A Few Things Mowed Over

Yesterday I mowed the back yard. It took me a couple of hours, and my back yard isn’t that big. The yard first needed to be mowed about 2 weeks ago, but since then the weather has only cooperated long enough for me to get the front yard cut. In much of the back yard, the grass was 8 inches or longer, and thick, thick, thick. Mowing it was quite the slog.

I like mowing. My sister and I mowed the big church yard of the church my dad pastored when I was in junior high and high school, and I learned then that mowing is great for thinking.  Maybe too great for thinking. My sister loves to tell the story (or is it stories?) of me absentmindedly mowing over the hose and destroying it. I don’t remember much about it, but of course, she remembers it perfectly. Sisters are like that.

That sort of thing might run in the family, by the way. One of my children—I won’t say exactly which one—tried to mow over a six by six by four inch clump of aluminum. Of course, in that case, it wasn’t the clump of aluminum that was destroyed. 

I also received an email yesterday from a regular reader who lives in New York.  She is here in Whitehorse so her husband can take part in the Yukon River Quest. We may get together for coffee if we can work it out, and if we do, it will be the first time I’ve met someone in real life that I first met through blogging.

Sunday's Hymn: Reader's Choice

Today’s hymn is a favorite of siminz, who likes it because “its just so errr, cross centred… (sorry).”

The Old Rugged Cross

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Refrain

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

Refrain

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

Refrain

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.

Refrain

Listen.

Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today:

• Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah at Fish and Cans.
  
• Prayer is the Soul’s Sincere Desire at Above the Clouds
• All the Way My Saviour Leads Me at Seasonings of the Heart
  
• Hymn 10, L.M. at The Thirsty Theologian
  
• Father, We Praise Thee at joythruChrist
• The Collect for the Second Sunday after Trinity at Magic Statistics
• God of our Fathers at The Happy Wonderer
• Nothing But the Blood at New Lumps
• How Firm A Foundation at IMD 2.0
  
• Abba, Father, We Adore Thee at Thoughts from the Teahouse (Lisa says that many of the hymns she posts are from  The Believers Hymnbook, handed down to her from her brethren grandparents.)
• Update: It Is Well With My Soul at Still Reforming
  

Have you posted a hymn this Sunday and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list. If you’d like to see your favorite hymn featured as a Reader’s Choice hymn, go here and leave a comment. Just tell me your favorite hymn and a little bit about why you like it and I’ll feature your hymn when your turn comes. 

Sacred Harp Singing

My mother used to talk about it. Some of her older relatives did this shaped note singing, and when we lived in Tennessee, she said, some of the hymnals in the country churches were shaped-note hymnals. What is shaped note singing?

The Sacred Harp tradition developed out of the singing school movement which began in New England in the late 1700’s, then spread to the rural South and finally to Texas. The early singing schools employed the English solemnization technique, which uses syllables “fa, sol, la, mi” to denote the tones of a musical scale.

Each note (fa, sol, la, mi.) is denoted by a different shape, and that way people with no musical training, who couldn’t read notes or recognize sharps or flats, could sing in four part harmony, a cappella. It has an unusual, but quite lovely sound.

Sacred harp singing is done traditionally in this way:

Singers would learn a tune by first “singing the notes” then repeating the song with the lyrics. This custom remains a distinct aspect of Sacred Harp singing, which takes its name from one of the most popular shape-note songbooks… .

The singers sit in a hollow square with space in the middle for the leader. Tenors face altos, and basses face the trebles. The goal is to build a sound and spirit for the singers to enjoy.

Here is an example of a score for sacred harp singing:

The treble, which is the top line (and is not the melody), and the lead, which is the third line (and is the melody), are sung by both men and women, but with women singing an octave above the men. True tenors and true sopranos would normally sing treble. The lead, because it is the melody and easiest to learn, is often sung by the more inexperienced singers. The second line, which is alto, is sung only by women; and the fourth line, which is bass, is sung only by men. That both men and women sing two of the four parts makes for a very full sound.

Now, I bet you’re curious to hear what this all sounds like, right? Here’s an example of sacred harp singing. You’ll hear them sing with the names of the notes first, and then move on to singing the words of the verses of the song. You’ll find more info on the site from which these quotes, the images, and the mp3 file come.