Category Archives: Spiritual practices

“Come, Ye Shepherds” #Advent #Music

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“Kommet, Ihr Hirten” (“Come, Ye Shepherds”) is a traditional German Christmas carol. However, it is based on an earlier Czech carol, entitled “Nesem vám noviny.” The melody is Bohemian, author unknown. Carl Riedel wrote the German lyrics, and the carol was first published in 1870.

The lyrics urge “Shepherds, men and women” to come to the Nativity scene and see the “lovely child.” They describe the angel’s visit, the shepherds’ walk to the manger, and their adoration of the Lord who has brought “peace on earth, goodwill to all mankind.”

I hope you enjoy this arrangement featuring melody and harmony on Oriole (soprano) and alto recorder respectively, lyre accompaniment, and the German lyrics I learned from a record album about 20 years ago!

This post is part of my Holiday Blogging Party. Want to participate?
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Self-deception #Decima #Poem

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How we take the scarring, scraping
Given by the lives we’ve chosen!
In our prison, rigid, frozen,
While the door is open, gaping!

For we live the lives we’re shaping
By our choices, thoughts, believing.
True acceptance starts relieving.
Earth is anything but stable;
Let us cling to Heaven’s cable!
Keep the Truth and stop deceiving!

—
This was a hard one for me, using the word “stable” in the D line of a Decima! Written for
Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge Prompt No. 34: (STABLE) in the D rhyme line.

“Once in Royal David’s City” #Advent #Music

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This beautiful Christmas carol began as a poem written by Cecil Frances Alexander in 1848. The poem is based on Luke 2:4-7, which read:

“And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

In 1849, English organist Henry John Gauntlett discovered the poem and set it to his melody entitled “Irby,” which is the tune we still sing today.

I first heard this carol on a CD of English (as in from England) carols someone gave me for Christmas when I was about 15. It was a choral arrangement that began with a soprano soloist. For some reason the melody and
lyrics
were unforgetable to me, and I learned to play the carol by ear on piano to accompany my singing.

Here is “Once in Royal David’s City” on ukulele, viola, alto recorder, and lyre. I hope you enjoy it!

This post is part of my Holiday Blogging party. And you’re invited!
Click here to learn how to participate!

Giving Christmas 3TC #Poem

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A white fluffy blanket will cover us soon.
We’ll cringe at the cold as our chapped dry lips move.

We’ll run for the festive, no reason or rhyme,
‘Cause didn’t you know? It’s the hair-raising time!

We’ll step into debt and think inside each box,
Darting into an app for just one pair of socks!

There’s a pump in the basement in need of repair.
It’s been flagging and dragging since Christmas last year!

I would chortle if things weren’t so dyer and sad,
But this holiday season, for many, is bad.

Can’t we look out for others and not just our own?
We know someone or something in need of a home!

We can mine our resources to offer some help,
For the little we have is another’s great wealth!

There is no “Automatic” or button to press,
But for somebody, somewhere, it’s we who can bless!

When the pretty snowflakes fall upon you this year,
Ask yourself what you’ve done for another’s good cheer!

For no matter the gift and no matter how small,
It’s the giving that’s truly the best gift of all!

—
My response to this week’s
Take 7 at Pensitivity101.

Also part of my Holiday Blogging Party.
You’re invited! Please come along!

“Huron Carol” #Advent #Music

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This haunting carol is said to be Canada’s oldest Christmas song. Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, wrote “Huron Carol” around 1642. It is also called “Twas in the Moon of Wintertime.”

The lyrics are an aboriginal Canadian retelling of the Nativity story, using imagery familiar to native people. Brébeuf wrote the lyrics in the Huron/Wendat people’s native language, in which the original title is “Jesous Ahatonhia” (“Jesus, he is born”). The song has been translated into both French and English.

The melody is based on a French folk tune called “Une Jeune Pucelle” (A Young Maid). The carol is still found in Canadian hymnals today.

I hope you enjoy listening to “Huron Carol” on ukulele, viola, and alto recorder!

This post is part of my Holiday Blogging Party.
You’re invited!
Please click the link and participate as much as you wish!

Beam #SixSentenceStories

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A beam of light shot across the sky on that long-ago night. Was it a UFO? A meteor? A shooting star? Or a sign that the world was ending–or just beginning? Ask your heart, and you’ll receive your answer!

—
Written for
#SixSentenceStories: Beam

This is also part of my Holiday Blogging Party. You’re invited, too!
Click here to participate!

“Patapan” #Advent #Music

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French poet Bernard de La Monnoye wrote “Patapan” (or “Pat-a-pan”), a Burgundian carol first published in 1720. Its original title was “Guillô, Pran Ton Tamborin” (“Willie, Bring Your Little Drum” or, as some English translations say, “Willie, Take Your Little Drum”). “Patapan” is a lesser known, but beautiful traditional Christmas carol that revolves around shepherds playing simple instruments at the birth of Christ. The title itself, “Patapan,” mimics the sound of the drum, and the sound “tu-re-lu-re-lu” in the refrain mimics the flute or fife. You can find one anonymous English translation
here.

I hope you enjoy hearing this carol on zither, which is a plucked instrument, and Oriole recorder, a vertical flute!

This post is part of my Holiday Blogging Party. You’re welcome to join in!
Click here to learn how.

“Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” #Advent #Music

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“Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” is a traditional Polish Christmas carol. Its original title is “W Żłobie Leży.” Edith Margaret Gellibrand Reed translated the lyrics into English in 1920. The text is based on Luke 2:7, which reads, “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. (KJV)” The melody may date back as far as the 13th century.

Today you’re listening to melody and harmony on alto recorder, melody on viola, and ukulele accompaniment. I hope you enjoy this beautiful carol!

A Life of Faith #Poem

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Chicken and dumplings add much to my style,
Not all the time, but once in a while.

I enjoy a beach walk and a castle of sand
Before it’s destroyed by my brother’s big hand.

I’m always awake at midnight, you see,
Because I’m creative and also can’t sleep.

I like a good brain teaser puzzle of sorts,
And I’m real good at research and writing reports.

But still there are times when Sahara I know,
Feeling thirsty, despairing, or stuck and alone.

I’ve been on the cliff’s edge at the edge of the sea,
Praying tides wash away all the trouble from me.

I am living my life in its time and its place,
And it grows from the small mustard seed of my faith!

—
My response to Linda Kruschke’s
Paint Chip Poetry Prompt #48