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Dancer Daughter Writes

Nov1

Dancer Daughter reviews Madeleine L’Engle’s Walking on Water, a book of essays on living and working as a Christian artist. DD and I share a love for Madeleine L’Engle’s books. I especially recommend two works of fiction: A Severed Wasp and A Ring of Endless Light. A Circle of Quiet and Summer of the Great-Grandfather are two nonfiction, autobiographical books that give a lot of food for thought.

Dancer Daughter also reviews Switchfoot’s latest album, Nothing Is Sound, not my cup of tea, but it may be yours.

Born October 10th

Oct10

Hugh Miller, b. 1802. Scottish geologist and folklorist, contemporary of Charles Darwin, defender of creationism but not of a worldwide flood, evangelical Christian, one of the founding members of the Free Church of Scotland. “His books, such as The Old Red Sandstone, The Cruise of the Betsey, Footprints of the Creator, Testimony of the Rocks, Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland, and My Schools and Schoolmasters (autobiography) became bestsellers in many editions.” He was self-taught in geology, but respected by the leading scientists of his day. He committed suicide on Christmas Eve, 1856, because he feared that he was going insane. Read more about this fascinating scientist and Christian.

Henry Alford, b. 1810. Henry Alford was also a Christian, a cleric who became dean of Canterbury Cathedral. He edited the poems of John Donne, another Church of England cleric, translated The Odyssey into English, and wrote a four-volume commentary on the Greek New Testament. His deep commitment to God is shown in these words which he wrote in his Bible on November 18, 1827, when he was only seventeen years old: “I do this day, as in the presence of God and my own soul, renew my covenant with God, and solemnly determine henceforth to become His, and to do His work as far as in me lies.” Alford also wrote the hymn Come Ye Thankful People, Come.

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God�s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God�s own field, fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.

For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
Giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.

Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified, in Thy garner to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels come, raise the glorious harvest home.

It’s going to be a great part of heaven’s harvest to sit down and talk with some of the saints who have gone before us, to hear the complete stories of how God was glorified through their lives. Even those imperfect lives–like mine.

Isaac Watts

Jul17

How is this for a lullaby?

Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber,
Holy angels guard thy bed,
Heav’nly blessings without number,
Gently falling on they head.
How much better thou’rt attended,
Than the Son of God could be,
When from Heaven He descended,
And became a child like thee!

Soft and easy is thy cradle,
Coarse and hard thy Savior lay:
When His birthplace was a stable,
And His softest bed was hay.
Oh, to tell the wondrous story,
How His foes abused their King;
How they killed the Lord of glory,
Makes me angry while I sing.

Hush, my child, I did not chide thee,
Though my song may seem so hard;
‘Tis thy mother sits beside thee,
And her arms shall be thy guard.
May’st thou learn to know and fear Him,
Love and serve Him all thy days;
Then to dwell forever near Him,
Tell His love and sing His praise.

Today is the birthday of Isaac Watts (b. 1674), author of this lullaby/hymn and many other more familiar hymns, such as:

Alas, And Did My Saviour Bleed
Am I a Soldier of the Cross?
I SIng the Mighty Power of God
Jesus Shall Reign Where E’er the Sun
Joy to the World
Marching to Zion
Our God, Our Help in Ages Past
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

What a legacy of hope and encouragement for one man to leave behind (d. 1748) after having gone to be with the Lord! Isaac Watts is buried at Bunhill Fields near the final resting place of fellow non-conformist John Bunyan. You can find pictures and information on a recent visit to Bunfield Fields by blogger Phil Johnson here, but no mention of Isaac Watts. Which of these hymns do you know and love? Are there others by Isaac Watts I’ve left off the list?

Fanny Crosby, b. 1820

Mar24

Pass Me Not O Gentle Saviour
Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine
Rescue the Perishing
My Saviour First of All
Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus our Blessed Redeemer
Tell Me the Story of Jesus
All the Way My Saviour Leads Me
He Hideth My Soul
Jesus Is Tenderly Calling
Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross
I Am Thine, O Lord
Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It
Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet
To God Be the Glory

These are just a few of the thousands of hymns she wrote in her lifetime. She was accidentally blinded by an incompetent doctor when she was only six weeks old. When she was a year old, her father died. Her grandmother read the Bible to her as she grew older, and she knew the Pentateuch, the Gospels, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and many of the psalms by heart. When she grew up, she was first a teacher of the blind and then a hymn writer. Sometimes she would write six or seven hymns in one day, but she said she always prayed for guidance from the Holy Spirit before writing a hymn. She knew Presidents Van Buren and Polk, but she and one US president were close friends. On the occasion of her eighty-fifth birthday in 1905, he wrote her this letter:

My dear friend:

It is more than fifty years ago that our acquaintance and friendship began; and ever since that time I have watched your continuous and disinterested labor in uplifting humanity, and pointing out the way to an appreciation of God’s goodness and mercy�. As one proud to call you an old friend, I desire to be early in congratulating you on your long life of usefulness, and wishing you in the years yet to be added to you, the peace and comfort born of the love of God.

Yours very sincerely,

Grover Cleveland

She died at the age of 95, still serving her Saviour by writing hymns and praising Him. I found this hymn at CyberHymnal (along with 296 others).

How sweetly o’er the mountain of Zion, lovely, Zion,
The anthem of ages comes sweeping along;
The anthem of the faithful, we hear, and, rejoicing,
Our hearts in glad measure keep tune with the song.

Refrain:
O the Lion of Judah hath triumphed forever,
O the Lion of Judah is mighty and strong.

O happy, happy tidings, the kingdom now is opened,
The seals are all broken; proclaim it afar;
From bondage and oppression by Him we are delivered,
The Lion of Judah, the bright Morning Star.

Hosanna in the highest, all glory everlasting,
The cross and its banner triumphant shall wave;
Hosanna in the highest, all glory everlasting,
The Lion of Judah His people will save.

The Ministry of Keith Green

Feb12

When I was a young adult and I listened to CCM, it was mostly Amy Grant and Keith Green. And Keith Green was the best. He was also, as far as I could tell, real. Christian musicians are almost required to say that they sing in order to minister to other Christians and to the lost. Keith Green said:

The only music minister to whom the Lord will say, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant,” is the one whose life proves what their lyrics are saying, and to whom music is the least important part of their life. Glorifying the only worthy One has to be a minister’s most important goal!

The difference is that he seemed to mean it. He and his wife Melody opened their home to the homeless and to those who were spiritual seekers. After his recordings became popular, he tried out a controversial experiment of giving his albums away in return for whatever one could or would give. (I remember ordering the album So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt and praying over what payment I should send in return.) Keith Green and two of his four small children died in a plane crash on July 28, 1982 (my birthday), not long after I had seen him in concert in Abilene where I was going to school. I believe these lyrics were his prayer, and his music is still influencing Christians and others today.

Make my life a prayer to You,
I want to do what you want me to,
No empty words and no white lies,
No token prayers, no compromise,

I want to shine the light you gave,
Through Your Son, you sent to save us,
From ourselves and our despair,
It comforts me to know you’re really there.

Oh, I want to thank you now, for being patient with me,
Oh, it’s so hard to see, when my eyes are on me,
I guess I’ll have to trust and just believe what you say,
Oh, you’re coming again, coming to take me away,
I want to die, and let you give,
Your life to me, so I might live,
And share the hope you gave to me,
The love that set me free,

I want to tell the world out there,
You’re not some fable or fairy tail,
That I made up inside my head,
You’re God, The Son, you’ve risen from the dead.
Oh, I want to thank you now,
For being patient with me,
Oh, it’s so hard to see,
When my eyes are on me,
I guess I’ll have to trust,
and just believe what you say,
Oh, you’re coming again,
Coming to take me away.

I want to die, and let you give,
Your life to me, so I might give,
And share the hope you gave to me,
I want to share the love that set me free.

copyright Sparrow Records

Music and Musicians

Jan31

Picture Book Preschool is a booklist/curriculum that I wrote several years ago and self-published. The link at the top of this page is supposed to be fixed up by Computer Guru Son to provide a place where you can order a copy of my book. However, I thought it might be fun to give out a sample each week of the picture books you would find listed in the book. So these are the picture books we’ll be reading to Z-baby this week:

Goffstein, M.B. A Little Schubert. Harper Row, 1972.
Minarik, Else Homelund. Little Bear. Harper Row, 1957.
Zemach, Margot. Hush Little Baby. Dutton, 1976.
McCloskey, Robert. Lentil. Viking, 1940.
Langstaff, John. Over in the Meadow. Harcourt, 1957.
Cauley, Lorinda Bryan, illus. Old Macdonald Had a Farm. Putnam, 1989.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Dance at Grandpa’s. HarperCollins, 1932, 1994.

We already read Lentil last night, the story of a boy who can’t whistle so he teaches himself to play the harmonica. Z-baby said, “I can’t whistle. I can just blow.”

iTunes Songs for This Week

Dec27

I have a plan to purchase two songs per week from iTunes. The songs for this week are both by the same group, Caedmon’s Call, from here in Houston. The tunes are We Delight and The Danse. The latter song was composed by Kemper Crabb, also from the Houston area. I got to see and hear his Medieval Christmas concert at my own church a couple of weeks ago.

Happy Birthday, Sir

Dec8

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite musicians. See if you can guess who?

1. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
2. He began his musical career by playing the penny whistle as a small child.
3. He is 65 years old today.
4. He tours extensively playing both classical and popular music.
5. He has collaborated with such musicians as Henry Mancini and John Denver and with actor Liam Neeson.
6. He also performs on several tracks from the soundtrack for “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” in a score composed, orchestrated and conducted by Academy Award-winner Howard Shore.
7. Twice Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England has honored him, in 1979 with an Order of the British Empire and in 2001 with a Knighthood for services to music.
8. He reminds me of Sean Connery for some reason. I guess it’s the beard.
9. I used to try to play the same instrument that this man plays, but I was a flop.