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?