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PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 7/25/2001 4:35 PM (GMT -6)

HERE'S MINE. SHOW ME YOURS!

I noticed the presence of music links.

This is a bit different. I'm going to type out one of the songs that I sing to my kids every night. When I held my first son, in the Intensive Care Unit in South Dakota, I knew that it was time to carefully ponder how a song would be the spiritual blanket to wrap around his psyche all night, and stay with him through the years. Once started they do have staying power. (Now they sing them to me!)

Seems to me that the good ones are a kind of "catechism" that unfold the height and breadth of God's relations with us. I'm going to type "Children of the Heavenly Father." Such a song contains the spiritual imprint of those who's lives grew close to God while wrapped in its verses. (Are songs "made real" in the way the Velveteen Rabbit's friend says?) Another "catechizing" song seems to be "A Mighty Fortress" by Luther. I remember teaching a young man pottery, in a college January term, who's composure was shaky from having grown up in the towers of Cabrini-Green that then stood next to Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes. The "And though this world with devil's filled...I will not fear for God has willed..." was an every day issue for him. Dangerous bullets and evil influences. He needed to be introduced to that song; and it helped him.

I've heard the quote "He who sings prays twice" attributed to both Luther and Chrysostom--so who knows. . . Seems true. Right?

Then.......What are YOUR songs?

by Lina Sandell of Sweden (translated)
"CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY FATHER"

Children of the heavenly Father,
Safely in his bosom gather;
Nestling bird nor star in heaven,
Such a refuge e're was given.

God his own does tend and nourish,
In His holy courts they flourish;
From all evil things he spares them,
In His mighty arms he bears them.

Neither life nor death shall ever
From the Lord his children sever;
Unto them His frace He showeth,
And their sorrows all He knoweth.

Praise the Lord in joyful numbers,
Your Protector never slumbers;
At the will of your defender,
Every foe-man must surrender.

Though He giveth or He taketh,
God His children na'er forsaketh;
His the loving purpose solely,
To preserve them pure and holy.

What's YOUR song?

PotOnWheel

Edited by - potonwheel on 07/25/2001 10:17:37 PM

Triskal
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 198

Posted 7/26/2001 7:01 PM (GMT -6)

Great idea for a thread, POW.

I've got an MP3 player which I loaded with a special selection of songs, in a special order, which I listen to and worship God with while I cut the grass. Hehhe that may sound rather silly, but that's one of the nicest times for me to just observe God's creation and praise him.

The order goes:
"Open the eyes of my heart" - Sonicflood.
I start the time off by asking the Lord to open my eyes to him and his wonderful creation. To see him more clearly, and to know him better.

"Hallelujahs" - Chris Rice.
After having my eyes opened to the creation of my wonderful Lord, I then praise him for it's beauty.

"More like you" - Clay Crosse.
Once I have praised and thanked God for his wonderful creation, I am thrust deep into an attitude of awe at just how awesome God is. My only reaction is to want to be more like him, which is then my next request.

"My last breath" - Danny Oertli.
Once I have pleaded with God to draw me closer to him, and to make me more like him, I then worship him with an attitude of total loyalty; telling him how I will long for him with every breath I have, even my last.

"I am the way" - Mark Schultz.
Finally, I listen as I hear the truths of how God will always be there to comfort me, all I need to do is look around and i'll see him evident, for he is THE way.

Every week when I cut the grass I play those songs, in that order, on my portable mp3 player. They have been, and will continue to be, very meaningful to me.

Here are the lyrics for my favorite song out of all of those, "Hallelujahs" by Chris Rice:

A purple sky to close the day
I wade the surf where dolphins play
The taste of salt, the dance of waves
And my soul wells up with hallelujahs

A lightning flash, my pounding heart
A breaching whale, a shoot star
Give testimony that You are
And my soul wells up with hallelujahs

Chorus:
Oh praise Him all His mighty works
There is no language where you can't be heard
Your song goes out to all the Earth
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
(End Chorus)

O cratered moon and sparrow's wings
O thunder's boom and Saturn's rings
Unveil our Father as you sing
And my soul wells up with hallelujahs

(Repeat Chorus)

The pulse of life within my wrist
A fallen snow, a rising mist
There is no higher praise than this
And my soul wells up
O my soul wells up
Yes my soul wells up with hallelujahs

(Repeat Chorus)

In His Grip,
Matt

"In Him we live and move and have our being" - Acts 17:28

trosie
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 550

Posted 7/26/2001 7:43 PM (GMT -6)

Matt writes: "...which I listen to and worship God with while I cut the grass."

I LOVE worshipping God during the tedious tasks of the day. I do the same thing when cutting grass

PotOnWheel:
My song goes WAY back to when I was a little girl in the Catholic Church. I LOVED the song "Holy, Holy, Holy" by Heber/Dykes -- I'm not sure why that song was so special to me(?) I just remember how happy I felt when I sang that song to God. Here's the first verse It still makes me happy to give God praise and honor

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.

Now, I can't imagine as a little girl I understood exactly what I was singing but I somehow knew DEEP inside that this song was sung to show God a little girl's love and appreciation.

That's my song,
trosie

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 7/27/2001 4:09 AM (GMT -6)

Trosie:

I've always loved that song too. I remember back in the seventies (bad hair, bad clothes...) how radically un-radical it was for "2nd Chapter of Acts to break into "Holy, holy, holy" at one of their concerts. It was a juxtaposition--creativity and timelessness thrown together--and it FIT! Thanks for sharing it.

It is a form of the "Thrice-Holy" Angelic song in Revelation 4:8. It is also called the Trisagion. Here is another form of it.

Holy God,
Holy Mighty,
Holy Immortal,
Have mercy on us.

You can see where all of the parts on that ancient prayer went in making that relatively "new" Trinitarian hymn.

PotOnWheel

Edited by - potonwheel on 07/27/2001 09:17:13 AM

writerdad
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 448

Posted 7/28/2001 7:36 PM (GMT -6)

My song list
Reliant K's "Marilyn Mansion ate my Girlfriend" (actually, anything by them is great)
Jan Krist's "Waltz With you," because I love my wife.
Plankeye's "Goodbye," because it helps me remember my niece who died last year.
Oh, throwing a good praise album out there, Lincoln Brewster's Live is excellant...John 17:3 Harold

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 8/13/2001 5:39 PM (GMT -6)

Dutch Calvinists like the folks at my church tend to be really good at practicalities and organization. Religion is purposeful, and the stuff of propositional statements. So, as one mother of my youngest kid's best friend tells it, when we would all say "join our voices with all the saints and angels and the whole of creation to proclaim the glory..." it is the stock disposition of those Dutch Calvinists to think of "all" as denoting those missionaries and converts on the other side of the globe approaching midnight. But one Christmas when the church sang an old Dutch hymn "Ere Zi Got" ("Glory to God"--as the Shepherd's sang) it hit her. Her mother had passed on to be with Jesus. It hit her that of all the things her mother was probably doing was singing the same thing as she was, right then. The veil was rent.

_"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty.
_Early in the morning my song shall rise to Thee.
_Only Thou art holy, merciful and mighty.
_God in three Persons, blessed Trinity."

One big chorus, eh? JARWJ? RCLW? AJW? RAW? CAJ? ACEJ? JCL? and others...

PotOnWheel

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 8/30/2001 1:11 PM (GMT -6)

Any one here an old Phil Kaeggy fan? (a new one?)

PotOnWheel

might-be-don
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 830

Posted 8/31/2001 2:29 AM (GMT -6)

quote:

Any one here an old Phil Kaeggy fan? (a new one?)
PotOnWheel

I'm an old one! Have most of his albums, all the way back to the first one that is mostly acoustic guitar.

I'm an old time rocker... Larry Norman, early Petra, Randy Stonehill, Second Chapter of Acts, Love Song, Chuck Girards solo stuff, Barry McGuire, even some Eva and Honeytree .

don
don

A quote from Rev. Gregory A. Boyd, PhD ... " Has anyone seen my keys? "

writerdad
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 448

Posted 8/31/2001 10:04 AM (GMT -6)

Don: I have Keaggy's Love Broke Thru on album, as well as several others. I am more of a fan of his instrumental (Master And the Musician) stuff than his lyrical stuff. Have one Evie and assorted McGuire, Norman stuff. Larry has his own website to purphase his stuff at (Picked up Daniel Amos Horrendous Disc on CD from there). The problem with Norman is he'll release anything he records, no matter how bad. So I am choosy about buying his stuff.
Hey, Reliant K just released a second album for those of you who like pop punk with fun lyrics...check it out...

might-be-don
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 830

Posted 9/4/2001 4:37 AM (GMT -6)

quote:

(Picked up Daniel Amos Horrendous Disc on CD from there).

Now here's some real music. Terry Taylor is among ,IMHO , the best of the best . His work with Daniel Amos is great and the stuff with the Swirling Eddies is beyond belief. The Swirling Eddies brought my love of Christian music to a new level. At a time when I thought the entire music scene had gone to Amy Grant ( and sweet music ) , Terry Taylor brought a breath of fresh air. Their tune "Outdoor Elvis" that combined Elvis with the Abominable Snowman is classic.
The Swirling Eddies album "Sacred Cows" with the paraody of Amy's "Baby, Baby" ( or whatever is name was ) was truely inspired.

don

A quote from Rev. Gregory A. Boyd, PhD ... " Has anyone seen my keys? "

writerdad
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 448

Posted 9/4/2001 7:40 AM (GMT -6)

Terry Taylor definitely is the MAN! There is no one who has been better, as honest and as faithful to the muse as he has...Christian or non-christian these past twenty years or so. Daniel Amos just released a double album set last month...

whasssuuuppp
Registered Member

Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 210

Posted 9/4/2001 12:35 PM (GMT -6)

Some of my favorites that I always come back to--

Jars of Clay, their first CD
Anything by Delirious
Anything by Chris Rice--I love the song that Triskal posted the words to awhile back
George Winston--straight piano solos...they're absolutely wonderful...
Exodus by Micheal W. Smith
Hezekiah Walker's music
Let the River Flow off Vineyard's Songs of Renewal CD

*********************

Every atom of carbon inside our bodies was once inside a star. We are all made from the ashes of dead stars.
John Polkinghorne

Edited by - whasssuuuppp on 09/04/2001 5:36:22 PM

Triskal
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 198

Posted 9/4/2001 6:14 PM (GMT -6)

Does anyone here listen to Shaun Groves? He's a brand new artist that is topping the charts with his new song "Welcome Home". It's a really touching song. If anyone here likes Chris Rice, Stephen Curtis Chapman, Geoff Moore, or Michael W. Smith, i'd highly recommend you to Shaun Groves. His music is very deep and moving. Check it out if you have the chance.

In His Grip,
Matt

"In Him we live and move and have our being" - Acts 17:28

might-be-don
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 830

Posted 9/5/2001 1:35 AM (GMT -6)

quote:

Daniel Amos just released a double album set last month...

My wife was asking what I wanted for my birthday... now I know.

I was really sadded by the loss of "Gene Eugene" Andrusco last year. His talent for getting the "essence" of a song on tape was tremendous. His work with Terry on "The Lost Dogs" projects is among my favs.

don
don

A quote from Rev. Gregory A. Boyd, PhD ... " Has anyone seen my keys? "

writerdad
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 448

Posted 9/5/2001 5:59 AM (GMT -6)

Losing Gene Eugene was really sad, but it calls us back to how fragiel life is (did he have medical problems, I never heard why he died). His work with Starflyer and Plankeye was awesome as well.
By the way, Lost Dogs will have a new album out called "Real Men Cry." The Daniel Amos album is only available through their website right now, but it will be distributed through Galaxy21 and should be available through Christian bookstores soon. The lyrics, though, can be downloaded through Daniel Amos website, www.danielamos.com Harold

writerdad
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 448

Posted 9/5/2001 6:06 AM (GMT -6)

On Shaun Groves: yes, I've heard the album, but I have to admit I am not very impressed by it and let me explain why. After Jars of Clay's success it seems over the past five years or so in Christian music, there has been this trend towards bands that are "alternative," or "rootsy," like Caedmon's Call, or Chris Rice, Bebo Norman and Shaun Groves fits into the catagory for me as well. I simply find their music boring, uninteresting. I do have to say that, working at a Christian bookstore, I listen to a lot of music, so it may just be me. But for me, if a track or two doesn't stand out musically, I probably won't pick it up.
For something different, Kevin Max's album is worth picking up. Oh, for something sparse (voice and one or two instruments) that sounds really beautiful, check out Sam Phillips new album, Fan Dance. She use to be Leslie Phillips...John 17:3 Harold

might-be-don
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 830

Posted 9/5/2001 7:50 AM (GMT -6)

quote:

Losing Gene Eugene was really sad, but it calls us back to how fragiel life is (did he have medical problems, I never heard why he died).

Some of the news articles mentioned that he had been in a car accident a couple of weeks before and had been complaining of headaches. Was working in the studio one evening and told the guys he wasn't feeling feel and went to bed. Never woke up.

Heard a review of the Sam Phillips cd on the public radio show "Fresh Air" . They said very good things about the cd. Didn't know that SAM and LESLIE are the same person. The cuts they played were quite sparse, but that only lets the beauty of her voice shine more brilliantly.

My all time favorite is the Moody Blues.

don

A quote from Rev. Gregory A. Boyd, PhD ... " Has anyone seen my keys? "

Triskal
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 198

Posted 9/6/2001 5:42 PM (GMT -6)

I just heard a GREAT song tonight by Stephen Curtis Chapman and Geoff Moore. It's a duet called "Listen to our hearts". The message is a very deep and personal prayer to God. My favorite part of it went something like this...

"We will use the words we know to tell you what an awesome God you are. But words are not enough to tell You of our love, so listen to our hearts."

In His Grip,
Matt

"In Him we live and move and have our being" - Acts 17:28

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