day by day is the ONLY way to get through may. i think i might have that put on a t-shirt. well, really it is the only way we get through any month. but especially may...
saturday was eagle project day. adam and maxx had done a lot of the prep work for the last few weekends. but cinco de mayo was the big last push. his life long friends, the luca boys, came out to help. as did will (friend, neighbor, cousin just home from college the night before.) and larry and son alan (church friends and alan was just home from college as well.) those college boys dragging themselves out of bed on their first saturday home and working most of the day out in the hot sun was especially heartwarming. as was seeing maxx’s friends since preschool there bright and early. God worked that whole things out without any help from me. seems to be a constant lesson that He is teaching me. perhaps constant because i am so slow to learn?
well, let’s not dwell on my inadequacies any more. that is not what you came here for (or maybe it was.) but anywho, let’s move on to our next musical moment for may...
my next musical obsession after camelot is pretty easy to figure out (from the title of this blog post or from the fact that i grew up in the southern baptist church so this would have been a nice safe musical LP for me to sing along to...) GODSPELL. the title actually means Gospel. good news.
now this was a show that a teenage southern baptist girl could fall in love with. it is still my favorite complete musical score for a musical. i like every song in the musical. here is a lovely little live sampling of some of the songs from the revival. i love the fact that it is taken so straight from Scripture (mostly the parables from the book of matthew with the crucifixion of Christ actually shown at the end. really, this is being done on the broadway stage right now). i have seen it on stage when it was like a worship service done with reverence and awe and i have seen it done in a profane and mocking manner. i enjoy the profound version much more so.
the music is by steven schwartz, who is jewish. he wrote the score when he was 23. he wrote it all in 5 weeks. you will see him later this month in the blog with his more current work, wicked. ha. from godspell to wicked. godspell is a favorite among theater groups because it is a small cast. can be done without extensive sets, costumes, props. i found this quote when exploring why a musical based solely on Scripture is still running on broadway at this very minute and in high schools, community theater groups, etc... around the country... “Perhaps the greatest tribute to the show's popularity is the fact that its unabashedly religious subject matter hasn't prevented it from receiving countless stagings in every conceivable venue."
the title of one of eugene peterson’s books (besides the message version of the Bible) is titled “Christ plays in ten thousand places.” it is a line from a gerard manley hopkins poem. i think this is the secret of the long running success and appeal of godspell. Christ literally plays in ten thousand places. it opens with the wonderful song prepare ye the way of the Lord (i linked to a version where they actual use the song in a church service setting. called hallelujah broadway. where they perform broadway songs that are inspirational. ummm, why haven’t i ever seen this before? you know what i will be doing the rest of the day... watching youtube clips from hallelujah broadway.) and the show closes with that song sung in a celebratory manner as well as Jesus comes back from the grave.
the simple prayer in the song day by day has characterized my single most prayed for wishes for decades...
day by day
day by day
oh dear Lord
three things I pray
to see Thee more clearly
love Thee more dearly
follow Thee more nearly
day by day ...
i will have to say that looking over those three things that God has been MORE than faithful to answer that prayer. especially in the last year. i see Him more clearly. love Him more dearly. follow Him more nearly. at each day’s end i have lain in bed and been able to recount how i clearly saw Him work that day. how i love Him more than the day before. and how i need to follow Him even closer in the next day to get through whatever is there...
but my favorite song of the show has to be the upbeat we beseech thee. come sing about love. that caused us first to be. come sing about love. that made the stone and tree. come sing about love. that calls us lovingly.
it is done while jumping on TRAMPOLINES built into the stage in the version that is on broadway right now. i really would like to see that... in fact when i am in the heavenly revival of godspell, i am going to insist that this song is sung while on trampolines. that is just going to be a good time.
Grant us all from earth to rise
And to strain with eager eyes
Towards the promised Heavenly prize
We beseech thee, hear us!
Come sing about Love!
so sing about Love today. Christ plays in ten thousand places. a broadway stage. my kitchen. in the lyrics of a broadway song written by a 23 year old jewish man (who better to understand the character of Jesus?), in 10 young people jumping on trampolines singing songs that they may not even understand the gravity of the words, but Christ plays everywhere and in every Way, He prevails.
day by day...