“Work to Be Done” by Steven Delopoulos
Sunday
“Work to Be Done” by Steven Delopoulos
Category Archives: music
Inkwell 2014
S.D. Smith, Story Warren
This past weekend, our family went to an all-day conference together. It was sponsored by those good people at Story Warren, and I feel truly blessed that it happened right here in Charlotte.
If you don’t know Story Warren, it’s a site dedicated to helping parents and kids foster “holy imagination.” If you have kids in your life in any way, shape, or form, this site should be on the short list of ones you visit.
The day was split up into four breakout sessions (poetry, music, story, and illustration), with a general session at each end. I circulated with my two youngest children, so that meant we went to Story with Andrew Peterson first. Andrew just finished up his Wingfeather Saga (the last volume of which doesn’t release until next month, but you can get your hands on it now, here).
What I loved about this conference was that it was a little bit of teaching and a lot of doing. Andrew talked about why we create — why we write stories. We are people in a story. God wrote us in His story. Then he picked up a whiteboard marker and started writing a story with all the kids in the room participating. Little faces lit up as a world grew before our eyes: the planet Symperion, where the sun rises in the north and sets in the south, the sky is purple, and people pay for things with bones instead of money.
When you’re writing a poem about a spaghetti monster, it helps to know what spaghetti sounds like.
Each session was that way: some instruction and a lot of “doing.” The kids ate it up. How inspiring is it to walk around a conference and happen across a boy not that much older than you who is doing commissioned illustrations? Or to take part in writing a Scripture song? It makes things possible that our standardized-test, grade-oriented culture wants to squash.
After a break for dinner, we ended the day with a concert from Randall Goodgame doing Slugs ‘N Bugs, and Andrew Peterson playing a bunch of his songs. Riches poured out before us!
Here’s Randall performing “Two Shirts,” a song that he recorded with the African Children’s Choir. We have all the Slugs ‘N Bugs albums, but the latest, “Sing the Bible,” is far and away the favorite around here.
In Feast or Fallow
Words and music by Sandra McCracken
When the fields are dry, and the winter is long
Blessed are the meek, the hungry, the poor
When my soul is downcast, and my voice has no song
For mercy, for comfort, I wait on the Lord
In the harvest feast or the fallow ground,
My certain hope is in Jesus found
My lot, my cup, my portion sure
Whatever comes, we shall endure.
Whatever comes, we shall endure
On a cross of wood, His blood was outpoured
He Rose from the ground, like a bird to the sky
Bringing peace to our violence, and crushing death’s door
Our Maker incarnate, our God who provides.
come, oh come, Emman- u- el
come, oh come, Emman- u- el
When the earth beneath me crumbles and quakes
Not a sparrow falls, nor a hair from my head
Without His hand to guide me, my shield and my strength
In joy or in sorrow, in life or in death
Linkage
Stand Up and Get the Tissues Ready: I’m sure you’ve seen this by now, but in case you haven’t, here’s a beautiful spontaneous rendition of the national anthem from a choir conference.
If you are interested in Charlotte Mason education, the Childlight blog is a nice place to start. Here’s a good article from the last month called A First-Time Mother’s Perspective.
My wise friend Michelle wrote this article that I posted to the memorial site this week: How to Walk with a Friend in Grief (hint: it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and there is no finish line)
I’ve been taking in a lot of Rabbit Room artists over the last two weeks. You should probably just stick an IV in my arm and hook me up to Rabbit Room radio. Here’s one that will make you laugh, Andy Gullahorn’s “Skinny Jeans.”
Sunday
Sunday
