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Yólly Yöker

Sometimes I ponder God’s nature and think his nature as Love includes a lot that some folks don’t normally consider to be “love”–primarily, I think, because of their own poor concept of love. Consider God’s “tough love” as but one example (and yes, examples of really tough love abound in scripture). But his nature as Love is often made manifest, to me at least, in my perception (I certainly hope it’s not a sort of eisegesis) of His sense of humor. I mean, really–look around you at nature, at people. If this is a created order, it could only have been created by the Ultimate Jolly Joker.

Just consider how this might affect science. IF God had desired to do so, He could certainly, since He’s Omnipotent, have created all the evidence geologists, astrophysicists and biologists rely on for their various theories about the age of the Earth and the universe, and the various theories of evolution of life and intelligence.

*meh* It’s an amusing possibility. Oh, it doesn’t make any difference to me in determining my own views of various theories of real science, but I do grin a bit and even sometimes throw this monkey wrench in the works when I run into folks who treat theories of evolution, the age and nature of the universe, etc. as dogma in their Cult of Scientism-y Pseudo-Thinking. And maybe that’s one of God’s best jokes: giving people like me monkey wrenches to throw into the works of neo-paganistic cultic dogma.

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In the Bleak Midwinter. . . again

Disclaimer: Yes, Dan Fogelberg’s voice was at best an indifferent instrument, and his breath control, etc., was not all that. . . polished, shall we say. But still. This is, despite all that and CRANHAM (not a fav tune), this is very definitely my favorite recording a solo performance of Christina Rossetti’s poem:

Hear that. He really sings the song.

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Who Is He In Yonder Stall?

Unfortunately, the only recording of this I have ever found, in an arrangement closest to what I prefer, is really poor quality. There are many other recordings available, but most of them just give me a rash. *heh* This is the Moody Bible Institute choir and symphonic band sometime in the (very) late ’80s/early 90s:

Its a 7MB mp3 file, so it may take abit to buffer, depending on your connection and how you hold your mouth.

Meanwhile, here’s a brief clip from “Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendor”

htt://www.thirdworldcounty.us/audio/Thou_Who_Wast_Rich_Beyond_All_Splendor_clip.mp3

And an instrumental of the tune, with Frank Houghton’s powerful words below:

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor,
All for love’s sake becamest poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender,
Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor,
All for love’s sake becomes poor.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,
All for love’s sake becamest Man;
Stooping so low, but sinners raising
Heavenward by Thine eternal plan.
Thou who art God beyond all praising,
All for love’s sake becamest Man.

Thou who art love beyond all telling,
Saviour and King, we worship thee.
Emmanuel, within us dwelling,
Make us what Thou wouldst have us be.
Thou who art love beyond all telling,
Saviour and King, we worship Thee.

— Frank Houghton (1894-1972)

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A Lesser-Known Christmas Carol . . .

By Charles Ives:

Ives rhythms (and the almost requisite accompaniment) make this a wee tad off for carolers going from door-to-door, but the music and lyrics are simply beautiful.

Ian Howell, Countertenor.
Douglas Dickson, Piano.

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In the Bleak Midwinter

This isn’t the James Taylor rendition that convinced me CRANHAM could–just–work with the Christina Rossetti words, but it still has enough of the elements of the one that did to make it to this year’s posting:

It’s not CRANHAM (and I don’t know offhand just what the tune is), but Sarah McLachlan offers a really nice treatment:

It’s so very characteristic of McLachlan’s work that, especially since I cannot find any other notation even on her own website, I have to believe the tune could well be her own. Any reader who knows more about the tune, please chime in, mmK?

Both artists, of course, modify the words to suit their selected tunes, but not in ways that are disservice to the Rossetti text, even including McLachlan’s inexplicable–to me–alteration of “the” to “a” in the title and first and fourth lines.

The Rossetti text, of course, follows the Northern Hemispheric, European conceit of a “midwinter” birth of Christ–snow and all that–but that doesn’t detract from the words’ impact:

In the bleak midwinter
By Christina Rossetti

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

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Two of the WORST Christmas Songs

This may surprise you. Two of the worst Christmas songs are extremely well-written pieces, and the iconic performances of these songs are extremely well performed. They’re just darned good songs, but NOT as Christmas songs,
because they have nothing to do with anything that’s genuinely about Christmas. That makes them subversive and destructive of genuine Christmas observation.