 St. Mark's kids will share our December Song of the Month twice on Sunday, December 22nd--as the offertory anthem for our morning service (9:30AM) and as the grand finale for our Christmas Pageant (5PM, followed by potluck supper.) The song can be found in the blue Hymnal 1982, hymn #92. The words of the refrain are: Ideo gloria in excelsis deo! (Latin for "Therefore, glory to God in the highest!" ) ALL St. Mark's kids are encouraged to learn the REFRAIN and the FIRST VERSE of the song in preparation for December 22nd. On this day earth shall ring with the song children sing to the Lord Christ our King born on earth to save us him the Father gave us Ideo-o-o, Ideo-o-o Ideo gloria in excelsis Deo! We'll do a simple dance along with the song, which you can learn and practice with us, below. ALL St. Mark's children and youth are welcome to participate in the Christmas Pageant. The pageant is a low-stress, high joy celebration for all ages. This year's pageant includes "speaking parts" for 4 principle narrators, a few small speaking parts, and lots of non-speaking parts. We also need lots of teens and big kids to help "shepherd" smaller animals and angels through the pageant! You can read through a draft script of this years pageant here. We will hold Christmas Pageant rehearsals in the church and fit children for costumes during the Education Hour (in place of Sunday School) from 11AM-Noon on Sundays 12/8, 12/15, and 12/22. I encourage you to find creative ways to integrate this song into your family's daily prayers this month. Set aside some time to read or share a Nativity story, or to list all the blessings you can from the past day (or week, or year). Then respond to the story and/or your blessings by singing the song refrain: Ideo-o-o, Ideo-o-o
Ideo gloria in excelsis Deo! ("Therefore, glory to God in the highest!" )
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 As St. Mark's kids are growing more confident singing, we're able to begin exploring more challenging music! The tune for this month's song comes from a traditional English folk tune called "Dance to your Daddy." In honor of Thanksgiving, we're replacing the traditional lyrics with something simpler: Give thanks to God! Give thanks to God! Give thanks to God! Give thanks to God! Of course, as always you can mix up the lyrics and make up your own verses at home to offer thanks for any of God's many blessings! Give thanks for family! Give thanks for friends! Give thanks for food! Give thanks to God! What's especially fun (and a little bit tricky) about this song is that it's in a compound meter...that means that some parts of the song are in a triple meter (like a waltz) and some parts of the song are in a duple meter (like a march.) If you wanted to count out the music, you'd count it like this: 1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3 1, 2 1, 2, 3 With a song like this, adding movement to the music actually makes this song EASIER (rather than harder) to sing, because your body can remind you of the rhythm. Go ahead and try it! Nobody's watching you. (Just don't be confused that I keep changing the lyrics on the video. Just stick with "Give thanks to God." ) I encourage you to give it a try, then find some way to incorporate this song and dance of gratitude into your family's Thanksgiving celebrations this year! Give thanks for children! Give thanks for adults! Give thanks for elders! Give thanks to God! Give thanks for singing! Give thanks for dancing! Give thanks for praying! Give thanks to God!  |
Song of the MonthIn early 2019 I began serving as assisting priest at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Albuquerque. St. Mark's is home to a diverse and rapidly growing faith community as well as a Montessori Preschool that serves ~50 preschool children and their families. Archives
June 2020
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