The math of lyrics

I ran the top ten CCLI music selections and the top ten "Hymnal" music selections through a word counter. I hoped to find more interesting data than I did, but I'd be interested if you see anything here worth noting. 

 

The Facts

Out of 1720 words in the top ten selections since 1923 (composition date of Great Is Thy Faithfulness):

The average word is 5.45 letters in length.

The most used words are:

50 (6%)thou 

26 (3%)lord 

26 (3%)thee 

26 (3%)praise 

23 (3%)great 

22 (3%)art 

20 (2%)god 

20 (2%)thy 

19 (2%)holy 

18 (2%)soul

Out of 1376 words in the top ten current CCLI selections (all written within the last 15 years):
The average word is 4.78 letters in length. 
21 (4%)god 
14 (3%)king 
13 (3%)lord 
13 (3%)love 
12 (2%)worthy 
10 (2%)holy 
10 (2%)grace 
9 (2%)great 
9 (2%)need 
8 (2%)sing

Thoughts

Five of the words in the first list a pronouns or names referring to God. Three of the same in the second list.
In the first list two words describe God as great and holy. In the second list four words describe God as worthy, holy, gracious, and great. From my own observance, I'd assume love is flexible in its use of "I love" or "God loves."
In the first list one word (soul), debateably two words (praise) refer to me. In the second list, 
There appears to be a wider vocabulary in the second list. In the first list, six words make up 21 percent of the lyrics. In the second list six words make up only 17 percent of the lyrics.

A bit deeper

Ancient selections Including common words: 

69 (4%)and 
66 (4%)my 
 61 (4%)the 
50 (3%)thou 
38 (2%)of 
33 (2%)to 
28 (2%)in 
26 (2%)lord 
26 (2%)thee 
26 (2%)praise

New selections including common words: 

72 (5%)the 
63 (5%)and 
47 (4%)my 
41 (3%)is 
37 (3%)you 
26 (2%)your 
25 (2%)in 
21 (2%)god 
20 (2%)of 
19 (1%)who
 

 Thoughts

Of the first list, the top six words make up 19 percent of the vocabulary. Of the second list, the top six words make up 22 percent of the vocabulary.
Of the first list, two uncommon words still make the list (Lord and praise). Of the second list, one uncommon word still makes the list (God).

Decision Theology

Three things from Basic Christianity by John R. W. Stott

Levi Henkel on Feb 8, 2014

·      Stott’s discussion of graveclothes proving the ressurection is new to me. He suggests the translation “He saw, as they were lying (or ‘collapsed’), the strips of linen.” Rather than the picture of a bundled up head cloth separate from the body, the separation could refer to the gab between the body and the head, where the neck had been.

·      The parallel of I Peter 2 and Isaiah 53 is phenomenal.

o   “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth” AND “He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”

o   “They hurled their insults at him.” AND “He was despised and rejected by others.”

o   “He himself bore our sins.” AND “He bore the sins of many.”

o   “By his wounds you have been healed.” AND “By his wounds we are healed.”

o   “You were like sheep going astray.” AND “We all, like sheep, have gone astray.”

·      “Reaching a decision” in chapter 10 gives a little different perspective to “decision theology” which I would reject in another context. “If anyone hears my voice and opens” is Stott’s primary passage of exegetion, and certainly a proof text for many decision theologies. The concept of choice is clear in Stott’s context. Maybe not all, but I think most, do reach a place in life where the gospel is clear and it is rejected or embraced. To embrace is certainly primarily an act of faith not works, but that faith is one that does something as Abraham proceeded to sacrifice Isaac. That doesn’t make it a salvation by weighing works, but rather a faith that embraces reality. “Take up your cross” Christ says. One cannot have faith without some measure of that movement, lifting the wooden beam of faithful obedience that displays a choice has been made. I have repented and now face a new direction. I now follow Christ.

Blessed

Have we come up with two definitions of "blessed" based on either a one-syllable or two-syllable pronunciation? This is my musing, and really my question for you (please respond!)

1) Blessed (blest) v. 1, made happy, fortunate, or prosperous. An action towards mortal man from a greater being. This pronunciation is used in terms of God blessing a person or a person blessing another. "God b. the person with favorable circumstances" or "James b. Kelsey by changing the tire on her car." A given trait.

2) Blessed (blesid) adj. 1, worthy of worship or reverence. "B. is he who comes in the name of the Lord" or "the b. virgin Mary." An inherent trait.

While these are not dictionary definitions, do they not accurately display the usage with which you are familiar, if you will the "slang?"

I submit that it has totally confused the theological spectacles through which we look. God is considered blesid. We certainly cannot add to his worth, make him fortunate or prosperous. However, we are not entirely sure how we can bless the Lord (Psalm 34, Psalm 103), so we throw out an accurate, but shallow definition of giving praise. The virgin Mary is not seen as blest by God in her role as the mother of God, the bearer of Christ, so much as she is seen inherently worthy. She is blesid. Poorness of spirit in the beatitudes is not seen as a blessing from God, but something that makes one holier, blesid.

I do think a breadth of meaning is used in Scripture through the word "blessed," but as one who who  sings a Psalm at four services a week, I am interested in the continuity of soloists and choristers alike magically using blesid when referencing God, Christ, and in many cases Mary, while using blest when referencing actions towards man from above. They didn't learn it in a seminary class and they actually never learned it from their music director (I've asked). It's something that they've learned from the repetition of God's word since they were a toddler in the last pew on the right. Somewhere in the subconscious it has meaning. Is it accurate meaning?

Christmas Vignettes

Christmas Eve, 10:30 a.m. - I am finishing up Christmas preparations by distributing worship aids among the pews. It's been a wonderfully long month - long because 17 straight workdays, wonderful because there is no place I'd rather be, no activity I'd rather be doing. I've hooked my playlist up to the sound system in this 75 foot ceilinged cathedral. Three funerals this week and now I hear "I heard the bells on Christmas day, their old familiars carols play... There is no peace on earth I said, for hate is strong and mars the song..." As the final verse approaches I thank God for a little wink - the church bells are shaking the steeple above me, ringing clearly from the highest point in Watertown. "God is not dead nor does he sleep."

Christmas Eve, 9:48 p.m. - During the middle of our first Choral Lessons and Carols program, I am thankful for how respectfully and careful the choristers read Scripture. There is evidence of deliberate rehearsal. For Mass, one goes through training on how to proclaim Scripture. This time a few choristers haven taken the cue, reading with emotion, but not overly dramatic. May God's Word not return void on any ears that hear.

Christmas Eve... er Day...12:05 a.m. - The second choral lessons program has gone quite nicely, better than I anticipated. Nervousness covers a multitude of sins. Sister welcomes the congregation to Midnight Mass with "Good Morning." I give a smirk to the choir assuming she has misread the greeting on her sheet. It's not til 9 hours later during a morning service that I realize she was correct. 12:05 is morning and I had written the greeting incorrectly. I give my third attempt to bring the alternate harmony to our first hymn, "O Come All Ye Faithful," a version used a few hours earlier at Kings College with boys singing the descants in a pure tone. I'm not satisfied with the dozens of wrong notes, but no one really cares since its far more obvious that I have taken my hands off the keyboard and some trumpet pipe has decided to maintain its drone. It's done the same for me in personal practice time but never before in a service. "The Lord Be With You," Monsignor declares after a few awkward seconds. "We have decided to insert a special solo for you this evening." I blush and do not laugh with the congregation. At earlier Masses we sang "Silent Night" the sentimental way with guitar. This time its for real.

Christmas Day 1:30 a.m. - I joyfully skip out of church to my car to head home for a nap. The snow falls softly. A best friend prepares a snowball. This is a joyful day. "Angel's and men rejoice for tonight darkness fell into the dawn of love's light."

Christmas Day 8:43 a.m. -  There is nothing like realizing the worship aid you printed has a typo in the creed. Straight up heresy. How horribly easy it is to get a few thousand people to declare together that they believe something their ancestors were martyred resisting - because you merely made a typo! Well, thankfully it's not too obviously heresy. Nothing about the hypostatic union or the filioque. The Chreasters won't realize what happened. The faithful congregation has it memorized and isn't looking to closely. Only Monsignor gives me a quizzical look.

Christmas Day 10:49 a.m. - It's been a long, full, delightful celebration. I reflect on the different types of service that have taken place. The evening Masses with its children's pageants attracted families; the times attracted two full buildings without enough chairs for all. The midnight Masses attracted a crowd I will deem traditional. A few more bells, whistles, and incense is included; they don't mind that it adds a few minutes to the service. For some of these octogenarians it brings back memories from another millennium. The morning services attracted quite a mix. Some were present for a Mass last night. Some have come to the conclusion of family celebrations and, well, might as well go to Mass. Many are there with huge servants hearts, musicians, ushers, proclaimers for the second time in 12 hours because they love building up the body of Christ.

How to Stop the Pain

"Judge not, lest ye be judged." I admit I fall into the category of people that Richards addresses when he says that most Christians think of this as a horizontal command with vertical implications. If you judge others, God will judge you. With the same measure that you judge others, God will judge you. Yet there is no clear indication that this passage is vertical instead of horizontal. Like when we pray "Father forgive us as we forgive our debtors," as if God's forgiveness hangs on ours. Christ's warning in Matthew is that the more we judge others, the more others will judge us.

Around this theme, Richards encourages clear and careful thinking around the way that judgment effects our lives. He argues that we are more effected by our judgment than others. We are the ones that mislead ourselves when we come with presuppositions or when we judge the motives behind actions.

I appreciated a section on consequences. "People learn through consequences. We call it love when we intervene, make decisions for them, and get in the middle of their stuff. But love is based on truth. When we violate scriptural principles, it is not love." Even thinking that ones own suffering is punishment from God can be "denial that these consequences are the direct result of my actions and that God has nothing to do with it."

So many principles in "How to Stop the Pain" ring true. How easy it is to misjudge the words of text, to wrongfully hang a good friendships foundation on a misconstrued comment or lack thereof. In a recent dialogue I was confronted with the idea that even thinking through an important conversation in ones mind ahead of time can be dangerous inasmuch as it misconstrues another's attitude, thus setting up a predispostion based on what I think (s)he thinks and the supposed response. If I expect a certain response in a conversation, I am doing more talking than listening, more judging than understanding. 

Overstated misunderstood

"Despite centuries of intense and heavy industry expended on the study of all sorts of features of the gospels," Wright writes, "we have often managed to miss the main thing that they, all four of them, are most eager to tell us. What we need is not just a bit of fine-tuning, an adjustment here and there. We need a fundamental rethink about what the gospels are trying to tell us."

The inside flap of the book sets my mind on skeptic mode immediately. I don't like overstaters (partly because I am one), and certainly not those who would suggest that for 2,000 years the church has missed the main point of its main text.

I am, however, walking away from this book with two things that I am grateful to have considered and learned. First, it is indeed interesting to consider the way the Gospels have been relayed in the context of the church. Wright points out convincingly that our very definition and understanding of "gospel" comes more from the Apostle Paul than it does the four books by that name. Unless we take the Gospels to be mere historical authentication that Christ has opened heavens doors, one must admit that the Gospels don't focus precisely in the same place that the epistles of Paul and others do. Additionally, the question is raised as to how the creeds go from chapter one to the final chapters of each Gospel: "...conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontious Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried." What about the miracles, the teaching, the discipline? What about the message of the KINGDOM, Wright asks.

Second, even if one didn't make the time for the entire book, I found the final chapter very helpful and would recommend it. There, Wright offers not a critique of the creeds themselves, but a vision of what ought to be going through the orthodox believers mind as (s)he recites. They have guided the church through heresy, and they continue to stand as flags around which the universal church can be unified. How important it is that we not lose sight of what they mean.

It has been said that the best teacher makes Scripture more clear not less. Wright makes it more clear.