'Tis the Season

  

BY: James Burke, Founder, and Host of Southern Gospel Point of View

Email: james@southerngospelpov.com

 

You read that title correctly. Thanksgiving is now past and the calendar has changed to December. The radio have started a full transition from Southern Gospel to mostly Christmas music. Country stations will begin to pepper in Christmas music. Shoppers have spent the last several days forging through crowds clad with masks and bandanas to protect them from COVID-19.

        The songs that are filling our radio waves and the muzak systems in all of the stores are filled with hope, love, care, cheer and at times a little mischief. Think about it, “Silver Bells”, “Christmas in Dixie”, “Christmas Shoes”, O Little Town of Bethlehem”, Silent Night” and “Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer” are all filled with hope and cheer. Well, maybe not that last one.

 There are religious songs, secular, and funny Christmas songs that we all enjoy. My Favorite Christmas song is probably “O’ Holy Night”, on the secular side though, my favorite is probably “Blue Christmas” or “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole. After all, who doesn’t love Nat King Coles voice?

 Some of your favorite artists love and listen to Christmas music all year long. Mark Trammell, and Jon Epley are two of them. I sing or whistle Christmas tune all year long, so when the season finally comes along, I’m immersed in the music.

 One of the greatest Christmas songs, and without a doubt The Greatest of our generation is Mark Lowry’s “Mary Did You Know?”. Those words recorded in Luke chapter 2 have always made me curious. “But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Can you imagine through the nine months that she carried Jesus Christ in her womb what she must have thought? Further, can you imagine what she must have felt or thought when Christ was born and realized this child was the very seed of God.

 This will be a hard time for so many, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but take heart! Christ is still the source and reason for this season. He far outweighs the tinsel and lights, and the gifts and treats. His name is more important than Saint Nicholas, so once again, Take heart dear friend, “Tis the season, to rejoice, to care, to love, to laugh, to embrace and to share, but that’s just my Southern Gospel Point of View.

 

For more Southern Gospel news, visit www.southerngospelpov.com.

 

It’s all about “Hymn”

BY: James Burke, Founder, and Host of Southern Gospel Point of View

Email: james@southerngospelpov.com

 

In the last five years or so, there has been in the Southern Gospel community a push towards hymns. If you know me, you know that I love hymns. Our church sings out of the “Red Back Church Hymnal” and will continue to do so. However, I’m not a fan of hymn only albums.  I’ll explain that in detail very soon.

 

I am currently listening to Greater Vision’s recording entitled “Songs of the 1900s”, and surprisingly, I like it… a lot. As I mentioned before, I love hymns, but it’s the placement and/or arrangement that often leads to my disliking a recorded version. Too often a hymn seems placed in an album as filler. There’s no real connection to the song with the artist. The hymn is often re-arranged to fit an artist’s style, and it is, for me, off putting. 

 

Now, I know that the reason for the push for hymn singings is to educate a younger audience of the songs, but also, to retain the history and legacy of these prized songs. I use the word prized for a reason, these songs, for instance like, “There is a Fountain” are not being written anymore. While there are amazing writers for today’s music, the language and word pairing of that day are not being used today. 

 

If you want to excite me in church, sing one of these hymns with a heart filled with joy to a God in Heaven that is longing to hear our voice. Did you notice I said in church? That is where I typically enjoy hymns the most, I have on occasion been in a concert and a hymn is sang and have thoroughly enjoyed it. One such case was years ago in Pigeon Forge, TN at Dollywood. The Kingdom heirs were singing and stopped to sing “Love Lifted Me”. They sang acapella, and before long the whole audience became a “congregation” as they sang along. I could feel the Spirit of God moving in that auditorium in a way that I hadn’t felt even with the best music, voices, and songs. With that, I admit that singing hymns outside of church may have a place. I’m just not prepared to fully jump on the “Hymn album” wagon. 

 

Let me revisit Greater Visions album. This is not their only hymn album and won’t be their last. This one is special as it’s only vocal and piano. They have mastered the original music and vocals intended on these hymns from the 1900's. They were also joined by Gene McDonald to sing bass. A very welcomed addition to the album. 

 

Hymns are an important part of Southern Gospel history and they need to be highlighted and preserved. Just do me a favor, sing them the way they were written, enjoy the original arrangement and sing them to the Lord, but that’s just my Southern Gospel Point of View. 

 

For more Southern Gospel news, visit www.southerngospelpov.com.

If There Were No Song.

BY: James Burke, Founder, and Host of Southern Gospel Point of View

Email: james@southerngospelpov.com

 

I start each morning at 6:30 am. I get ready to meet the world and fix my first cup of coffee (Cafe Campesino’s Ethiopia Sidama Roast, in case you were wondering). But each morning, I hear it... I hear a song. In fact, I hear many songs from my back door to my downstairs office. The birds are the most noticeable with their chirps, whistles, and calls.  But as I listen in those few moments, I can hear the squirrels chittering to one another, the neighbors dogs barking, and if I wait outside long enough I hear the alligator in Murphy Mill Lake bellowing. 

 

Once I enter my office I usually start the music playing and enjoy a diverse group of songs before I go to my studies or about other business of my day. Inevitably though, music, or rather, songs make up a large part of my day. Whether it’s my wife or myself playing the piano and singing, or more music in the office, music is a daily staple. 

 

Now that you understand how my day starts, I wonder about yours. How would it be if you awoke tomorrow and there were no birds singing, the squirrels were silent and the barking dogs were eerily mute? 

 The very nature that you and I enjoy each day, the cool breeze and gentle rain are all individual songs, some are so slight that we can’t hear. Some may have their own force but the frequency is such that our ears can not discern. Each morning at dawn, the song of the birds “awaken the pores of plants and earth to aid in growth” in what is called the “Sonic Bloom”. Wow! I want to say that again, Sonic Bloom. Our Creator has blessed us with a new song each day that brightens our day. Sure we encounter life along the way and that songs fades in the distance but what would our day be without a song? 

 

That wife that snores or the little child that scratches her eczema too loudly, or the husband that fixes his coffee and makes too much noise in the kitchen might be a song that God has given you to start you day. Embrace it, thank God for it, sing along. How dark would this world be without our favorite song! From that old country song that transports you to a bygone day or the latest release from your favorite Southern Gospel artist, a song is a gift from God. 

 

Some of my readers may have had to say goodbye to that loud “sleeper”, or the early coffee drinker, so to you I say, remember the melodies of those days. Take a moment to hear what God has strategically placed around you to offer that “Sonic Bloom” to start your day. 

 

Embrace your song, sing it loud, you never who needs to hear it, but that’s just my Southern Gospel Point of View. 

 

For more Southern Gospel news, visit www.southerngospelpov.com.