April 23, 2004

music in the library...thoughts of trees

I am in the library at school. This is a good thing.
No one else is here. It's Friday.
So, I am listening to the King's Singers without my headphones. Lovely.

This is for Kate.

From Divine Hymns or Spiritual Songs,
compiled by Joshua Smith, New Hampshire, 1784

Tune by Elizabeth Poston, 1905-1987

The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit and always green:
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.

His beauty doth all things excel:
By faith I know, but ne'er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought:
I missed of all; but now I see
'Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I'm weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest awhile:
Under the shadow I will be,
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

Amen, sister. Amen.

Posted by tripp at April 23, 2004 09:29 AM
Comments

thanks tripp! have you sung this? the version in which each verse has a different melody? so wonderful.

i will never forget the first time i heard this anthem. it was at a huge, cathedral-sized episcopal church in houston, texas, with a giant [like five stories tall] mural of the returning Jesus painted on the wall behind the altar -- years of original music and lots of charismaticism at that church -- and that morning the choir sang Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. words printed in an insert in the bulletin. i was overcome. i kept that insert in my bible for years!

metaphor is a good and beautiful thing. nearly approaches mysticism, even.

i am of the opinion/theory that tongues/glossolalia is a gift for those who cannot otherwise get 'out of their heads' in prayer or in relationship to God. so that praying in tongues is not, then, synonymous with the 'baptism of the Holy Spirit.' in my early years, i always observed tongues as the gift which accompanied said baptism -- perhaps because we always prayed for that specific outcome. in later years, i have [we all have] met many many people who asked for the infilling of the Spirit and never spoke in tongues. Blockage? or the need to fix my theology?

if you meditate/dance/paint/breathe in stillness, perhaps the gift of tongues would be gilding the lily -- not needed. i wonder.

Posted by: kate at April 25, 2004 12:20 AM