NaBloPoMo Day #2... In Lieu of Flowers...

 It is going to be hard to find something to blog about every day this month, so for day two, I will pick one of my favorite topics..

Anyone who has paid much attention to my blog or facebook page has heard me talk about the "black book." A short explanation: My church has a main hymnal, Worship In Song, Lillenas Publishing, publication date 70's, I think. Has mostly familiar songs in. We also have The Wesleyan Methodist Hymnal - that is the kind of church I go to. Its publication date is also in the 70's..... the 1870's. Actually, I don't know the publication date, but it is much older, has a lot of songs I don't know, slower, more monotonous - you get the picture. I detest it. I like familiar songs, and when learning a new one, the emphasis is on the "new" - I want it to be something written in my lifetime, or shortly before.

Fortunately, we don't sing from it often.

There is an outdoor drama about an hour and a half from me called "Trumpet In The Land" - a true story of Moravian missionaries to the Indians years ago. At one point in the play, the missionaries and Indians sing a very mournful, slow hymn. Acapella. Did I mention it was very mournful and slow? Anyway.... every time we sing out of the "black book", I think of that - for real. I'm not making that up.

So anyway... I'd like to get rid of these books. Replace them with a newer hymnal that has fresher songs. Since that will never happen in my lifetime - can anyone say "sacred cow"? - I came up with an idea. When some people die, you know how they say "in lieu of flowers, donate money to such and such"? Well, I came up with this: When I die, in lieu of flowers, donate money to replace the "black book". :-)