we sang all the verses all the time; at others, the minister
would instruct the congregation to only sing selected verses—usually because he
ran overtime on the sermon. (Later, as an organist, I discovered I had to pay
special attention during this time. And yes, I am guilty of both the
started-an-extra-verse after the congregation finished and the
didn’t-start-the-last-verse while the congregation gamely tried to sing without
me mistakes because I’d miscounted verses.)
I knew the era of hymn singing was coming to a close when I
recently attended my mother’s very small, very traditional church in a
yet-rural part of the country. The words are now on a screen and a bass guitar
accompanies the piano and organ. While the congregation hasn’t yet exchanged
the old hymns for modern praise music or added drums to the ensemble, I figure
it’s only a matter of time. How much longer before hymnals disappear from
sanctuaries altogether? I expect it to be within my lifetime.
And I find that rather sad. I always enjoyed checking out
the hymnal when I attended to a different church. You could tell so much about
a congregation just by peaking through those pages of songs, recitations, catechisms,
responsive readings, and service forms. Do the stately hymns and
precisely-worded forms suggest I will get a formal, liturgical service? Will
the congregation recite creeds? Or are those pages filled with handclapping,
power-in-the-blood, old-time-religion songs? And since I can read music, the
printed notes and rhythms let me participate even if I encountered a new-to-me
tune.
Typical hymnbooks were arranged by subject—all the Christmas
songs together, for instance. In addition to the music itself, most listed the names of the composers and lyricists, sometimes with their birth/death
dates. Oh, the names I saw over and over: Fanny J. Crosby, Isaac Watts, Charles
Wesley, Philip Brooks. Some books included a tune name (if the music was composed
at a different time from the words), a suggested introduction for the accompanists, and
the meter. Meter is the number of syllables per line—for example, “Amazing
Grace” and “O God Our Help in Ages Past” both have a meter of 8 6 8 6. You
could sing either lyrics to either tune and come out with the correct number of
notes. (Go ahead, try it. It really works. In fact, the 8 6 8 6 meter is so
frequently used, it’s also known as “common meter.”)
Hymn singing is on the decline, particularly among
evangelical Protestants (I did a Google search on “hymn singing decline” and
got almost half a million links), which is rather ironic given that the hymns
themselves were designed to be sing-able. They had simple melodies and
straightforward rhythms so ordinary people wouldn’t find the range beyond their
ability or the rhythm too complicated for a group of people with widely varying
skill levels. The music is relatively easy for a keyboardist of intermediate
ability to play (a necessary quality from the time when many churches were
small and lacked professional musicians), and yet, the songs are complex enough
they can be arranged for virtuoso musicians with amazing results.
While I enjoy contemporary Christian music (in fact, I enjoy
most music, except perhaps bluegrass, rap, and jazz), I feel like something
valuable is rapidly disappearing from our culture. Protestants have been
praising God through hymns for nearly 500 years, since Martin Luther penned “A
Mighty Fortress is Our God” shortly after he nailed those 95 theses to the
door. It was revolutionary at a time of Latin-only services—common people
praising God in their native languages. During our Sunday singing only old
hymns (from the screen, remember), I noticed that my younger two sons were a
bit lost. I’m sure they’ve heard the songs since our church incorporates a
mixture of music into services—but they just weren’t familiar with them like I
was at their age.
I have somewhere around a half dozen different hymnals in my
house. Sometimes I open them up to random pages and play favorites I haven’t
heard in years. Here are two versions of a favorite (one of too many to list) I love to pull out and play. The first version, performed by a small a cappella group, shows the simplicity of the song. The second, an arrangement for virtuoso organ solo, demonstrates what a proficient musician can do with such a seemingly simple piece.
Please share some of your favorite hymns. I'll be happily humming them over the weekend.
The Opera Company of Philadelphia delights and inspires a mall full of people with this glorious cultural surprise:
I so wish I could be in the middle of one of these. How lovely would
it be if, everywhere we went, people were glorifying God like this.
And He SHALL reign forever and ever!
Amen.
Have you ever done a random act of praise? What kind of response did you get?
DeAnna Julie Dodson has always been an avid reader and a lover of storytelling, whether on the page, the screen or the stage.
This, along with her keen interest in history and her Christian
faith, shows in her tales of love, forgiveness and triumph over
adversity. She is the author ofIn Honor Bound, By Love RedeemedandTo Grace Surrendered, a trilogy of medieval romances, as well asLetters in the Attic and The Key in the Attic, contemporary mysteries. Her new series of Drew Farthering Mysteries will debut in the Summer of 2013 with Rules of Murder from Bethany House. A fifth-generation Texan, she makes her home north of Dallas with three spoiled cats.
It's Christmas Day. Hallelujah! We're celebrating Jesus birthday today and praising God for sending us His Son. And what better way than to lift your voice in song.
We attend a small country church where a couple families take turns leading worship.
This first video is Richard and Lorette Keller and their son, Clayton leading worship with Silent Night at our recent Christmas Service.
My husband, Nelson and our 16 yr old son, Nick took their turn a couple weeks ago and led worship with O Little Town of Bethlehem.
And I wanted to share Nick's first a cappella performance with his rendition of Mary, Did You Know? which he sang at the Christmas Service.
Again, I say, Hallelujah!
From all the Inkies, may you have a blessed Christmas and safe holiday season.
We, the ladies of Inkwell Inspirations, would love to give free stuff to everybody. Since we can't, we will often have a giveaway in conjunction with a specific post. Unless otherwise stated, one winner will be drawn from comments left on that post between the date it was published and the end of the giveaway as determined in the post. Entries must be accompanied by a valid email address. This address is used only to contact the commenter in the event that he/she is the winner, and will not be sold, distributed, or used in any other fashion. The odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. NO PURCHASE, PLEDGE, OR DONATION NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. ALL FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
