As the Ruin Falls (Phil Keaggy)

Phil Keaggy wrote music to accompany a poem by C.S. Lewis, "As the Ruin Falls." Keaggy was a pioneer in the Contemporary Christian music genre. C.S. Lewis's words gave more depth than one usually found in the emerging genre back in the 1970s when this was recorded. Scroll down to see the lyrics. If you really want the full depth of Lewis's poem, read his novel Till We Have Faces. This song is a good meditation for Holy Week.

As the Ruin Falls

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.

I never had a selfless thought since I was born.

I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:

I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,

I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:

I talk of love --a scholar's parrot may talk Greek--

But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.

I see the chasm. And everything you are was making

My heart into a bridge by which I might get back

From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains

You give me are more precious than all other gains.

                                                    ~ Clive Staples Lewis

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Lord, I Know I've Been Changed

When I heard this stirring rendition of African American Gospel music performed by the DW Poppy Senior Chamber Choir, I was so impressed, I had to find out who this group was. I found out that is is a secondary school choir from Canada! At Vibestar Media I learned:

This Canadian choir performs a wide variety of pieces ranging from Handel's Messiah, to Canadian folk songs to contemporary pieces. Under the direction of Deidre Baird the Senior Chamber Choir at D.W. Poppy Secondary School received an "unprecedented four consecutive first place provincial choral awards (also known as the George S. Mathieson awards)" The DW Poppy Senior Chamber choir is made up of about 60 students of DW Poppy Secondary School ranging from 15-18 years old.

Their website is http://dwpoppymusic.com/

 

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Adoro Te Devote

One of my favorite hymn tunes is Adoro Te Devote, sometimes referred to as French Church Melody.

The Latin lyrics and English translation:

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,
Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas;
Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit,
Quia te contemplans totum deficit.

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur.
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius;
Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius.

O memoriale mortis Domini!
Panis vivus, vitam præstans homini!
Præsta meæ menti de te vívere,
Et te illi semper dulce sapere.

Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine,
Me immundum munda tuo sanguine:
Cujus una stilla salvum facere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.

Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio,
Oro, fiat illud quod tam sitio:
Ut te revelata cernens facie,
Visu sim beátus tuæ gloriæ. Amen




I devoutly adore you, O hidden God,
Truly hidden beneath these appearances.
My whole heart submits to you,
And in contemplating you,
It surrenders itself completely.

Sight, touch, taste are all deceived
In their judgment of you,
But hearing suffices firmly to believe.
I believe all that the Son of God has spoken;

There is nothing truer than this word of truth.
O memorial of our Lord's death!
Living bread that gives life to man,
Grant my soul to live on you,

And always to savor your sweetness.
Lord Jesus, Good Pelican,
wash me clean with your blood,
One drop of which can free
the entire world of all its sins.

Jesus, whom now I see hidden,
I ask you to fulfill what I so desire:
That on seeing you face to face,
I may be happy in seeing your glory. Amen



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