Beautiful song to remind us why we are Christian

daveyeh · 05-04-2016 1:17pm

hinault wrote: »

Terrible

indy_man · 08-05-2016 7:01pm

It's Alright

paulaa · 09-05-2016 4:42pm

My favourite Irish hymn and one I will have at my funeral

"Be Thou My Vision" (Old Irish: Rop tú mo baile or Rob tú mo bhoile) is a traditional hymn from Ireland. The most well known English version, with some minor variations, was translated by Eleanor Hull and published in 1912. In 1919, the lyrics were set to the tune of the Irish folk tune "Slane", to which the song is sung to this day, both in English and Irish. The song dates from at least the eighth century, though it has often been attributed to the sixth-century Irish Christian poet Saint Dallan.

love humanity · 16-05-2016 11:46am

O Virgin Pure / Agni Parthene : ) a beautiful Byzantine chant

In English youtube.com/watch?v=fi8Q2Dy7Iyk

In Greek youtube.com/watch?v=IomxvOTf-So

In Russian youtube.com/watch?v=C7vvPXz-Qes

In Arabic youtube.com/watch?v=NUrnzwLAf3Y

indy_man · 18-05-2016 2:17pm

Agree, beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi8Q2Dy7Iyk

indy_man · 18-05-2016 2:27pm

This is amazing also

Lets remember our Christian brothers and sisters in Syria in prayer who are suffering greatly now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vLQtAxlark

love humanity · 18-05-2016 4:52pm

Beautiful chant from the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

youtube.com/watch?v=lobgieX4rKg

Manach · 12-06-2016 2:19pm

Gregorian Chant for Catholic Mass and Devotion

indy_man · 21-07-2016 4:30pm

Brother Isaiah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9WFac5WEDg

indy_man · 23-08-2016 9:13pm

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - The Power Of Love

Manach · 24-08-2016 11:55pm

I think this is a first for this thread but presenting Swedish Power metal:

looksee · 03-09-2016 10:35pm

My teen years as a Methodist meant I learned numerous hymns, and still remember many of them. We sang at every opportunity, on bus trips, while camping - we had a number of choir members in the group and it is a lovely memory of a bunch of teens in the '60s singing hymns (with all the descants), sentimental stuff like 'All in the April Evening, and the odd dodgy ditty. Even without belief there are some good thoughts in some of the hymns; one of my favourites, not for the tune but for the words, is this:

The Elixir
BY GEORGE HERBERT

Teach me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in anything
To do it as for Thee.

A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye;
Or if he pleaseth, through it pass,
And then the heav'n espy.

All may of Thee partake:
Nothing can be so mean,
Which with his tincture—"for Thy sake"—
Will not grow bright and clean.

A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine:
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws,
Makes that and th' action fine.

This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold;
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told.

Though I have to admit I do not understand the last verse - 'cannot for less be told'?

Speedwell · 03-09-2016 10:52pm

I'm absolutely beyond all doubt a strong atheist, but when I was a schoolgirl I was a student of church musicians of international repute, and was recruited into the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, a training university for church choir conductors. There, now you know something about me hardly anyone else in the world does... I'm not completely sure I ever told my husband, as a matter of fact, not because I'm ashamed of it, but because it was thirty years ago and he's not very musical.

The most perfect of all choral works is the Cantique De Jean Racine of Gabriel Faure. John Rutter conducts this a little slower than I would, but he really understands the piece. The other Cambridge recording, conducted by Paarvo Järvi, suffers from being rushed, but really brings out the delicate dance-like sway of the orchestral accompaniment. Ironically the lyrics sort of call out atheists (as people "forgetful of Thy laws"), lol.

Here are both for you to compare, with lyrics below:

Verbe égal au Très-Haut, notre unique espérance,
Jour éternel de la terre et des cieux;
De la paisible nuit nous rompons le silence:
Divin Sauveur, jette sur nous les yeux!

Répands sur nous le feu de ta grâce puissante;
Que tout l'enfer fuie au son de ta voix;
Dissipe le sommeil d'une âme languissante
Qui la conduit à l'oubli de tes lois!

Ô Christ! Sois favorable à ce peuple fidèle
Pour te bénir maintenant rassemblé.
Reçois les chants qu'il offre à ta gloire immortelle,
Et de tes dons qu'il retourne comblé!

Giacomo McGubbin · 04-09-2016 9:45pm

Must appreciated Speedwell.

Speedwell · 06-09-2016 8:15am

looksee wrote: »

This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold;
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told.

Though I have to admit I do not understand the last verse - 'cannot for less be told'?

Finally dawned on me that I knew the answer to this. It's because there's an old meaning of "to tell" that means "to count". I think it's genius really, you also "tell" the beads of a rosary like a bank "teller" or cashier with an abacus calculates, so the verse relates gold, ownership, touching (like touching the beads), valuation ("cannot for less"), and telling (counting, but also evokes "talk about" as in evangelism). The whole poem is full of such ingenious comparisons and references that require a bit of knowledge of alchemical and economic theory

The verse thus means, essentially, this:

1. The Philosopher's Stone (the "Elixir" of ancient alchemy) of Christianity, i.e. the mantra "For Thy sake", turns the profane into the sacred by heavenly "transmutation"... in fact some believe this is the real meaning of alchemy, and the chemical substances and processes sought after by people trying to turn literal lead into literal gold are really code for esoteric spiritual concepts involving the transmutation of spiritual "lead" to spiritual "gold" in a person's spirit (as a reader of Paracelsus I know it's more sophisticated and complex and not entirely without proposed practical application, but that will do for a first approximation). Approaching everything in the atmosphere of "all for God" lifts everything you are, do, and encounter into the realm of the Divine, giving it a high value above the merely mundane.

2. Only in the currency of the resulting transmuted "gold" (reality seen through the lens of "for God's sake" and conscientious prayer) can things pertaining to the Divine be properly valuated ("told"), and only in this currency can things of the Divine be legitimately "paid for" and obtained.

Look over the rest of the poem in this light and see if you don't agree with my reading.