Although I got the speakers primarily with the intent of listening to my purchased music, I find that I use them mostly to listen to KSDS. I discovered San Diego’s jazz station in high school, but its broadcast was weak enough in the North County where I lived that I could generally only listen in my car if I was driving in a particular direction (south, maybe?). The station boosted its signal while I was in college, and I listened frequently when I was visiting home. For my money, KSDS is the best jazz station in the U.S. (at least, based on my experience in New York—where, seriously, the only jazz station is actually broadcast from Newark—Provo (which only played at night), D.C., and Chicago).

But, as much as I love the station, it does play songs I don’t enjoy. And it doesn’t play songs I would love to hear. I could get a more-tailored playlist from my own collection, from Pandora’s algorithm, or from Spotify’s nearly unabridged array of recordings. So why, in light of all the music and technology, go with a radio station?

Because it’s curated. The DJs at KSDS love the music they play[fn1], and they have an encyclopedic knowledge of the genre, from its beginnings to the latest records. They have opinions, quirks, and preferences. True, Pandora can potentially provide me a serendipitous find,[fn2] but it often feels more like a classic rock station, playing the obvious choices. Almost every time I listen to KSDS, I discover something new.

I’m beginning to think that church meetings function in much the same way. The talks and lessons and comments from class members are those people’s curated versions of what the Gospel means; they display the speakers’ quirks, interpretations, and lived experience. Sometimes those quirks, interpretations, and lived experience don’t resonate with me. Sometimes they bother me. Sometimes I feel like I could find more meaning by studying my scriptures on my own, focusing on the meaning that I find in them. But sometimes somebody’s curated experience with the Gospel provides me with a serendipitous find, and I discover meaning that I could not and would not have discovered on my own.[fn3]

I can still listen to my mp3s when the mood strikes; I can trust in Pandora, too. I can study on my own, using the tools that I bring to the table, to supplement what I get at church. But the curated experience, both in my musical and my religious life, is irreplaceable.

—

[fn1] Seriously. Between college and law school, I moved back to San Diego for several months and was asked to play piano for the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot branch. Every Sunday morning I drove down to a soundtrack of big band swing; the DJ, it turns out, had complained that the station didn’t have any big band shows, and was invited to put one together himself.

[fn2] I heard a version of “Subterranean Homesick Blues” on Pandora several years ago that I loved; sadly, I can’t remember who it was, and I haven’t been able to recreate the series of songs that led to it.

[fn3] Yes, I realize I’m leaving out ordinances. But if our only purpose in attending church was to perform ordinances, well, I could cut the three-hour block by about two hours and 45 minutes.

William Wines Phelps, the author of this hymn was also one of the first and most prolific of Mormon poets, although unlike his contemporaries Parley P. Pratt, Eliza R. Snow and John Lyon, Phelps never published a volume of his own poetry. He is also unique because he is likely the author of the only poem, outside of scripture, attributed to Joseph Smith (The Vision, a paraphrase of D&C 76). If I recall correctly, he is still the Mormon author with the most hymns in the current hymnal.

This hymn was included in the first Mormon hymnal, and in the hymnal published by Brigham Young, John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt in England in 1840, but was apparently not included in Mormon hymnals after that.

An angel came down from the mansions of glory

by W. W. Phelps

An angel came down from the mansions of glory,

And told that a record was hid in Cumorah,

Containing the fulness of Jesus’s gospel;

And also the cov’nant to gather his people.

O Israel! O Israel!

In all your abidings,

Prepare for your Lord

When you hear these glad tidings.

A heavenly treasure; a book full of merit;

It speaks from the dust, by the power of the Spirit;

A voice from the Savior that saints can rely on,

To prepare for the day when he brings again Zion.

O Israel! O Israel!

In all your abidings,

Prepare for your Lord

When you hear these glad tidings.

Listen O isles, and give ear ev’ry nation,

For great things await you in this generation:

The kingdom of Jesus, in Zion, shall flourish;

The righteous will gather; the wicked must perish.

O Israel! O Israel!

In all your abidings,

Prepare for your Lord

When you hear these glad tidings.

 First published in the
Evening and Morning Star, February 1833
Also included in the first Mormon Hymnal (1835),
and in the 1840 Mormon Hymnal published in England

While it is not Phelps’ best work, it does clearly discuss the restoration, putting it in the context of another favorite theme of early Mormon poetry: the millennium and return of the Savior. And this restorationist theme makes it fit well with Gospel Doctrine lesson on the Book of Mormon #10.

Thomas B. Marsh

Scripture is often repeated in scripture, and poets have rarely been shy about re-using lines of poetry, often without attribution. Plagiarism is everywhere, and our view of it as a faux pas is really relatively recent—this view is certainly more recent than the mid 19th century, when Mormon newspapers started churning out poetry and other forms of Mormon literature.

The 9th Book of Mormon lesson is also about repeated scripture, specifically Nephi’s use of the early chapters of Isaiah which seem to make up the bulk of 2nd Nephi. Perhaps Nephi served as an example for the poetry I’ve chosen for this lesson.

This paraphrase was written by an apostle. While two apostles (Parley P. Pratt and Orson F. Whitney) are so well known for their poetry that they might be considered Apostle-poets, others have also tried their hand. Bruce R. McConkie wrote hymns, Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt were published occasionally in Mormon periodicals. There are others. And, you can add to that list Thomas B. Marsh. Yes, the same one of milk and strippings fame (which wasn’t, we know, about milk and strippings at all).

In Kirtland, before he traveled to Missouri in early 1838, Marsh was the proprietor of the 3rd Mormon newspaper, the Elder’s Journal; Joseph Smith was the editor. Two numbers were published in October and November of 1837, and this poem appeared in the 2nd. A further two numbers appeared in May and June of 1838, in Far West, Missouri just before the violence broke out there that led to the expulsion of the Mormons from the state and Marsh’s excommunication the following year.

Nonetheless, this poem is a fascinating paraphrase of Isaiah 60, which speaks of the eventual gathering of Israel, just like some of the Isaiah material covered in this lesson:

A Paraphrase

by T. B. M. (Thomas B. Marsh)

For the Journal.—Isaiah chapt. LX.

Arise O Zion, fair and lift thine eyes,

Exalt thy lofty towers towards the skies;

See the resplendent glory round thee spread,

Fill all thy courts and rest upon thy head!

See Gentiles from the distant nations too,

Come to thy light, and in thy temple bow;

See numerous kings and princes from afar,

Cast down their crowns, and in thy glories share!

Behold thy sons shall come in flocks as clouds

Around thine altars bow, in shining crowds,

Rejoice in God that he doth now unfold;

His hidden treasures, as in days of old.

By sons of strangers shalt thy walls be reared,

And by all nations, thou shalt be revered,

And greatly honored, while their kings shall bring,

Their richest treasures and thy glory sing.

Whereas in wrath I hid my face from thee,

Behold in loving kindness thou shall see,

The glory of my presence manifest,

Among thy tens of thousands in the west!

Thy gates shall not be shut by night nor day.

That Kings and Gentiles may be brought to thee.

Lebanons former glory shall be thine.

To thee shall come the fir, the box and pine,

To beautify the place where I shall stand,

Within thy walls upon my holy land.

The sons also of that ungodly band,

Who cast thee out and drove thee from thy land,

Shall come, bending unto thee bowed down,

Call thee the Zion of the Holy one,

Of Israel, who by his almighty arm,

Hath gathered thee and claimed thee for his own.

The substance of the Gentile nations round;

Shall come to thee, and in thy streets abound

Instead of wood, fine brass be brought to thee,

Iron as plenty as the stones shall be;

Silver as iron unto thee shall come,

And gold as brass, thy streets and courts adorn.

And all thine officers shall bring thee peace,

And thine exacters deal in righteousness.

Violence shall no more be heard in thee,

Neither within thy borders shalt thou see

Thy fields with blood and carnage covered o’er,

The warriors trumpet there, is heard no more:

While wicked slay the wicked all around!

The Earth shall shake; the stars from heaven be hurled,

While God with outstretched arm destroys the world,

The seas shall move, and islands flee away,

Mountains flow down in that tremendous day!

The crooked be made straight, the valleys rise,

The sun and moon be darkened in the skies!

The trump shall sound, the dead in Christ shall rise!

While all the living saints beneath the skies,

Shall then be quickened and ascend on high,

To meet with Enoch’s city in the sky,

Descend with Christ with all his holy train,

Upon the Earth a thousand years to reign!!!

Thy children now in righteousness shall rest,

No more afflicted nor no more oppressed.

(For peace and union now shall spread

Their balmy wings o’er all the spacious globe)

They are planting of mine own right hand,

The branch which shall inherit Zion’s land.

While Christ shall reign, and thousand years shall roll,

And songs of praise are heard from pole to pole,

And echoed throughout heaven’s vast domain

In pealing anthems to the Lamb ’twas slain.

Elder’s Journal, v 1, n 2,
November 1837.

]]> http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2012/02/literary-bmgd-9-a-paraphrase-of-isaiah-60/feed/ 0 http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2012/02/literary-bmgd-8-twas-on-that-dark-that-solemn-night/ http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2012/02/literary-bmgd-8-twas-on-that-dark-that-solemn-night/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:00:09 +0000 Kent Larsen http://timesandseasons.org/?p=18984

Manchester Hymnal

Active Mormons hear poetry about the atonement each Sunday in the sacrament hymn, so finding a poem to go with Jacob’s discourse on the atonement in 2 Nephi 9 isn’t too much of a burden. The hard part is finding something that isn’t already well known and is unique to Mormonism, which I’ve generally tried to do in this series.

There are 28 sacrament hymns in the current hymnal, most of which are probably familiar. However, there have been a number of other sacrament hymns that are no longer in our current hymnal. Most of those are not by Mormons. And, while I have not been able to identify the author of this hymn, I have so far only found it in Mormon hymnals, starting with the Manchester Hymnal put together by Brigham Young, John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt in 1840.

As far as I can tell, it was eliminated from LDS Hymnals in the early 20th century, but I don’t know why. It feels to me a little more graphic than other sacrament hymns, but I haven’t read it in comparison to them, so I can’t exactly say. In addition, some of the imagery seems more protestant than we have in other hymns — the image of meeting at the table, and calling the sacrament the “marriage-supper of the Lamb” are unusual in LDS symbolism, in my experience.

1. ‘Twas on that dark, that solemn night,
When powers of death and hell arose,
Against the Son, e’en God’s delight,
And friends betrayed him to his foes:

2. Before the mournful scene began,
He took the bread, and blessed, and brake;
What love through all his actions ran!
What wondrous words of grace he spake!

3. “This is my body broke for sin,
Receive and eat the living food:”
Then took the cup, and blessed the wine,
“Tis the new cov’nant of my blood.”

4. For us his flesh with nails was torn,
He bore the scourge, he felt the thorn;
And justice poured upon his head,
Its heavy vengeance in our stead.

5. For us his precious blood was spilt,
To purchase pardon for our guilt:
When for our sins, he suffering dies,
And gave his life a sacrifice.

6. “Do this” he cried, “till time shall end,
In memory of your dying friend;
Meet at my table, and record
The love of your departed Lord.”

7. Jesus, thy feast we celebrate,
We show thy death, we sing thy name,
Till thou return, and we shall eat
The marriage-supper of the Lamb.

Of course, there are also at least 28 other sacrament hymns that include imagery that speaks of the atonement. I’m sure there are also many more recent poems (undoubtedly some that aren’t hymns at all) that use this imagery.

Still, I would have thought there would be more than I found — it almost makes me wonder if the subject of the atonement is so intimidating that artists shy away from it. If true, I have to admit that I understand that feeling.

Orson F. Whitney

Lehi’s final counsel in the Book of Mormon is to his son Joseph makes an interesting literary link between Joseph in Egypt, Joseph the son of Lehi and Joseph Smith, Jr. But, LDS authors have largely ignored this link, especially before 1900, when any mention of Joseph was usually a reference to Joseph Smith, Jr. But I did manage to find an exception in Orson F. Whitney’s epic, Elias.

As far as I can tell, other than general righteousness, the only real link between these three is that they happen to have the same name. Their histories aren’t really comparable in any way that I can see. Still, Whitney at least mentions the prophecy of Joseph’s name, and connects it to Joseph in Egypt.

While perhaps overly turgid in his prose, Whitney is as or more sophisticated in his imagery than any of his poetic Mormon predecessors that I’ve read. To me the oblique references made to biblical, book of Mormon and mythological elements are fascinating.

The six stanzas I’ve chosen below (starting with the 30th stanza in Canto six) cover the Book of Mormon from its beginning to Lehi’s death, although the vast majority of the story is left out in favor of examining Lehi’s family’s importance to the overall narrative. I’ve left in Whitney’s explanatory footnotes verbatim.

Joseph

from Canto Six, Out of the Dust, from Elias, An Epic of the Ages

by Orson F. Whitney

Again, athwart the wilderness of waves
Surging old East and older West between,
Where the lone sea a flowery southland laves,
And Zarahemla reigns as ocean queen,
Braving the swell, a storm-tossed bark is seen.
From doomed Jerusalem, to Jacob dear,
Albeit a leper[fn1], groping, blind, unclean,
Goes forth Manasseh’s prophet pioneer[fn2],
Predestined to unveil the hidden hemisphere.

.

His lot to reap and plant on this rare shore
The promise of his fathers: Joseph’s bough[fn3],
From Jacob’s well, the billowy wall runs o’er;
Abides in strength the archer-stricken bow,
Unto the utmost bound prevailing now,
Of Hesper’s heaven-upholding hills. Bend, sheaves
Of Israel, as branches bend with snow,
Unto his sheaf grown mightiest! Here, as leaves
For multitude, the son the great sire’s glory weaves.

.

[fn1] A Leper. Jerusalem in her degenerate state.

[fn2] Prophet Pioneer. Lehi, a descendant of Joseph, through Manasseh, with a colony from Jerusalem, succeeds the all but extinct Jaredites upon the Land of Promise, where they extend the glory of their great ancestor.

[fn3] Joseph’s Bough. “Joseph is a fruitful bough.” (Gen. 49:22).

[fn4] Chosen Seer. Lehi predicts the coming of ” a choice seer” who is to be a lineal descendant of Joseph. The name of that seer is also to be Joseph, and it is to be the name of his father—a prophecy fulfilled in Joseph Smith, Jr. (II Nephi 3.)

[fn5] Buried Lore. The Book of Mormon.

[fn6] Favored Son. Nephi, who succeeded his father Lehi, and against whom his brothers Laman and Lemuel rebelled, thus dividing the nation into Nephites and Lamanites.

[fn7] Heavy Rod. The Lord used the savage Lamanites to scourge the enlightened yet ofttimes disobedient Nephites.

Now Available

Charles Harrel,“This Is My Doctrine”: The Development of Mormon Theology (Kofford Books) “In this first-of-its-kind comprehensive treatment of the development of Mormon theology, Charles Harrell traces the history of Latter-day Saint doctrines from the times of the Old Testament to the present.” I have my doubts that someone who does not equally control original Biblical sources and LDS history, as well as the vast amounts of secondary literature on historiography, exegesis, etc. can give LDS doctrine a truly comprehensive diachronic treatment, and compress it into 597 pages. Nevertheless, I’m grateful to Harrel, an engineering professor, for making the attempt and I look forward to reading it. Too many LDS labor under the assumption that the status quo sprang fully formed from Joseph Smith. I don’t recall which of my friends said, but it’s in my Evernote file, “If there’s one thing Mormons excel at, it’s enshrining the status quo and assuming that if we do anything, there must be a good reason for it, and if there’s a good reason, it must have been revealed as the only way to do it, and if so, then it must have always been that way in all dispensations. And a lot of people’s faith can be shaken when it turns out not to always have been that way, which unravels that chain of reasoning back from that point until you doubt the premise, i.e., that any of it was revealed at all.”

Brant Gardner, The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon (Kofford Books) Many questions about the Book of Mormon end up centering on the nature of the translation, and many papers make tacit assumptions about it. Brant’s is the deepest treatment addressing those assumptions.His FAIR Conference presentation this year appears to have been based on his book. Gift and Power has already been reviewed elsewhere, so I’ll pass by without further commentary except to say that Brant’s previous volumes on the Book of Mormon have been fresh and thoughtful, and I expect no less from this.

Harold Bloom, The Shadow of a Great Rock: A Literary Appreciation of the King James Bible (Yale University Press) This is one of a string of books to appear about the KJV this year, but Bloom and the literary approach mark this one apart. Preview available. I’m particularly interested because the literary argument comes up repeatedly in LDS contexts. Of historical note, though, is that the KJV was not meant to be literary, and no one thought it was so until at least a century had passed. Chapter 1, “Language within language: the King James Steamroller” of Hamlin, The King James Bible After Four Hundred Years: Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Influences (Cambridge) appears to address this. (I only had a few minutes to browse it.) Another recent volumes of note is The King James Bible: A Short History from Tyndale to Today by David Norton, the author of the authoritative, technical and expensive Textual History of the King James Bible.

Coming in September

John Walton’s Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology (Eisenbrauns) This is the expanded version of Walton’s arguments found in The Lost World of Genesis 1 (Eerdmans), but Lost World was for a lay audience and Ancient Cosmology a more academic audience. Walton places Genesis 1 in its ancient Near Eastern context and argues convincingly that Israelites read it as a description of functional, not material creation, and furthermore, Genesis 1 is a temple text. You can get the gist of his thesis from the audio here. Jared at LDS Science Review has addressed Walton several times (here and here), and the comments include an enthusiastic endorsement by SteveP, BYU biologist and BCC blogger.

Coming in October

N.T. Wright, The Kingdom New Testament: A Contemporary Translation (Harper One) N.T. Wright is a prolific paradigm-shattering New Testament scholar, who is nevertheless very accessible to laypeople. Among others, he’s authored commentaries on Romans and a New Testament commentary series “For Everyone” as well as books on Paul, and Heaven. He’s criticized various Bible translations in the past, so I’m glad to hear he’ll have his own. Ben Witherington interviews him about it here.

Jewish Annotated New Testament (Oxford Press) I’m familiar with both of the editors, Marc Brettler from his How to Read the Bible (not to be confused with books of the same title from James Kugel or Steven McKenzie) and Amy-Jill Levine from her lectures with the Teaching Company. Oxford’s Jewish Study Bible has an excellent set of notes, essays and other aids. The Jewish Annotated New Testament aims to do the same thing for the New Testament, from a Jewish Perspective. “For non-Jewish readers interested in the Jewish roots of Christianity and for Jewish readers who want a New Testament that neither proselytizes for Christianity nor denigrates Judaism, The Jewish Annotated New Testament is an essential volume that places these writings in a context that will enlighten students, professionals, and general readers.” Among other notable features, the JANT, is the “first New Testament annotated by Jewish scholars (barring those who have converted to Christianity), brings out Jewish background of early Christianity, New Testament writers, explains Jewish concepts (e.g., food laws, rabbinic argumentation) for non-Jews & Christian concepts (e.g., Eucharist) for Jews, and will be helpful for non-Jewish readers interested in the Jewish roots of Christianity.”

Coming in January

Peter Enns, The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible does and Doesn’t Say about Human Origins (Brazos Press)

Enns says, “The book is divided into two parts. Part one focuses on Genesis, and my general point is that the creation stories are part of Israel’s literature of national and religious self-definition. In other words, they are not prepared to give the type of (historical and scientific) information we ask for today when speaking of “human origins.” To seek such information is to misread Genesis, and so attempts to align science and Genesis get us off on the foot altogether by not taking the biblical text on its own terms.Part two focuses on Paul’s use of the Adam story in Romans 5. Paul’s reading of the Adam story, despite superficial appearances, is hardly straightforward, and appreciating the theological subtly and depth of Paul’s words requires much more of us than simply opening an English Bible, reading a few verses, and drawing conclusions. I go on and on about this for a lot of pages, because this is a far more pressing problem for most Christian readers than Genesis.

The audience for the commentary is seminarians, pastors, and scholars. For The Evolution of Adam, the intended audience is similar to that of Inspiration and Incarnation: lay readers looking for different approaches to old problems. In fact, The Evolution of Adam applies the approach of Inspiration and Incarnation to a specific and pressing issue: in view of evolution, what does it mean to read the Bible well? So think of EOA as I&I part two.” I was a big fan of I&I, as well as the lectures of his I’ve heard online and in person. (Some posts of mine about Enns’ ideas here and here)

Happy reading.

(1) The ward where I grew up was blessed with a strong number of musically talented individuals, including organists, choristers, and singers. One of those in the chorister rotation was an older gentleman who was a retired professional musician. I’ll always be grateful to him for giving me one of my favorite church memories. Here’s the situation: the sacrament meeting went long, and the bishop announced that we would only sing one verse of the closing hymn. We sang the first verse of said hymn and everyone—bishopric, congregation, and organist—stopped and prepared for the closing prayer. Rather unfortunately, however, the chorister himself didn’t get the message. He loudly belted out the first word of the second verse entirely by himself. The split second it took for him to realize he was singing solo was probably one of the most awkward of my young life. He stopped singing with a horrified look on his face, that lonely note just hanging in the air. The poor man took his seat, crestfallen, as the congregation crackled with laughter. I would swear that even the bishop was chuckling during the closing prayer.

(2) During a stake youth fireside when I was a teenager, the speaker based his talk on the Police song “Every Breath You Take.” Instead of understanding the song as the creepy musings of a stalker, we were told to think of the lyrics as coming from Heavenly Father, who is watching over us in all circumstances. The speaker didn’t merely quote the lyrics; he brought a cassette player up to the lectern to play the music. He would play a clip from the song and then explicate its inspirational message for us. This lasted for at least 30 minutes. It was gospel according to Sting: well-intentioned but strange and, in hindsight, undeniably funny.

(3) A professor at BYU told a class I was in that he had saved the sacrament meeting bulletin in which the sacrament hymn was printed as “We’ll Sing All Hell to Jesus’ Name.” (This is, of course, a more-or-less orthographically faithful representation of how the word “hail” is pronounced in certain regions of high LDS concentration.)

(4) Another BYU professor apparently (this one is second-hand) offers his students extra credit if they bring him the bulletin from a meeting in which Hymn #121, “I’m a Pilgrim, I’m a Stranger,” was sung. (I personally cannot recall any meeting I’ve been in where it’s been sung.) Particularly priceless are the lyrics to the second verse:

Misty vapors rise before me.
Scarcely can I see the way.
Clouds of darkest hue hang o’er me,
And I’m apt to go astray
With the many, with the many
That are now the vulture’s prey

(5) A friend from grad school came to church with me once. This was one time where I wished our hymn selections had not included “In Our Lovely Deseret.” The line about “despising” tea, coffee, and tobacco is awesome in its own way, but it’s not exactly the best first impression for a curious non-member. (Fortunately, she was able to laugh about it with me afterward.) In its favor, though, this hymn taught me the word “affable.”

Feel free to share your favorite light-hearted music story in the comments.

Last Sunday I took our toddler out to the foyer for a few words. She got them, cried, calmed down, and I was saying hello to a few latecomers when the rest hymn started. I could barely hear it out there but it drew me like a magnet. When I walked into the chapel into the full sound of the congregration singing hymn 95, a new hymn to me, it was like walking through the veil into the celestial room.

The last few weeks church hadn’t done much for me. That changed. Our two high councilmen spoke strongly with the Spirit. Bishop got up and tried to say a few words at the end. But he was too moved to talk. He worked at speaking for awhile. Finally he said, ‘anyhow,’ and closed the meeting.

Among the very few songs that have survived from this edition to the current one are, “Give said the little Stream”, “I Thank Thee Dear Father”, “Can a Little Child Like Me”, and “Tell Me Dear Lord.” The most interesting songs, though, are the ones that didn’t make the cut. My personal favorite among these songs is #148 Tooth Bugs, by Ivy W. Stone and N. Lorenzo Mitchell:

“I do not want to clean my teeth, a little boy once cried,
“I’ve washed my face and combed my hair, Thats quite enough,” he sighed;
Some tooth bugs hiding in his mouth, Began to dance in glee;
“At last we’ve found a home,” they cried, “We do not have to flee!”

“This boy has such a nice warm mouth, We’ll linger here all night;
His teeth are filled with bits of food, We’ll eat with all our might!”
The small boy heard their shout of glee, “Get out of there,” he cried;
He grabbed his brush and scrubbed and scrubbed ‘Till every tooth bug died.

The general tone of the whole book is drastically different than the current book. There are instructional songs about doing chores and obeying parents, (“Scrubbing Song” “Setting the Table” “Washing Dishes” ) songs about health and hygiene, (“Come to Healthland” “Early to Bed and Early to Rise” “Little Brother Vegetable”) songs specific to abandoned or updated programs and classes, (“Primary Penny Song” “Builder Boys” “The Bluebirds”), songs far too secular or pagan to be permitted in today’s Sunday meetings (“Jack Frost and I” “Hallowe’en Surprise” “Fairy Fiddles”), yet surprisingly few songs that teach scripture stories or gospel principles like “I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus.”

The part of me that enjoys variety (and songs about Tooth Bugs) would love to resurrect some of these songs. What holds me back is the part of me that feels uncomfortable teaching and singing songs that border on being propaganda (even though I agree with what is being taught). That part of me is rather glad to see some of these songs laid to rest.

___

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the
molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that – pierced – died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of
beauty, lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

-John Updike