In this week’s installment of The Merry Mystic, I share a new chant about God. It’s a chant that imagines God as a trinity: Mother, Child, and Breath of Life.
[youtube id=”kiH5EManKEw”]
The music for “Mother, Child, and Breath of Life” is available in my “Free Stuff” area, including the vocal score and some accompaniment ideas. (You’ll need the password for the free stuff. If you don’t have that password, you can get it by subscribing to my weekly letter, The Merry Mystic. Please do: it’s free, and if it doesn’t suit you, you can always unsubscribe.)
I hope you’ll scroll down and leave a comment. How would you suggest using this music? Have you used it, and how did it work for you? Do you find God in these three-in-one images? Please scroll down and share your thoughts.
Best blessings,
Adam
Hi Adam,
Due to time constraints, I never return to your site to see if you have responded to my comments. I mention this so you will know that, truly, it doesn’t matter to me if you delete, or edit, my non-Christian responses to your posts, which I still continue to doubt are appropriate for your site.
First of all, I will say that the title of this particular post made me feel just a tiny bit uncomfortable. I almost didn’t hit the play button but, being a person who likes to investigate anything at all that makes me the least bit uncomfortable, I did bravely hit the play button. I liked the first part of your chant; I think your piano accompaniment to this section is beautiful. The second part of the chant–to my heathen ears–literally made me groan aloud, “Ugh-g-g-g.” (I think I also melodramatically placed my hands over my ears, but that may be a bit of “color” my imagination added just now.) The third part of the chant, more than likely because of how the second part had impacted me, left me feeling neutral. In my opinion (and, really what do I know?), what you’ve created seems a bit impossible for a church congregation to carry off. If I were you I would only plan to have a church choir tackle such a project (but, even then, the members of the choir might find themselves thinking unpleasant thoughts about you–ha!ha!).
What I, personally, would like to see you do (if I had a magic wand and could tap you on the head with it), is this: instead of pursuing such a musically challenging project, create a simple chant song that even a child could sing. “Row, row, row your boat” works as a round because it is so incredibly simple. I’ve heard that, among mathematicians, there’s a saying that only a simple mathematical proof is truly beautiful. I would venture to say that the same might be true for church hymns. The simpler the hymn, perhaps the more it will be sung in a full-hearted way. And isn’t that the point of hymns, that they be sung by the heart and soul as well as by the mouth and throat? I could be wrong, of course. Listen to your heart and, by all means, continue to pursue this project if it keeps calling to you.
Bye for now …
Your heathen spiritual sister, Shelley B.
Hi, Sister Shelley. So, it sounds like that one pushed your buttons … and actually made you groan aloud! (In the Greek New Testament, there’s a verb “stenazo” — sometimes translated as groan, and sometimes as sigh; it means whatever sound we make when we express ourselves wordlessly in the face of suffering.) But, different strokes for different folks. I’ve got dozens of songs — including some that are much simpler and also less christocentric. So please stay tuned!