Christo Redentor

CRISTO REDENTOR (Lisa Gerrard - Devotion) 

 

I came across this song on YouTube sung by Lisa Gerrard, who sang the hauntingly beautiful songs in Gladiator

 
You, oh Christ, are the Kingdom of Heaven
by Symeon the New Theologian
English version by George A. Maloney, S.J.
Original Language Greek

You, oh Christ, are the Kingdom of Heaven;
You, the land promised to the gentle;
You the grazing lands of paradise;
You, the hall of the celestial banquet;
You, the ineffable marriage chamber;
You the table set for all,
You the bread of life;
You, the unheard of drink;
You, both the urn for the water  and the life-giving water;
You, moreover, the inextinguishable lamp for each one of the saints;
You, the garment and the crown and the one who distributes crowns;
You, the joy and the rest;
You, the delight and glory;
You the gaiety;
You, the mirth;
and Your grace, grace of the Spirit of all sanctity,
will shine like the sun in all the saints;
 and You, inaccessible sun,
 will shine in their midst and all will shine brightly,
to the degree of their faith, their asceticism,
their hope and their love,
their purification and their illumination by Your Spirit...

The Journey

I loved this when I saw it -  Mary Oliver-The Journey (illustated film by Connor Weekes)

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Dream Work

My Daily Newspaper

 My Guardian:  This must be my favourite song at present  

 '

'You go before me, my Guardian' by Ben Cantelon #Guardian. We sing it a lot @CCWoking. You can hear it/ watch it on YouTube http://t.co/jnU9V5K5

King of love and grace
My Guardian
All my hopes and fears
Are in Your hands
I'm in Your hands

Where You go I'll go
Show me the way
Every step I take
Be now my guide
God on my side

You go before me
You're there beside me
And if I wander
Love will find me

Goodness and mercy
Will always follow
You go before me
My Guardian

When I hear You say
Trust in the way
I will walk by faith
And not by sight
God of my life

So let Your kingdom come
Your will be done
All Your promises will stand forever
You're my defender

You go before me
You're there beside me
And if I wander
Love will find me

Goodness and mercy
Will always follow
You go before me
My Guardian

You are God
Our Great defender
Strong in love
Forever faithful
We are Yours
And we will trust in You
(x2)

You go before me
You're there beside me
And if I wander
Love will find me
Goodness and mercy
Will always follow
You go before me
My Guardian

My Guardian

Wandering4theloveofGod

I wanted to change the words a bit - in fact I do sing the chorus slightly differently. The song implies there is something wrong with wandering. I suppose it is talking about wandering astray. But I do it (wander I mean) all the time. As you can see, my blog is called wandering4theloveofGod. 'Peregrinate pro Dei Amore'.   To me 'wandering is a good thing, it is part of our pilgrimage and involves being attentive to the winds of the spirit guiding us.

So I now sing:

You go before me
You're there beside me
And when I wander
Love will guide me 

Goodness and mercy
Will always follow
You go before me
My Guardian

I mentioned to a friend that this song is like me, left of centre and couldn't imagine an equivalent 'My Telegraph'. So during the service at the back of church (which is a very creative space!) he wrote the following:

My Lord, my God,
You hear my prayer
You listen to what I have to say
And in the silence     
When I'm listening                           
You speak to me
We talk both ways
My Telegraph 

 

Now I'm thinking of maybe a whole series on My Newspaper........   

In fact I seem to remember a conference I went to (Spring Harvest?) organising different streams based on Newspaper titles.

So how about 'my Mirror' (I Cor 13:12 or James 1:23?), 'my Sun' (of Righteousness? Mal 4:2)  'my Daily Mail' ( a bit like Daily bread readings), 'my Times' (1 Chron 12:32?), 'my Independent' (I Cor 11:11??) 

Any poetic contributions welcome.... 

Francisco d'Andrade, Reading a Newspaper

 

'Sing' - the song of Jubilee

I watched a programme - On her Majesty's Service - on Sunday night - after the Jubilee Celebration about Gary Barlow's song for the Jubilee:  'SING'. And I must admit I loved it and found it inspirational.  It reminded me of One Love by Playing for Change, in that it was essentially the same concept  One song being sung by many voices all over the world. Recorded in location (on a Mac!) and remixed in a studio.  SING was composed to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, but it also celebrates the Queen's proudest achievement  - the Commonwealth.  She has traveled the Nations of hte Commonwealth extensively during her 60 years

You can read a Telegraph  review about the programme

Sing - by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gary Barlow.

The video for Sing, the official song of the Diamond Jubilee. Performed by the Military Wives with Gareth Malone and musicians from across the Commonwealth including the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force Band, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Slum Drummers from Kenya's Kibera slum, African Children's Choir and many more.

Recorded at Abbey Road studios and also on location in Australia, Kenya, Jamaica and the Solomon Islands, find out the full list of performers here: http://www.jubileesing.com/performers

Some words they can't be spoken only sung
So hear a thousand voices shouting love

There's a place, there's a time
In this life when you sing what you are feeling
Find your feet, stand your ground
Don't you see
Right now the world is listening to what we say

Sing it louder, sing it clearer
Knowing everyone will hear you,
Make some noise, find your voice tonight
Sing it stronger, sing together
Make this moment last forever
Old and young
Shouting love tonight

To sing we've had a lifetime to wait
And see a thousand faces celebrate

You brought hope, you brought light
Conquered fear, it wasn't always easy
Stood your ground, kept your faith
Don't you see
Right now the world is listening to what we say

Sing it louder, sing it clearer
Knowing everyone will hear you,
Make some noise, find your voice tonight
Sing it stronger, sing together
Make this moment last forever
Old and young
Shouting love tonight

Some words they can't be spoken only sung
To hear a thousand voices shouting love
And light and hope

© copyright 2012 The Really Useful Group Ltd. & Sony / ATV Music Publishing (UK) Ltd.

London: 'Sun breaking through fog'

I did this version of Claude Monet's Houses of Parliament, Sun breaking through fog (1904)

He used to live in Lower Norwood, not far from where we used to live in Penge. ( seperated by a couple of generations!). The Houses of Parliament were one of his favourite. He did a series of 8 painting, all on the same size canvas, since they were the same view from window. But all very different. His last, more impressionist painting is startling for its more liberal, less literal use of colour. And that certainly suits me ! Mine is but a pale reflection of a part of his picture. But it is still evocative of London and the Thames.

It also evoked T S Elliot's poem about his journey to London, part of his 'Choruses from the Rock' Collected Poems 1909-1935 (97) The poem remains a wonderful reflection on the relevance of the Church, in the City, in the suburbs and in the country ......

I journeyed to London, to the timekept City,

Where the River flows, with foreign flotations.

There I was told: we have too many churches,

And too few chop-houses. There I was told:

Let the vicars retire. Men do not need the Church

In the place where they work, but where they spend their

Sundays.

In the City, we need no bells:

Let them waken the suburbs.

I journeyed to the suburbs, and there I was told:

We toil for six days, on the seventh we must motor

To Hindhead, or Maidenhead.

If the weather is foul we stay at home and read the papers.

In industrial districts, there I was told

Of economic laws.

In the pleasant countryside, there it seemed

That the country now is only fit for picnics.

And the Church does not seem to be wanted

In country or in suburbs; and in the town

Only for important weddings.

Given the Royal Wedding this week the last line seemed particularly pertinent. And it was a Very Important Wedding. The Nation seems to want the Church then ... for State occasion and National functions. Mind you I did like the pagentry and bits of the service - the reading from Romans 12: 1-2, 9-18 and the talk by the Bishop of London

I attended another, family wedding this week in the country, in Pembrokeshire in S Wales. Whilst it took place in a URC Chapel, it was effectively a secular wedding. The singing was superb and lots of fun. With popular songs like 'I'm a Believer (The Monkeys)' and 'That's Amore' (Dean Martin) The congregation put their heart and soul into it. And a lot of imagination had gone into the poems and readings. It was a great wedding .... but God hardly got a mention. And that felt somehow empty.

I suppose it was a 'more liberal use of colour' which I enjoyed... But as in the Monet painting, I continue to look for Sun breaking though that fog.........

Auld Lang Syne sung by Dougie MacLean

I love this version of Robbie Burns poem - Auld Lang Syne As sung by Dougie MacLean on the album 'Tribute'

I add it here for all my blog readers of 2009 - little late I know but hey.... its a good song

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind ?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

and auld lang syne ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

For more see wikepedia

We give to You - downloadable

Patrick, a colleague of mine has helped to launch a new song - 'we give to you'  in aid of a CMS Project in Philippines - Jigsaw Ministries 

The Story Behind the Song: 

A little over a year ago a group of us decided to combine our love of music and our passion for mission and create a worship song. Stephen Sim from Singapore wrote the melody and the rest of us recorded our parts individually, just on our computers at home; then we mailed or emailed the tracks to each other and mixed them. We’re really happy with the result and we hope you will be, too.

For a small donation (£1 recommended) you can download the mp3 and score of “We Give to You.” All proceeds will go to Jigsaw Kids Ministries in the Philippines, which aims to share the love of Jesus with Manila’s thousands of homeless children.

Please send this link to your friends: www.cms-uk.org/song
The more downloads (and donations) we get, the longer we can keep this worthwhile project going.

Patrick