Awenydd

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.

We all know legalism is bad. It showed its ugly face most memorably in the Pharisees who constantly confronted Jesus for breaking “the traditions of the elders.”

“Why do you not wash your hands before eating?”

“Why do you do heal on the Sabbath?”

“Why do you eat with sinners?”

Generally when we think of legalism we think of these things. The imposition of man-made rules and restrictions that have no real grounding in God’s law. The Sabbath rule that one ought not lift more than the weight of a dry fig? “Preposterous!” we say. “Don’t drink, don’t dance, don’t play cards” . . . where does it say that in the Bible? Well, nowhere, of course. They’re man-made rules, and they violate the spirit of the law.

Legalists usually have good intentions. Usually the rules are simply unwarranted extrapolations of a rule that is found in God’s law. The Pharisaic rule not to lift a certain weight was originally drawn from a desire to keep the Sabbath law. But when we place rules where God does not, that is where it becomes legalism.

So “don’t be drunk” becomes “don’t drink,” “Do not fornicate” becomes “no dancing,” and “don’t steal” (gambling can be a form of theft) becomes “don’t play cards.”

Yeah, we’re all familiar with those. We are only too sensitive when legalism violates our “Christian liberty.” But what about the other side of legalism? What about the side that says, go ahead and do what you please?

Matthew 15:1-9

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,”Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,”he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

Anything that violates the spirit of the law while adhering to the mere letter is legalism. There is a legalism that constrains people to man-made rules that fly in the face of the intended purpose of the commandment, and there is a legalism that excuses people from keeping the law by finding loopholes. It is just as sinister as the restrictive legalism, but it is in some ways more difficult to fight.

People like to be excused from their duty and still be able to wipe their hands and say the law does not condemn.

Okay, everyone, don’t miss this! For a limited time, Covenant Media Foundation is giving away recordings of the classic debate between Dr. Greg Bahnsen and Dr. Gordon Stein, held at the University of California (Irvine) in 1985. Here’s the link:

https://www.cmfnow.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=23

Everyone, on either side of the debate should either order the CDs or download the mp3 files, free of charge (shipping is even free). If you have ANY interest at all in the issues, you won’t want to miss hearing this one.

Dr. Bahnsen was a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary, a pastor in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and had a Philosophy Ph.D. with a concentration in Epistemology from the University of Southern California.

Dr. Stein was the Senior Editor of Free Inquiry Magazine, Director of the Center for Inquiry Libraries, Consultant on the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of the Claims of the Paranormal, Editor of the American Rationalist Magazine, God Pro and Con: A Bibliography of Atheism, and the Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism.

Both were uniquely qualified to argue their positions.

There was a slight glitch with CMF’s ordering system, which would not allow transactions of $0.00, so you now have to pay $0.01 ($0.02 if you download both parts of the mp3 version). Believe me, it’s worth every penny.

Order yourself a copy and pass the link along to all your friends!

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.