Archive by Author | Sherry

Hymn #6: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Oct17

Lyrics: Robert Robinson, 1757

Music: NETTLETON, attributed to Asahel Nettleton.

Theme: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30.

Several CCM artists and groups and choirs have recorded version of this old hymn. The words have been revised many times over the years and even the “traditional version” that most of us know is not really the version that Robinson first wrote. I’m rather fond of this musical version by Sufjan Stevens, and the video that is posted with it (African wildlife photos by Nick Brandt) grows on you:

As for lyrics, these are the words I learned in church growing up:

1. Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy unchanging love.

2. Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

3. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

You can see several other variations, including Robinson’s original words, at Wikipedia. Interestingly enough, none of the lyrics at Wikipedia matches exactly the the words we sing at my church. Someone in my church, I think, objected to the words “prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love” (conflicting with the doctrine of eternal security of the believer?), and so we sing something like ” Sorely tempted, Lord I feel it, Pulled to grieve the God I love.” I find the change unnecessary, but also not worth the bother of protesting.

There is an unsubstantiated story that Mr. Robinson did wander from the fold of Christianity in later years, but others dispute the veracity of the story. You can read more about it in the Christian History article linked below.

Sources:
Did Robert Robinson Wander As He Had Feared?, Glimpses of Christian History, June 9.

Cybils Verse Novels

Oct17

All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg.

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engle.

A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.
~Robert Frost

Both of these books fit Mr. Frost’s statement about poetry; they’re both about a sense of wrong, a homesickness, and a lovesickness. However, with the first, All the Broken Pieces, I got a lump in the throat. With the second, I only thought, “How interesting! Holocaust refugees in Cuba.”

I’m thinking that makes All the Broken Pieces better poetry. It’s also a more emotionally engaging story. Matt Pin, the narrator of the story, is the son of a Vietnamese woman and an American soldier. His mother sends him on one of the last refugee flights out of VIetnam after the war so that he can live a life in country where he won’t suffer for being part American. However, Matt is never sure whether his “other mother” just wanted him to leave because of what happened to his little brother. Matt loves his “now father” and his “now mother,” but he’s not entirely sure they really will be there for him even if he disappoints them. So, Matt is sort of lost between cultures, not knowing where or how to belong. He also deals with prejudice, finds peace in playing music, and finds a way to excel as a pitcher on the school baseball team. Here’s a brief sample of the one of the story poems in this novel:

Music is soothing.

Music is not like words.

Words are messy.
Words spill out
like splattered blood,
oozing in every direction
leaving stains
that won’t come out
no matter how hard you scrub.

But not music.
Even when it’s so loud
you can’t hear anything else,
music lulls you to sleep.

Right now,
I need music.

Other bloggers on All the Broken Pieces: Reading Junky, A Year of Reading, Saecker at Kid’s Lit.

Tropical Secrets was also about a boy, Daniel, sent away by his parents for his safety. In this book the parents are Jews living in Hitler’s Germany. They scrape together all the funds they have to send their son to safety in another country, and Daniel ends up in Cuba. Daniel, like Matt, is unsure of himself and of how he fits into this new and strange-to-him culture. Like Matt, Daniel finds solace in music. Maybe I just didn’t identify with Daniel so strongly because the poems in the book are not all from David’s point of view. Some of the poems tell the story from the point of view of a Cuban girl, Paloma, and others from the elderly vantage point of David, a Jewish Russian refugee who has been in Cuba for many years.

Becky loved Tropical Secrets. Rasco from RIF says it’s a ” special experience from the illustrated cover to the final words.” Book Addict found it to be “very emotional.” Fuse #8 says it’s “a remarkable novel about an amazing and true moment you probably will not find in your average elementary school world history textbook.”

I just couldn’t get the feel of it, no lump in the throat.

Opportunity for Afghanistan

Oct16

I received the following email from a friend who is working in another country on literacy materials for the deaf and hearing-impaired:

I am looking for a deaf volunteer in Herat, Afghanistan who can help us help illiterate Afghani deaf learn to read.

How? I found a team from Houston headed to Herat, Afghanistan later this month and they graciously offered to video the Afghani hand signs so we can put them in the free His Hands Reader program. We can make this available for free to the Afghani deaf.

Why? There are 600,000 deaf in Afghanistan that are illiterate.

The videographer’s window of availability in Herut is only Oct 31 thru Nov 2. The task should take only about 10 hours to film the 1700 hand signs.

What? The His Hands Reader project will in turn produce and distribute a free DVD containing the video lexicon for the 1700 words in English and French. We can add any of the other 40+ text languages of Afghanistan if volunteers surface to add them. The DVD materials will also include a video reading primer from the book of Genesis.

If you are interested in helping with this project, please email me (I will forward your email to my friend) or leave a comment. My email is sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom.

Poetry Friday: Books

Oct16

Book Tower
My Books by Francis Bennoch
I love my books as drinkers love their wine;
The more I drink, the more they seem divine;
With joy elate my soul in love runs o’er,
And each fresh draught is sweeter than before.
Books bring me friends where’er on earth I be, –
Solace of solitude, – bonds of society!

I love my books! they are companions dear,
Sterling in worth, in friendship most sincere;
Here talk I with the wise in ages gone,
And with the nobly gifted of our own.
If love, joy, laughter, sorrow please my mind,
Love, joy, grief, laughter in my books I find.

Old English Song:
OH for a booke and a shadie nook
Either in-doors or out ;
With the grene leaves whisp’ring overhead,
Or the streete cryes all about,
Where I may reade all at my ease,
Both of the new and olde ;
For a jollie goode booke whereon to looke,
Is better to me than golde.

Hymn #7: How Great Thou Art

Oct15

Lyrics: Karl Gustav Boberg in Swedish, translated into English by Stuart K. Hine and Joseph Bayly.

Music: Swedish folk melody.

Theme:

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
Psalm 8:1,3-4

This beloved hymn, popularized by George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows in Billy Graham’s crusades, was translated from a Swedish poem written by Swedish pastor Karl Gustav Boberg in 1885. Karl Boberg wrote of the hymn’s origins:

It was that time of year when everything seemed to be in its richest coloring; the birds were singing in trees and everywhere. It was very warm; a thunderstorm appeared on the horizon and soon thunder and lightning. We had to hurry to shelter. But the storm was soon over and the clear sky appeared.

“When I came home I opened my window toward the sea. There evidently had been a funeral and the bells were playing the tune of ‘When eternity’s clock calling my saved soul to its Sabbath rest.’ That evening, I wrote the song, ‘O Store Gud.'”

The Swedish hymn lyrics were translated into German, then into Russian, and in the early 1930’s British missionary couple Stuart and Edith Hine heard the hymn in Russia, and Stuart began writing down the lyrics and writing new verses of his own, all still in the Russian language. Later, he translated two verses of the Russian version hymn into English and added two verses of his own. Manna Music purchased rights to the song from Hine in 1954 and published it, changing the words “works” and “mighty” in Hine’s original translation to “worlds” and “rolling”.

This is the version of the poem/lyrics that Billy Graham and his team were given in 1954 at Graham’s Harringay Crusade. The song was used in other crusades, but it really became popular when it was used at the Madison Square Garden Billy Graham Crusade in 1957. Here’s the man himself, George Beverly Shea, singing this classic hymn back in 1969.

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Refrain:
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee:
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Verse 2:
When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

Verse 3:
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:

Verse 4:
When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Cecelia: “The music to this combined with the vivid word pictures has always made this a favorite–rolling thunder, power throughout the universe displayed. You just can’t help but think of this hymn and thus God during thunderstorms, and for a little girl (and grown woman) who is afraid of them, it gives such peace.”

Sources:
Veleky Bog: How Great Is Our God by Michael Ireland. Assist News Service.
All About God: How Great Thou Art.

Wednesday’s Whatever: My Take on the News

Oct14

President Obama and the NObel Peace Prize: I’m with Thomas Friedman. I really hope Mr. Obama gives a speech similar to this one.

Fascinating: a “new” painting by Leonardo da Vinci.

Could someone just talk Olympia Snowe into joining the Democrats –officially?

“There are many miles to go in this legislative journey,” Snowe said. “My vote today is my vote today. It doesn’t forecast what my vote will be tomorrow.”

My point exactly: Let the Democrats figure out how she’s going to vote tomorrow.

Bo Snerdly is a black man? And why can’t Rush Limbaugh buy anything he wants if he’s got the money, honey, and the sellers have got the time?

Daniel Zalewski writes in the New Yorker about Picture Book Kids Misbehaving. I’m not sure if parents in picture books are any more ineffectual than they ever were, but I did have a parent thank me the other day for the selection of books in my preschool curriculum Picture Book Preschool. She said the books she usually finds at the library often feature snotty, impertinent children.

That’s all for today. Maybe next week (or tomorrow) I’ll have more to say.

Hymn #8: Holy, Holy, Holy

Oct13

Lyrics: Reginald Heber, 1826.

Music: NICAEA by John Bacchus Dykes, 1861.

Theme: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” Revelation 4:8.

Steve Webb’s Lifespring Hymn Stories: Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!

This hymn was written specifically to be sung on Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost, eight weeks after Easter Sunday. Heber’s hymn was considered by Alfred, Lord Tennyson to be one of the fines hymns ever written. Heber was appointed Anglican bishop of Calcutta (which included responsibility for all of India, Sri Lanka, and Australia), and he was known for his hard work and devotion to the evangelization of the Indian people.

1. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

2. Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert and art and everymore shall be!

3. Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see,
Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power, in love, and purity!

4. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Texas Tuesday: Remember the Alamo

Oct13

To the People of Texas & all Americans in the World
Fellow Citizens and Compatriots,

I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country. Victory or Death.

William Barret Travis Lt. Col.

My Texas History and Literature class at our homeschool co-op will be choosing from the following books for their next reading assignment:

The Boy in the Alamo by Margaret Cousins. Fiction set in the Alamo, 1836. Corona Publishing, 1983. Ms. Cousins very much presents the Texans’ side and the traditional account of the Alamo story through the eyes of her fictional hero, twelve year old Billy Campbell. Billy runs away from home and follows his older brother Buck who has joined Davy Crockett’s Tennessee Volunteers.

I Remember the Alamo by D. Ann Love. Jessie is angry with her father for moving the family out of their home in Kentucky all the way to Texas. Then when Pa and Jessie’s old brother Yancy leave the family to join up with Colonel Fannin Texan army, Jessie has even more reason to be angry —and afraid.

A Line in the Sand: The Alamo Diary of Lucinda Lawrence Gonzales, Texas, 1836 by Sherry Garland. Twelve year old Lucinda Lawrence records in her diary the experiences of her family before, during, and after the siege of the Alamo.

The Mystery of the Alamo Ghost by Carole Marsh. Christian and her brother Grant visit the Alamo with their grandparents because their grand mother is writing a mystery story set in the Alamo. Then, the kids run into a real-life mystery involving a seemingly real ghost.

Susanna of the Alamo: A True Story by John Jakes. Susanna of the Alamo tells the story of the only Texan survivors of the Alamo, Susanna Dickinson and her baby.

Inside the Alamo by Jim Murphy. Nonfiction by award-winning author Jim Murphy. Mr. Murphy tells the story of the Alamo factually, but he doesn’t mind telling readers when there is controversy about what happened. Inside the Alamo presents the known facts and allows readers to decide on their interpretation.

Hymn #9: And Can It Be That I Should Gain?

Oct12

Lyrics: Charles Wesley, 1739.

Music: SAGINA by Thomas Campbell, 1835.

Theme: There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:1-2.

Although I like this hymn very much, I’m rather surprised that it came in at number nine on this list. I don’t think I even heard of it until we came to the church we now attend, an Evangelical Free church. Maybe it’s not a Baptist hymn.

Some of the people who listed or wrote about this hymn had the following comments:
Jawan McGinnis: “Why did he die for me? I deserve nothing! I turned against him and went my own way but he chased and wooed me. I was helpless but he found me. I long for a life that lives in with the purpose of glorifying him in all things.”
Jennifer Donovan: This hymn rivals any praise chorus in my mind for evoking emotion (especially if it’s sung at a nice brisk tempo).
Sharon: An old pastor used to say, sing the exclamation points!
Subversive Influence: “This is one of those hymns which brims with wonder and resounds with gospel truth. They don’t write them much like that anymore. Boldly approaching the throne, mercy immense and free. These are lyrics upon which one can — and should — spend time feasting and meditating.”

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Enjoy the congregational singing in the video embedded above. One of the best side benefits of being a Christian and a church member is that we get to sing our hearts out every Sunday, no matter whether you’re a trained vocalist or a tuneless wonder. Everybody gets to sing, all together, unison or parts, loud or soft, as you will, to the Lord. Where do nonChristians go to sing like that? Singing along with the radio is all very well, but it’s not the same as singing out all of the emotions and worship in one’s heart along with a group in full voice. And I get to do this every single week, sometimes more frequently than once a week!

And I have something to sing about!

Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Oct12

“When I write I can be heard. And known.
But nobody has to look at me. Nobody has to see me at all.”

Jason Blake is twelve years old. He writes stories on a website called Storyboard. Jason is NOT neurotypical. He is autistic.

This story, told from the point of view of an autistic boy who is also very gifted in the area of language and creative writing, makes me want to know more about how other people think, especially those who are not mainstream, not what we would call normal. Reading about someone who is autistic or mentally different in some other way always teaches me more about the thought processes and communication protocols that we who are neurotypical take for granted. As Jason’s mom says toward the end of the book, taking a trip with Jason teaches her (and me) more about ourselves.

And this story asks questions that I’m not prepared to answer completely, but that are important questions:

What is love exactly? Jason says, “Love is like yellow. Warm and safe.” If you can’t really express love to someone in a language that the beloved can understand, is it still love? Does love only become real when it’s understood and accepted? Or is it there all the time, working and making the loved one warm and safe, even if he can’t understand?

How much do computers assist in communication and how much and in what ways do they hinder true communication? Jason’s only means of communication is his computer where he writes stories and sends messages to the outside world. However, Jason not only uses his computer; he hides behind it. When an opportunity comes for him to meet a girl that he has only known via the internet, Jason is terrified. He knows that when people meet him in person, they find him difficult and somewhat repellant. Jason uses the computer to reveal himself to others, and he also uses his computer skills as a bridge to neurotypical world. However, the computer can also protect him from reality and from trying to live up to the expectations of others. Is this kind of protection a good thing or a bad one? Is the help and protection that Jason gets from his mom and his dad and his aide at school good or bad? Probably a bit of both, and it’s difficult for them to know how much to push Jason to act “normal” and how much to protect him from the cruelty in the world and how much to just allow him to be who he is.

“Why tell a story if there is no one there to read it? Why make a sound if no one will hear it?”
One answer to these questions is given by a character in the book: “Writing is all we have. . . . All we are, all we can be, are the stories we tell.”
There may be other answers. If you knew no one would ever read your blog, would you still write? If I were alone in the universe, or if my only audience were God, could I still live? Would I have any reason to live?

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot of this wonderful children’s novel, but I do want to assure you that Anything But Typical tells a story worth reading . . . and thinking about . . . and reading again . . . and even praying about perhaps. How can we love the unlovely in a way that they can experience? How can communication happen between people who speak completely different languages? How can we experience the love of other people and of God when each of has his own limitations and language barriers?