Awenydd

I’m laying out the structure of the Book of Revelation as part of my study of liturgy. This is just the structure from my initial observations. I need to compare notes with commentaries particularly in chapters 5-18 to see how these sections have been read historically. I also need to develop the implications such a structure has for Christian worship. Comments are welcome.

Chapter 1:1-3
Introduction and Authorship

1:4-8
Salutation and doxology

1:10-19
The liturgical setting. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” Meeting with God. Note John meets an angel (messenger) first.

Chapter 2-3
To the seven churches, a call to repentance.

Chapter 4
Ascension. Having dealt with sin, the door is opened, and John is caught up to the throne room of God. Creatures of heaven say sanctus. “Holy, Holy, Holy . . . .” The elders reply, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God . . . for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” It’s a hymn celebrating God’s work as creator.

Chapter 5-18
The Word of the Lord. These chapters recount the entire history of redemption, from the sealing of the elect (Chapter 7), to the fall of the false Bride (Chapter 18).

Chapter 19:1-10
The fall of the Harlot is cause for rejoicing because it results in the exaltation of the true Bride, Christ’s Church. The multitude sings “Hallelujah” because salvation is complete. The Bride is revealed and she adorns herself for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

19:11-21; 20:1-5
The commission of the Church for the rest of history.

Chapter 20:6-14; Chapter 21-22
The eschatological hope of Christ’s return in glory.

When Andrea sings . . . my heart melts. How could it not?

I discovered Andrea Ross rather by accident. I believe Amazon recommended her album to me several months ago after I had viewed something by Hayley Westenra. Andrea’s album had just been released exclusively in the UK, and the Amazon price tag was $45. I took a pass on it in spite of the intriguing samples I heard on her website. I saved a link, however.

Last week I was cleaning out my computer and ran across the link. Who is Andrea Ross? I wondered, and why had I bookmarked her link? That took me to her website for the second time, where I rediscovered her. This time, with the price of the album half of what it used to be, I couldn’t pass it up.

I found her voice entirely captivating, and she has a great story to go along with her sparkling persona. Andrea played the title role in Annie at age 11; at age 14 she was “16 going on 17” in The Sound of Music. When she was 13 she sent a karaoke demo tape to Andrew Lloyd Webber. That led directly to her first record contract with Universal at age 15 and a starring role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest musical, Whistle Down the Wind.

Listening to her sing, one can hear immediately what Andrew Lloyd Webber recognized in her. She has a very mature vocal style for her age (or any age). Her diction is perfect, her voice has depth and richness, while losing none of its innocence. She draws on her stage acting experience, giving her delivery a varied spectrum of emotion and expression.

That would be more than enough to seal the deal as a singer, but beyond all that, Andrea also happens to be a remarkably beautiful girl. Visually, her performance absolutely glows with a tender and effortless grace. It’s a stunning combination that one doesn’t often find. I could go on about it, but I won’t. See for yourself. Check out my sidebar media player (I have 9 of her songs on the playlist) and the linked YouTube videos.

Unfortunately, Andrea’s album Moon River suffers from inconsistent recording quality and lackluster mixing and mastering. It ranges from “quite good” to “what were they thinking?”

Andrea’s voice sometimes gets lost in the mix, with the orchestra or the background choir drowning her out—not because her voice is too quiet or weak, but because the levels on her track have been inexplicably dropped relative to the other tracks. This is especially apparent in “You Raise Me Up.”

Sometimes the processing on her vocal track is tastefully subtle, allowing the listener to hear her voice as it really is (as in “Learn To Be Lonely”), and at other times a rather ugly and artificial-sounding reverb plate DSP has been applied (as in “You Raise Me Up”), which is a shame, since her voice does not need to be covered by any processing. The most I would apply to it is perhaps a very light convolution reverb DSP just to add some “real” space.

Despite its many flaws, Moon River is a more-than-worthwhile album simply because of Andrea. It is still a UK exclusive album (even though Andrea is a Boston resident), but hopefully she’ll be brought to the attention US audiences soon, especially after her US tour with Whistle Down the Wind, which finished last September.

I have been rediscovering an old favorite of mine, the first epic film I can remember watching. And I mean REALLY epic. How The West Was Won was filmed and released in Cinerama format in 1962. I first watched it when it was on TV. It has been years since I last saw it, but I’m eagerly awaiting a completely remastered and restored release later this year. And that one just might push me over to get Blu-Ray . . . just as soon as Sony finalizes the format.

But enough of that. I am rediscovering the film through its magnificent score by Alfred Newman. From the opening titles, the score conveys powerfully, over the course of the film running the emotional gammut of fun, adventure, struggle, loss, grief, and sorrow. It is truly an overlooked classic. It was my first favorite film score, even before I knew what a film score was.

Listening through the score and remembering scenes from the film reminds me of the incredible scope that the film had, tracing the saga of an American family through three generations. While the song featured in the film bears echoes of manifest destiny, I think the film is careful not to stereo-type the struggle between the Native American and the pioneer of the move West, portraying both sides rather fairly, if a little idealistically.

HOW THE WEST WAS WON
Lyrics by Ken Darby

Promised land the land of plenty rich with gold
Here came dreamers with Bible fist and gun
Bound for land across the plains their wagons rolled
Hell bent for leather that’s how the West was won

Stride by stride they tamed the savage prairie land
Nothing stopped them no wind nor rain nor sun
Side by side these pioneers from every land
All pulled together that’s how the West was won

And they sang of the day when they would rest their boots
In a land where the still waters flow
Where the dreams of a man and wife could put down roots
And their love and the seeds of love would grow
(And grow and grow)

Dream by dream they built a nation from this land
Forged in freedom for every mother’s son
Here it is the beautiful the promised land
We won’t forget them and how the West was won

Please sample a few tracks from the score in my player and then go buy the 2-Disc set if you’re impressed with it as I have always been. If you’ve already listened, check the player again. I’ve added a new track.

Some additional notes on the score:

How The West Was Won was awarded an Academy Award for “Best Recording,” which had a great deal to do with how Alfred Newman produced the score. It was apparently one of the first (if not the first) score recorded by close-mic’ing each individual section of the orchestra, which gives the orchestra that sense of presence, increases the scope of the recording, and allows the listener to easily distinguish between the various parts of the orchestra. Since 1962 this recording method has become commonplace for film score recording, it was very innovative at the time.

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation
which thou has prepared before the face of all people.
A Light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.

As the congregation sang the words of recession, breaking into the Gloria, and we all raising our arms to heaven, a simply indescribably joy washed over me. I was so happy my voice caught in my throat and I found it difficult to sing. I know it was the same for everyone else there. I saw tears in my mother’s eyes.

Yesterday was the first worship service of Christ Covenant Church of Chicago. It has been a long time in coming, and God has brought our little fellowship through many trials. And finally, He has blessed us with a church we can call home. Our call to worship was especially appropriate, coming from Psalm 66:

Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you;
they sing praises to your name.”

Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept our soul among the living
and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
you let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out
to a place of abundance.

Wayne Southerland, who brought us the message from the Word and the prayer for the dedication of the church, together with his family who traveled six hours to worship with us, were such a blessing. It was wonderful to have him here to give us his blessing and the blessing of Cornerstone Reformed Church in Carbondale, which has always been a great encouragement to us.

And now, here we are; this is only the beginning. By God’s grace, our fledgling church will spread its wings and soar, reaching out to the lost and the needy in our community, praising God and breaking bread week by week.

This is what we’ve been waiting for. There will be many more trials and challenges on the way, but we forge on, confident that our hope is not in ourselves or in any human effort, but in God’s promises and his faithfulness to his covenant.

May he keep us faithful in the work to come, that we might go from joy to greater joy.

To those who have been praying for Christ Covenant Fellowship, I thank you all. May God richly bless you, always. You will be in my prayers as well, and in the prayers of our Christ Covenant Church of Chicago.

Visit the Flickr album for pictures of the service and the days before.

Here’s something I heard on the radio today that I found rather interesting. I’m always game for a new Tim and Faith duet, but the chorus for this one caught my attention. Here we have it, a country music love ballad that uses the Trinitarian relationship as paradigmatic of the romantic feelings between a man and a woman.

Like a needle needs a vein
Like my Uncle Joe in Oklahoma needs the rain
I need you like a lighthouse on the coast
Like the Father and the Son need the Holy Ghost
I need you . . .

Who woulda thought. I suppose I should take a moment and ask the obligatory question: Do the Father and Son “need” the Holy Ghost? I would say yes, they do. Not in the sense that we as creatures need, of course. But the triune nature of God is definitive of His very being. The relationship of the three with one another is the very essence of perfect covenant union. Without it, perfection would be lost and He would cease to be God.

Because God is three, He is a relational being, and hence covenantal. Because we are made in his image, we are also relational and designed to be covenantal. All of our relationships derive from the paradigm of the Triune God, and the relationship of man and woman joined in the covenant of marriage is the deepest and most intimate of all human relationships. In this sense, the words of this chorus are probably much more apt and profound than Tim and Faith could possibly imagine.

I’ve uploaded the song onto my blog media player, so go ahead and take a listen if you like.  And I just remembered that sometimes the Mac has problems viewing my flash player.  So here’s a direct link.