Easter Movies and Music

A while back I read an article about keeping the focus of your Easter celebrations on Jesus Christ. Most of the suggestions related to making a bigger deal out of Easter, sort of like how we make a huge month-long production out of Christmas. The decoration aspect I'd already thought about and have some ideas for, but after reading the article I started thinking seriously about music.

I have some music that is appropriate for Easter but not a huge variety. Christmas music starts playing on the radio the day after Halloween. We don't really play it at home until after Thanksgiving, at least. But even that would be a long time to make due with just 27 songs, which is what I have for Easter. And my Christmas music also has the benefit of a wide variety of genres. I've got stuff with a pop influence, stuff that's countryish, stuff that's jazzy... but I can count my popular music influenced Easter songs on one hand.

Movies are also a big part of Christmas traditions. People make long lists of must-see Christmas films, and I have a few. Now, if I'm going to increase the significance of Easter in my and my family's lives, I should probably also get a collection of Easter movies for us to watch in the weeks leading up to the holiday. And I do have a couple I think work for the purpose: Easter Dream and The Testaments. But I'm not sure what else to add. I know there are movies about Christ's ministry and the events of the Holy Week in Israel, and I'll probably get one of those, but watching several versions of the same story in a month or so might not go over well. I guess The Robe or Ben Hur could work as something different, but are there any good just plain cute or fun shows set around Easter? I've heard of an old show called Easter Parade but what I've been able to find out about it doesn't sell it as an Easter story. Have any of you seen it? Does it work as an Easter movie?

And do you have any other specific recommendations for Easter music or movies I can add to my list of things to slowly accumulate when I can? Or maybe picture books. It wouldn't hurt to have a few Easter picture books as well.

There's a Heaven

I recently saw a snippet of lyrics from Imagine by John Lennon and got to thinking about it. Specifically, I was thinking about the line "Imagine there's no heaven." And I wondered who would want there to be no heaven. I mean, what in the world could you have against a place of reward for good people? The only reasonable explanation I could think of was that you assume that if there is a heaven there must also be a hell and think that nobody deserves to suffer in hell forever. But that's a huge stretch from what the lyrics actually say.

Then I realized that the song's structure implies that there is a heaven. In the other verses, what we are told to imagine is something opposite to reality. Imagine there's no countries, imagine no possessions, imagine there's no heaven. But in fact there are countries and possessions. So if the song is properly parallel, there must be a heaven.

I know that isn't the message it's supposed to be sending, but it amused me to realize. I wonder if that's why the heaven verse came first - to keep people from noticing, or because if it's different there it doesn't count, or something.

Someone Unlike You

Adele's song Someone Like You has always struck me as a bit problematic. In case you don't know the song, a woman looks up a man from her past and finally accepts that things are fully over between them. So she says that she is going to look for another man like him.

Well, if she does manage to find someone like him I see one of two things happening: either she will find someone who reminds her of him but doesn't quite live up to his standard or she finds someone like him but better. In the first situation she would be always disappointed in her new guy. And if she is as stuck on the old guy as the song indicates I can't see her really believing the second to be possible. And if by some odd chance she really does find someone exactly like him, well, that would be just plain freaky.

I think she'd be better off looking for somebody radically different to love so any comparisons would be apples and oranges.

The Anthem

Whenever I think about it, I am a bit disappointed in the way we usually sing the national anthem. I don't mean the style (although I think it's pretty disrespectful when the performer seems more interested in showing off their talent than in honoring their country). I mean the fact that, except in church and maybe an occasional full choir performance, we only ever sing the first verse.

And the first verse is about a flag. Sure, the symbol of the country, but not the country itself. Just a piece of fabric. It isn't until the next couple of verses that Key starts to bring in the actual significance of that flag.

My personal favorite verse is the last one, which speaks mainly of our country's ideals, then makes a clear link with the banner we are singing of: 

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Mismatched Moods

At the top of each hymn in our hymn book, there is an adjective indicating how each hymn should be played or sung. For some, it is Reverently. For others, it is Joyfully, or Resolutely, or Meekly. The adjective at the beginning of We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet is Brightly. And I think for the most part we do pretty well at singing that hymn brightly.

But the thing is, there are a couple of lines in that song that just don't feel at all happy or bright to me. When I sing them, the contrast between what I am singing and the manner in which I am singing it is rather disconcerting.

The first line is in the second verse: The wicked who fight against Zion will surely be smitten at last.
I can see how there can be some comfort in knowing that justice will be served. But smitten is a very strong verb and it is easy to go from being glad that there will be justice, a good thing, to enjoying the thoughts of our enemies suffering as a type of cosmic revenge. Also, I tend to think of this justice as being a sober thing that must be fulfilled, not as something bright and cheerful. I also remember that nearly all people will be inheriting some degree of glory in the hereafter and that we are told to love our enemies. Those two bits of information do not seem at all consistent with feeling joy while thinking of anybody being smitten.

I previously posted thoughts on a similar matter in Death of a Bad Man.

The other line that bothers me is the very last line of the song: While they who reject this glad message shall never such happiness know.

When I was a teenager, I had a hard time understanding how we could be truly happy knowing that other people missed out on so many blessings and chances for progression in the eternities. Especially people we knew and loved. I found a section in C.S. Lewis's book The Great Divorce that helped me, but unfortunately I can't find the book now.*

But it still saddens me when I think of people missing out. And these aren't even necessarily bad people. They just for whatever reason do not accept the gospel. There are plenty of good, moral people out there who don't believe or don't give it a chance. So to sing brightly about them missing out just doesn't sit quite right with me.

That said, I do like the hymn overall. I had a very wonderful experience singing it in the Conference Center during General Conference several years ago (which is actually the first time I remember noticing the disconnect). I am grateful for the gospel and the prophet and continuing revelation, and I do feel the optimism and hope expressed. I just wish that a couple of what seem to me very serious, sober lines were treated with a touch more gravitas.

___________________________
* December 3, 2011: I now have a copy of the book with me and found the passage, which it turns out is a bit too long to include in the main post. So I'm putting it down here.

"...What some people say on Earth is that the final loss of one soul gives the lie to all the joy of those who are saved."

"Ye see it does not."

"I feel in a way that it ought to."

"That sounds very merciful: but see what lurks behind it."

"What?"

"The demand of the loveless and the self-imprisoned that they should be allowed to blackmail the universe: that till they consent to be happy (on their own terms) no one else shall taste joy: that theirs should be the final power; that Hell should be able to veto Heaven....it must be one way or the other. Either the day must come when joy prevails and all the makers of misery are no longer able to infect it: or else for ever and ever the makers of misery can destroy in others the happiness they reject for themselves."

We'll Bring the World His Truth

We have been born, as Nephi of old
To goodly parents who love the Lord.
We have been taught, and we understand,
That we must do as the Lord commands.

We have been saved for these latter days
To build the kingdom in righteous ways.
We hear the words our Prophet declares:
"Let each who's worthy go forth and share."

We know his plan, and we will prepare,
Increase our knowledge through study and prayer.
Daily we'll learn until we are called
To take the gospel to all the world.

We are as the Army of Helaman.
We have been taught in our youth.
And we will be the Lord's missionaries
To bring the world his truth.

Janice Kapp Perry

Today in Primary singing time we started learning We'll Bring the World His Truth. I hadn't though about this song much lately, but I quickly remembered how I used to love it.

At one point when singing the line "of goodly parents who love the Lord," I saw the song differently than I did as a child. I started thinking about me as one of those parents, and about finding a husband who loves the Lord. And about the large responsibility I will have someday to teach my children so that they can have faith and courage like the stripling warriors.

The Song of My Heart

I like to sing. And I'm pretty good at it. I also like to perform - there is just something invigorating about being in front of a large crowd, all focused on me. Assuming I'm prepared and it's not largely made up of people whose opinions particularly matter to me. Otherwise I'm more likely to become a nervous wreck.

So, of course, choir was a natural fit for me, and I have performed in several of them. Women's Choir in junior high. Women's Chorus, Junior Choir, State Honor Choir, and Concert Choir in high school. Various ward choirs. Once or twice, I sang with the Choral Arts Society of Utah for the Days of '47 Sunrise Service (Mom, was that just once? Do you remember?). And I probably would have tried to be in a university choir if I had gone to a different college, but I was not willing to compete for the U in anything. Which left me feeling slightly guilty when the Rivalry Week food drive came around. But I digress.

These days, I mostly sing alone. Sometimes I'll sing along with a song playing on the radio, or sing some song stuck in my head, or I'll join in with a group who is singing various popular songs for fun. But when I am in private and sing for the sheer joy of singing, I usually don't sing rock or pop. When I sing for fun, by myself, I usually stick with church music or things I learned for one choir or another. Maybe they fit better my preferred style of singing. Maybe they are more tied to other occasions of losing myself in music. Or maybe they resonate more within my soul.

He Sent His Son

Music

How could the Father tell the world
of love and tenderness?
He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.
How could the Father show the world
the pathway we should go?
He sent his son to walk with men on earth,
that we may know.
How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?
He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.
What does the Father ask of us?
What do the scriptures say?
Have faith, have hope, live like his Son,
help others on their way.
What does He ask?
Live like his Son.

Mabel Jones Gabbot

This is one of my favorite primary songs. And when I'm singing primary songs to myself, this one usually comes up. It is a pretty great summary of the basic things we should know about Christ's life. And although it can be good to get a bit deeper and deal with complicated issues, you need to return to the basic, simple stuff, too.

I Know My Father Lives

Music

I know my Father lives and loves me too.
The Spirit whispers this to me and tells me it is true,
And tells me it is true.

He sent me here to earth, by faith to live his plan.
The Spirit whispers this to me and tells me that I can,
And tells me that I can.

Reid N. Nibley

A couple years ago in Relief Society, the instructor had us go around the room and each choose a hymn that expressed our testimony. And I chose this one because it is the base of what I know. As I've mentioned before, I have wondered about a lot of things. But when I hit bottom, what keeps me going is knowing that He lives and loves me. And that I can always turn to Him, through scripture, prayer, fasting, and priesthood blessings, and he will reaffirm that He is, that I am loved, and that things will work out.

Teach Me To Walk In The Light

Music

Teach me to walk in the light of his love;
Teach me to pray to my Father above;
Teach me to know of the things that are right;
Teach me, teach me to walk in the light.

Come, little child, and together we'll learn
Of his commandments, that we may return
Home to his presence, to live in his sight--
Always, always to walk in the light.

Father in Heaven, we thank thee this day
For loving guidance to show us the way.
Grateful, we praise thee with songs of delight!
Gladly, gladly we'll walk in the light.

Clara W. McMaster

This was my first favorite hymn, and whenever I heard it, I felt as though it was played specially for me and my family. I think I felt that the message of this hymn applied very well to me as a child. It seemed to express exactly what I felt was my main duty at that point in my life- to learn what I needed to know and do to return home. And it has a very cheerful, optimistic, feel to it. As if the singing of it brought some of that light into my life.

Music

One of my friends used to occasionally, as he said, judge me by my music. He'd look through my cds or my Pandora stations, then when I finally downloaded iTunes and imported my music there, he checked out my playlists and looked to see what my favorite song was, based on what was most played. When he did this most recently, there was a clear winner. But the thing is, my play counts had all been reset within the past couple of months. And during the time since, my listening habits had changed slightly. I was going through a really hard time in one particular area of my life and listening to music that I felt related to my problems and feelings. So what had become my favorite song then, although I had always liked it, was not my all-time favorite song.

At the end of the morning session of conference today I mentioned really liking a song the Tabernacle Choir was singing, and Mitch said that he really liked the hymn Lead Kindly Light because of the message it contains. And I started thinking about how I have had different favorite hymns throughout the years based on what messages resounded most with me at the time.

So I have decided that I will make a series of posts discussing various songs that have influenced me throughout my life. I'll stick to hymns and primary songs to begin with, but might branch out a little at some point.

If She Would Have Been Faithful

I listened to the lyrics of Chicago's song If She Would Have Been Faithful for the first time today, and I have a couple of issues with it. The part that causes problems for me is "If she would have been faithful... I would never know real love. I would have missed out on you."

I have heard many times Spencer W. Kimball's statement that "Soul mates are fiction and an illusion; and while every young man and young woman will seek with all diligence and prayerfulness to find a mate with whom life can be most compatible and beautiful, yet it is certain that almost any good man and any good woman can have happiness and a successful marriage if both are willing to pay the price." Also, you hear a lot about the success of arranged marriages when proper care is taken and effort put in and how they grow to love each other. Well, if this singer/songwriter/whoever I'm talking about truly thought he was in love, I think he had a good start. And I've heard from a lot of different sources that their love has grown immeasurably during the years/decades they have been married. And with these two having already chosen to be together, they probably have a decent start of regard for each other and with enough time and effort and work, they should be able to grow to real love someday.

Also, he is making assumptions here. I am going in a contradictory direction from some of what I said in the last paragraph now. But if she was cheating on him, there were probably already serious problems with the relationship and even if she had not cheated, the relationship likely would have ended anyway. So who's to say he wouldn't have found the new girl later? You can never say what would have happened if things had gone differently.