Welcome
to November 24th, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving 2015!!! Glancing
around the world, it is easy to see that we have many reasons to give
thanks to God. This Thursday we have an opportunity to celebrate events
that occurred in our history unlike any nation in the world. While
explorers had been coming to North and South America for centuries, it
was a unified band of Christian "separatists" who would be the ones to
build settlements and townships that made a way for those seeking
freedom, especially religious freedom, to have a place they could
worship without persecution. It is somewhat ironic that the
"separatist" label would actually be describing a group of folks who
wished to bind themselves together to worship God. One might imagine
that during that first Thanksgiving celebration they sang songs. While
it wasn't written until 1967, and it was written for an entirely
different kind of sea faring vessel than the Mayflower, a Yellow
Submarine, this song from The Beatles may perhaps embody the spirit of
what they were feeling that first Thanksgiving...
Written
on a "Magical Mystery Tour" for the soundtrack of a "Yellow Submarine",
"All Together Now", would be released as part of the soundtrack album
to the movie by The Beatles, Yellow Submarine in 1969, where it
appears twice. Initial exposure to the song is during one of the
animated sequences of the movie and then as a live action tag at the end
of movie as shown in the above video. By the way, your welcome for
the ear worm!
Recorded in the venerated Abbey Road studios,
"All Together Now" would not appear in single form until 1972 and then
only in France and Germany with "Hey Bulldog" as its b-side. It has
been covered by many artists, most notably The Muppets on their 1994
album Kermit Unpigged.
Paul McCartney, the only Beatle to perform the song live (May 4, 2013 during the 2013-2015 Out There!
tour), has described the song as being a children's sing-a-long with
the title inspired by the music house tradition of asking the audience
to join in on the chorus. It is reminiscent of the days when every home
had a slightly out of tune piano and families would join slightly off
pitch voices, to sing songs and enjoy one another's company in a family
room where the piano was the focal point. Unfortunately, it seems that
the footprint where a piano used to sit has been taken over by the
console on which sits a large screen television. Gone are the
conversations, the off pitch singing by a well intentioned auntie, and
the bond that was developed by joining voices and hearts in music,
regardless of genre. We wonder why some of the closeness of families
seems to be disappearing from the landscape of American homes.
Another
seemingly bygone family tradition is reading the Bible together.
Included among its pages is an entire book of songs that are similar to
the sing-a-longs that McCartney describes as the basis for "All Together
Now". This song collective is known as The Psalms. You can find it in
the middle of most Bibles, or at the beginning of many New Testaments.
It is a book cherished for its insight, researched for its intuitive
depth, and honored for its glorification of God as it details with rich,
vibrant poetry the stories of those who struggled, overcame, and
succeeded in the lives God had called them to live.
A number of
writers contributed to the Psalms. David, yes the one from the "David
and Goliath" story, is one of the most prominent and well known of this
group of poets dedicated to telling life stories. Every emotion is
contained in the Psalms. Picture this...David is tending sheep when he
spies you in the distance. He immediately picks up an instrument and
begins to play a melody that is familiar, but you can't quite get the
words out. Then all of a sudden David, looks you in the eye and sings,
"O give thanks to the Lord for He is good, sing with me! His love
endures forever!" As you begin to sing, the simplicity of the
repetition eases you into the lyric. The profundity of the statement
causes your heart to soar. The immensity of His love floods over your
soul. You begin to pick up the tune and 26 verses later you are singing
boisterously at the top of your lungs, "His love endures forever!". Psalm 136 - New International Version of the Bible And then you find yourself shouting to everyone around you, but to no one in particular..."All Together Now!!!"
This
is the impact that Scripture can have in your life. It includes
stories that relate to everyone, exactly where they are in their station
of life. It has poetry that can inspire and sooth the hearts of
everyone exactly at the time of needed inspiration and comfort. Most
importantly it tells the story of redemption through a love that
surpasses all imagination. It is the Living Word of God! However, it
must be read to be enjoyed. This too, alas, is a habit that seems to be
passing with every approaching decade. Here are some interesting
statistics regarding the Bible in the United States:
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