Grow Christians

songs

Abide With Me

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I don’t know much about dream analysis, but maybe I should look into it. I have vivid, sometimes outrageous dreams. I know that pandemics bring out weird dreams in many of us, but I can’t tell you that my dreams have gotten any more outrageous in the past six months. They’ve always been that way. When I was very young, I once had a dream that someone brought a handbag to church, and the tag read, “Thank you for purchasing this garment. The proceeds from the sale of this garment will fund the purchase of tobacco products for the cast of Mama’s Family.” Really.

At least twice, I have dreamed that I was marrying my husband, after we had already been married. Those dreams were joyful events, if a bit confusing. I’m always concerned that if we weren’t actually married when we thought we were married, that maybe we had accidentally been committing insurance fraud. These are the dreams of lawyers, friends. Those dreams usually happen at the threshold of a major event in our lives, like right before a cross-country move. So at those times, it would make sense that I’d be dreaming about commitment and my life together with my husband.

This week, I dreamed that my family and I were about to go somewhere. (We don’t go anywhere these days.) We had forgotten something, and so we stopped by a grocery store and all went inside. (Again, we haven’t done such a wild and outrageous thing since February, at least.) In my dream, I went to collect the items, and my children went off with my husband to a cafe section of the grocery store. The cafe had a piano, and I could hear my boys with my husband, trying out a tune on the piano.

In my dream, as I was checking out with my groceries, all of the patrons in the cafe were singing along with the piano, which my husband and sons were playing. And they were singing Abide With Me.

We don’t sing “Abide with Me” much in the Episcopal Church. It’s not in our hymnal. We sing it occasionally at funerals, but I almost always associate it with the scene in Steel Magnolias when Ouiser “admits” to “having an affair with a Mercedes Benz.”

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Songs From Our Hearts

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Last week, I was in the doctor’s office with a sick kid. My son had a HIGH fever, so he was not acting like himself. I knew he was sick because he was cuddled up in my lap as opposed to exploring everything around us. With his fever-flushed head on my chest, I found myself singing to him.

May the road rise with you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
May the rain fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you,
In the hollow of his hand.

The Irish Blessing just well, came out of me, ready to comfort him. This sweet fever-flushed boy swayed a bit as I sang. My grandmother was proud of our Irish (and Scottish) heritage, and had multiple copies of this blessing all over her home. However, I don’t remember her ever singing it to me. I learned to sing it by listening to an album of camp songs given to me by a dear friend when I was pregnant with my first child. I learned several of the songs on that album by heart, mostly to incorporate a bit of variety into the songs I sang while putting him to bed as an infant. Imagine my surprise when it came out of my mouth 5 years later in the doctor’s office. I hadn’t sung it in years.

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A Gift of the Magi: Stealth Christian Formation

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“We three kings of Orient are, bearing gifts, we travel so far. (sic)” 

The little voice sings from the back of the car. My son, strapped into his carseat, is singing one of his favorite songs. 

In July. 

“Field and fountain, moor and mountain. Following yonder star.”  

And now, with gusto,

“Oh, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright; westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light!” westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light!” 

This is followed by a short pause, a blessed moment of silence, that rare delight for a mother of young children. And then: 

“We three kings of Orient are . . .” 

It begins again. 

“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” I tell myself, and sing along. And then, to preserve my sanity, instead of cycling through the first verse and chorus over and over, I begin singing the rest of the verses.

“Born a king on Bethlehem’s plain, gold I bring to crown him again.”

“Frankincense to offer have I; incense owns a deity nigh.”

“Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume breathes a life of gathering gloom.”

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Will You Let Me Be Your Servant?

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It can be very difficult to invite others into the messy, private worlds we inhabit with our immediate families, and if we’re lucky, our most intimate friends. It often seems like we no longer live in the proverbial “village” where people come together to help each other. Sometimes it is easier to help strangers far away who are beset by a terrible disaster than to show up at your neighbor’s door. I know that’s often been the case with me and a source of personal shame.

Will you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you?

Pray that I might have the grace, to let you be my servant too.

Recently, the tune to a song I know as “The Servant Song” started to pop up in my mind. It’s a song that have in our “Green Songbook” at church, a custom compilation of hymns and other service music not found in the 1982 Episcopal hymnal.

In the wake of news of a major medical crisis for myself and my family, I was moved in ways I did not understand at the time to ask for help from friends near and far. As it turns out, I had no idea what I was getting us in to, and how it would change us forever.

We are pilgrims on a journey, we are trav’lers on the road.

We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.

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Celebrating Saint Mary the Virgin

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Today our church honors Mary, the mother of Jesus; a tradition dating back to the earliest days of the church. The gospels of Matthew and Luke offer descriptions of young Mary, details about Jesus’ birth and both attest that Mary was a virgin when she conceived the Christ child.  In Luke’s account of the gospel we see Mary as a free range parent who allows Jesus the space to travel separately on their way home from the temple in Jerusalem. And when she discovers that he he doesn’t actually travel home with the group, she searches nonstop for three days before finding him sitting with the teachers in the temple. Who among us wouldn’t do the same thing?

The gospels tell us that during Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, Mary was often among the women who follow Jesus, witnessing his divine works and caring for his human needs. At his death, Mary stands at the foot of the cross, watching her son’s slow, torturous death. The gospels paint a full portrait of Mary as Jesus’ mother, and yet it’s not one of these sentimental stories appointed for her feast today. Instead, we are offered Luke 1:46-51, the Magnificat.

It is fascinating to me that on the Feast of Mary the Virgin, the lectionary invites us to read and reflect upon this revolutionary song of salvation rather than the moment Mary learns she will become a virgin mother or the moment she gives birth to Jesus. To me, the significance is that we are called to connect Mary’s call of God’s redemptive justice with her motherhood.

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Simeon sang when he saw the infant Christ – and we still sing today.

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[Today the church celebrates the Presentation of our Lord. The readings are here. – Ed.]

At some point in his life, Simeon receives a promise from the Holy Spirit that he will not die until he sees the Messiah. Luke’s gospel tells us that the Holy Spirit rests on him and guides him into Jerusalem’s temple on the very day Mary and Joseph arrive to present Jesus to the Lord. Then it happens. Simeon sees Jesus. The sight of the child, the mere arrival of the promised one, moves the old, devout, righteous man to song. Simeon takes Jesus in his arms and praises God knowing that glory will indeed be brought to his people, providing “a light of revelation to the Gentiles.”

I came to know this song through praying Compline as an eight-year-old at the Diocese of Alabama’s Camp McDowell. The Song of Simeon is the canticle option in the nighttime daily office service found in our Book of Common Prayer and is prayed every single summer night at Camp McDowell. Its Latin name Nunc dimittis comes from the first words of the song “now let depart,” and are surely the first Latin words I ever learned.

Every night of my first camp session, just as homesickness started to seep in, I found comfort and peace sitting on hard wooden pews in an old stone chapel with fans rotating the stifling hot August air. The waters of Clear Creek rolled over the dam below the chapel while a counselor led us through the ancient night prayers of Compline. After a few more summers at camp, these prayers and songs would be written on my heart.

The simple act of chanting a canticle as a child became a spiritual tool for the rest of my life. As someone who was often told by childhood teachers, “oh honey, why don’t you just mouth the words rather than sing them,” I cherish my college summers working at Camp McDowell when I learned to harmonize the Song of Simeon in the stone chapel.

I carried this song with me to Virginia Seminary where I was completely shocked to learn that our Camp setting wasn’t found in any current hymnals of The Episcopal Church, so I taught it to my classmates. As a new priest back in Alabama I sang the Nunc dimittis with dying church members, who like Simeon himself contentedly sought eternal peace. As a new mom, I sang Simeon’s words to my children as we rocked during nighttime feedings and now sing them together after bedtime reading and back scratches. I sang them with my godson when he was just two years old because his mother’s priesthood was also profoundly shaped by Camp McDowell and she’d already taught him.

This simple song is written on my heart and carried with me everywhere.

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Bringing Carols Home for Christmas… and Advent

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In our neck of the woods, as soon as November rolls around, there’s a local radio station playing round-the-clock Christmas music. It’s the usual fare: classic crooners with silver bells and sleigh rides, pop stars plying sentimental dreck, and jangly holiday mall rock. It’s possible after spending December in this cloud of “Christmas” music, to emerge not knowing the words to a single carol or hymn—they’re just not on the playlist.

If your radio isn’t playing traditional carols and hymns and your church doesn’t sing them during Advent, how will your family learn them?

And why should they?

First, your family can learn a lot of doctrine from Christmas carols! Not only are they fun to sing, but the music draws from centuries of our Christian musical heritage and the lyrics illuminate major theological truths.

Christ’s redemptive work in reversing the curse? “Joy to the World!”

Hope in God amidst times of pain? “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear!”

The Incarnation? “O Come, All Ye Faithful!”

The responsibility of privileged Christians to care for the poor? “Good King Wenceslas!”

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Faith at Home: Planning Ahead for December (and a giveaway coming soon)

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Modest expectations may be the key to success. In last month’s post I challenged myself to post more images of faith at home (with the hashtag #growchristians naturally). Early in November when I realized I had only posted one, it dawned on me: one is better than zero!

I resolved then that if I only posted one image of faith at home every week, I would consider my challenge met. So call it a success: I’ve posted three, and there’s a week in the month left to go.

Meanwhile, it’s again time to think about the month to come: December. For some of us, it is the most joyful month of the year; for others, it is tinged with grief and angst. But for all of us, it is Advent.

Liturgical Time in December

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Ten Ways to Pray With Kids

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This post is republished with permission from Illustrated Children’s Ministry. – Ed.

Discovering ways to pray with children offers them space for connection with God and, not surprisingly, has been shown to improve well-being time and again. Consequently, we give our children an invaluable and timeless gift when we teach them how to pray. Additionally, it’s a gift they can carry with them throughout all of life.

At ICM, we think this is so important we compiled a list of 10 ways to pray with kids. Pick and choose, mix and match any way you’d like. (Also, looking for some fresh coloring sheets? Grab a free sample pack here!)

Pray Through Art

Coloring Prayer: First, gather coloring utensils and coloring sheets. Second, decide what you’ll pray for with each color. For example, use purple while praying aloud for animals, green for family members, blue for the Earth and the environment. Tailor the categories to your own family or classroom.

Public domain via Pixabay.

Prayer in Song: One of the easiest ways to teach children to pray is through singing. There are several options out there. The doxology is one song used as a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. The lyrics are as follows:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise God all creatures here below.
Praise God above ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.

Prayer Journal: Invite your children to begin drawing and writing their prayers to God. Even little ones can draw their prayers. For those who are older, they may want to write letters to God. Additionally, giving children a prompt can offer needed structure. Perhaps encourage them to write God about their hopes for the coming school year.

Pray Using Your Body

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Epiphany Fun: Foods, Songs, Stories & More

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I love Epiphany!

In an earlier post, I wrote about my discovery of Epiphany as the culmination of the 12 Days of Christmas, and how I learned to treasure this holiday within my broken, blended family.

But celebrating Epiphany under any circumstances is just plain fun. It’s a multi-cultural celebration that has always inspired stories, music, pageants, games, and festive meals. After all, the Three Kings came from three different cultures and continents, so there’s a lot to play around with.

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