What most delighted me was that as we visited in some houses throughout the day, I could see the singing was not relegated solely to Sun. service but also before meals & I suspect throughout the workday as well. That's how it has ended up at our house.
I had bought a hymnal at Rod & Staff back in June but other than reading through it (I felt a kinship w/ Granny from Heidi who just liked to just have the hymnal words read) I didn't really know how to make music. When mom offered me the choice between piano lessons & Girl Scouts, foolishly I chose Girl Scouts. While it was fun I don't think I got anything of lasting value out of it. Our piano is a comically sad affair but I was excited to see that when I applied my limited 4 years of high school choir music knowledge I could make a tune!
So when we got home I was determined to teach music. I really think that music education suffers in large part due to the churches getting away from hymnals & relegating everything to an overhead projector sans staff or notes to follow. We started w/ Trust & Obey, as the Monett church had sang that & it was still fresh in my mind. So about 13 weeks later we've got a pretty good repertoire. We learn a new song on Sun. & continue to sing it through out the week. I've only got one reader so I "line" it to them, reading one or two lines & then we sing it altogether. On Thurs. I stop lining it & they can stumble through it pretty good. On the week nights we sing our learning song & two review songs from weeks past. We have been singing them all on Sun. nights, but our list is too long to fit them all in. Here's what happens when singing time runs long: I get stuck!
#835 When Peace Like a River
#239 When We Walk w/ the Lord - Heard at Monett
#163 All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
#844 Stand Up Stand Up for Jesus -Mom used to sing this when after our bath.
#420 There are Two Ways -LOVE the words!
#717 Follow the Path of Jesus
#139 Christ the Lord is Risen Today
#492 Sowing in the Morning
#796 What Can Wash Away My Sins? (& because they just go together...)
#797 Would You be free from Your Burden of Sin
#333 Be Not Dismayed What'er Betide- This chorus was in a Little Jewel book.
#789 Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?- This last one I selected because I had read & enjoyed the words so much but I overheard it being sung in The Hatfields & McCoys when Mr. McCoy was coming back to his first church service after prison. It's a plus if I don't have to search for the tune.
As you see there's not much rhyme or reason to the why of the songs I pick. Some of them, like #844 we make up actions to go w/ the words, some of them the children already know parts of from their cd songs. One thing I have noticed is that they love any song mentioning worms or wormwood. I can't figure it out. Do you have music at your house?
4 comments:
I wish I could sing! My Papafather came from a Mennonite family and whenever we get together we always sing. They in four part harmony, me like a frog. When I asked my family how they learned to sing like that they all said, "You just do it." They grew up with it.
Our family loves to sing hymns acapella. We never learned hymns as children and discovered them about two years ago and started teaching them to our children. First, we found some acapella hymns on The Church of Greenville's website ( not affiliated with them, but the CDs were a great help). Then recently we have been overcome with joy as we sang the spirit filled hymns from the Church of God. Net ( not affiliated with them either). Here is our favorite ... http://youtu.be/ptX7K7irngQ
The Lord blessed me to write this about the prophets of old and their praise:
It's time to make an offering
And time to pay a vow
What does the Lord require of you?
What will please the Lord right now?
Maybe offering a bullock
Or maybe a wild beast
He will not drink the blood of goats (Psalm 50)
Or on the flesh of bulls feast
He wants something not everyone will give
They may be too ashamed
He wants the calves of your lips (Hosea 14:2)
Shouting glory to His name
The disciples cried out To Jesus(Luke 19:38)
The children in the temple did too (Matt 21:15)
The Pharisees wanted Jesus to stop them
The devil wants to stop you
A simple to understand reply
Jesus answered quick
Out of the mouths of babes
Praise has been made perfect
David loved to sing
He danced out of his clothes (2 Sam 6:20)
He knew the power and strength
that praise and thanksgiving holds
When Jehoshaphat went to battle (2 Chr 20)
He didn't send the army first
Instead sent singers praising
In God he put his trust
Lifting up of holy hands
As the evening sacrifice (Psalms 141:2)
Moses, Joshua, Ezra, David
They knew this was right
What else can we offer
To the One who made all things
He has the cattle on a thousand hills
Lord of Lords and King of Kings!
Oh, I don't claim to sing & I don't teach it in 4 part harmony, I'd just like the words & tune to be in their little heads. I tend to sing a key or two too low as I crack on anything high or waver between alto/ soprano.
Price Family I LOVED that link you sent over it was in my head all night, even when getting up in the middle of the night to tend Miranda or poke the fire. Praise God! My train of thought is usually not that joyful stumbling in the cold & dark out of a warm bed.
I like your poem too, do you set those to music?
My name is Alison. (My family shares an email) I don't set them to music, although if the Lord ever gives me a tune, I will not object! The funny thing about my poems, about a year ago, I was telling a close friend that I was totally uninterested in creative writing (speaking about what I believed I should teach my children) and the VERY NEXT DAY, God started giving me poems. I guess I should have said, "If the Lord is willing"
I have been singing those songs ALL day and they have blessed me so! I would love to go visit their church just for the singing but women preachers are UNBIBLICAL!!
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