One of the lessons on worship that we explored together gave us an interesting activity to work on. Few Methodists may be aware of the fact that John Wesley was somewhat of a control freak. One example of that is found on page vii of the UM hymnal. On this page are written John Wesley's "Directions For Singing." These directions were written by Wesley himself instructing his Methodist Movement the proper way to sing when they came together. Honestly, these instructions are really good. They tell the singers to sing in harmony, to follow the words, and to make sure to sing with excitement and a desire to honor God.
Well, the activity that was included in the lesson was for the confirmands to practice singing songs from the hymnal. We divided the class into two teams. One team pulled a rule from a hat and had to break it. The other team was supposed to guess which rule was being broken. The boys team (of course) got up to sing a song and they began to chant "Jaya Ho! Jaya Ho! Jaya Ho!" The girls team couldn't figure out which rule they were breaking and I couldn't figure out which song they were singing. They were giggling so hard that they never could get their act together.
When we finished the game I asked them which song that was and they told me to turn to number 478. Sure enough, the song is called Jaya Ho. It was a song written many years ago and translated from Hindi into English. Apparently, it was a song that was quite popular during the 1950's. Here are the English lyrics:
We come before thee, O Great and Holy,
We bow our heads to thee, Great and Holy,
Low at thy feet we bow in quiet reverence,
then sing thy praises, evermore repeating:
Lord, let us see thee, grant us a vision!
Sins and denials, dear Lord forgive us.
Take us and keep us in they strong protection;
safe in they refuge, we will sing they praises.
When those boys chose this song to chant, they were being silly. However, I believe that the Holy Spirit led them to this song. I find in these words exactly what Confirmation is really about. It is learning who is supposed to be first in our life. It is growing in our relationship with our King. It is about knowing our place in his realm. Confirmation is about accepting God's forgiveness and seeking out his vision for our lives. It is about learning to trust in him and spending our lives singing praises.
So Cathy and I have adopted this song as the theme for our upcoming hike. It will show up in the lessons and other activities next week. You see, Jaya Ho, roughly translated, means "Victory Song." And as these boys and girls become men and women of faith the song they will be singing is a victory song. Until next time...Jaya Ho!
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I was listening to a church history lecture the other day and it mentioned how Wesley's intense organization and attention to detail allowed a denomination to be birthed from his "movement," whereas Whitefield didn't have that kind of drive/skill. Pretty fascinating how things like that work in the Church.
ReplyDeleteWesley was incredible at organization. He was a gifted administrator. He never set out to birth a new denomination, we were forced out. However, I firmly believe the Holy Spirit is the driving person behind that early movement and behind all that these kids have learned and accomplished. Thanks for reading, Jay!
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