An Update, A Rave, and a Rant

[tealin]

Update on the Update:
Once I work out some technical glitches, the updated Discworld page will be up. I didn't realize how much I'd drawn since October ... holy smokes. Pottery updates will come later as there are fewer of them and I'm going to have to figure out how to categorize some of the odder doodles from last year's end-of-the-year sketchbook fill-'er-up. Wheee.

I've managed to catch up on about half the BBC shows I usually listen to [sob] ... Of course, Small Gods had to be one, and even though I only got to hear it in little five minute chunks (many reasons, won't go into them here) it was darn good.
I am most appreciative of how they're keeping it dark and funny at the same time ... so many people would try taking it in either one direction or the other but they're doing it right! It almost makes me forgive them for not casting Andy Hamilton as Om. ;) Anyway, what I was most glad to hear was the little bit about why Om is where he is, the thing about ... well, here, I'll just copy it out of the book.

'I am your God, right?'
'Yes.'
'And you'll obey me.'
'Yes.'
'Good. Now take a rock and go and kill Vorbis.'
Brutha didn't move.
'I'm sure you heard me,' said Om.
'But he'll ... he's ... the Quisition would –'
'Now you know what I mean,' said the tortoise. 'You're more afraid of him than you are of me, now. Abraxas says here: "Around the Godde there forms a Shelle of prayers and Ceremonies and Buildings and Priestes and Authority, until at Last the Godde Dies. Ande this maye notte be noticed."'
'That can't be true!'
'I think it is. Abraxas says there's a kind of shellfish that lives in the same way. It makes a bigger and bigger shell until it can't move around any more, and so it dies.'

Okay, when I first read that, it bowled me over – there it was, in one simple statement, something my mind might skate around (indeed already had a little, or at least seen it over the horizon) for my entire life, but I'd never ever be able to put it in such a simple, strong, compelling image as that. It's probably not the effect our dear Mr Secular-Humanist Pratchett would have wanted, but this image has had a profound effect on my own faith in a good way. It's so easy to get caught up in the rituals and costumes and traditions and forms (especially as a Catholic) that you lose touch with what it's really all about; because of this analogy being presented to me in such a clear and simple image, I make a conscious effort to get through the shell.

Now I shall set out to prove myself an utter hypocrite and rant about one aspect of that shell, the ruddy annoying music our choir director is so fond of. I know I've gone off on this song before but every time it gets performed* I have to vent.

It starts out with the accompaniment that is the same sort of nauseatingly major-key tinkly piano that you get on the credits to anime movies and in the Asian supermarket near my work, and then – then! – come the lyrics. I've quoted a few of them before but for the full effect you really need to read the whole thing:

We believe in God
And we all need Jesus
'Cause life is hard
And it might not get easier

But don't be afraid
To know who you are
Don't be afraid to show it

If you believe in God
If you say you need Jesus
He'll be where you are
And he never will leave you

Sing to me now words that are true
So all in this place can know it...

We believe in God
And we all need Jesus
We believe in God
And we all need Jesus
We believe in God
And we all need Jesus

Sing to me now words that are true
So all in this place can know it...

We believe in God
And we all need Jesus
We believe in God
And we all need Jesus
We believe in God
And we all need Jesus

[and because the original two repetitions weren't enough:]

Sing to me now words that are true
So all in this place can know it...

We believe in God
And we all need Jesus
We believe in God
And we all need Jesus
We believe in God
And we all need Jesus

WHAT THE CRAP?!? It doesn't mean anything! 'Cause life is hard/And it might not get easier? Not only does this not even rhyme, but it simplifies the tremendous power and mystery of a supreme cosmic being into a snuggly teddy bear and/or water wings! What does knowing and showing who you are have to do with the rest of the song? It's only a marginally spiritual sentiment as it is! And, hmm, maybe if we repeat 'We believe in God/And we all need Jesus' enough times, that'll replace the utter gaping lack of depth and meaning! AAARGH! If you want to listen to Amy Grant in your car or at home or blare her out at some Youth Group meeting or something then fine, but IN CHURCH? We're not supposed to be there for shallow platitudes! It's like if the sermon was 'God is nice,' or, as Bananabasket so succinctly observed, the way religious education from grades 1-11 is dumbed down to 'You are special. God loves you.'

ARGH.

* And yes, it is performed: the choir is supposed to lead the congregation, not 'perform,' but this song isn't in any of the congregation's books so they can't sing along, hence it is a performance, and not a very good one at that.

Well, I have to wake up in the actual morning so I'd better take some deep breaths and go to bed.

Comments

look up 'For the Beauty of the Earth'

[(Anonymous)]

wow, so im not the only one. Except our church is an open dictatorship with a seemingly superfluous budget, and is always advertising for new choir recruits.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

THAT is one of my favourite hymns. But it's too, ahem, 'stodgy' for our choir leader. There's also the fact that everyone in the choir has heard it performed badly by small children for so many years that that's what it sounds like in their heads. I've given up trying to request that one. I did actually, for the first time in ten years and three choirs, get them to do 'The Glory of These Forty Days' ... once. I doubt we'll ever do it again. It didn't help that the pianist forgot to bring his music. >:P

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

I really love that hymn, too - that is, the old-fashioned, stodgy, stately version of it. I seem to be the only person I've met who doesn't just love the sparkly, fluffy arrangement by John Rutter, which I've endured singing OVER and OVER again in SO many different ward choirs...it's all I can do to resist leaping around, in mockery of a ballerina, tossing daisies and rose petals into the air, cascading on my fellow singers, or at the very least shimmying my head and shoulders, ever so slightly, whenever we sing:
For the beau-tee of the skiiiii - hi - hi - hiiiiies! or (imagine a bunch of hyperactive beavers or ground squirrels, looking up and around, goggly-eyed, chittering):
Over-and-a-round - us-liiiiies! (LA LAAAAAA!!!,) Over-and-a-round - us-liiiiiies! (la-LAA-LAA!) or
This - ourgen - tlehymmmmmmmmn...(tra-lala-lalaaa! goes the piano)...of praaaaaaai - hey - hey - haiiiiise!!!

I really hope the "Curlz MT" typeface comes through on your computers!

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Heeheeheehee... Oh, John Rutter. So it's not just my mom's choir director that's addicted to him – it's the whole STATE! No one up here understands why I start groaning whenever anything Rutter comes up. There's only so much one person can take in a lifetime! He's like the Thomas Kincaid of choral music!

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

Yes. Exactly!