Speaking in the square

In Imagined space in Sacred Harp singing, Jonathon M. Smith writes about controlling divisiveness by limiting leaders addressing the class from the hollow square. Today, this is often presented and misrepresented as the standard historical practice which must be held as the norm. Yet, Smith himself acknowledges this is a teaching method imposed in modernity that does not actually square with historical practice.[i] On page 246, footnote 139, Smith writes:

“Documentary evidence suggests that this norm was regularly breeched in Sacred Harp singings in the Southeast throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by singers who addressed the class when called to lead. However, modern singing schools promote the ideal of refraining from speaking from the center of the square as an important historical precedent.”

Just because you can get up a singing camp to promote the views of a select group as normative does not change historical facts. In days gone by, when the standard practitioner of Sacred Harp was a Christian, no one tried to suppress testimonies in the square. They were offensive to none, with the possible exception of someone who went on and on with no end in sight! However, that was about the consumption of time, not the content of the talk. Today, many modern practitioners feel a special need to suppress such spiritual expressions, since they offend their worldview of unbelief. Somehow they are able to compartmentalize the sacred nature of the old Christian hymns in The Sacred Harp, but cannot abide a real-time expression of the same sacred nature made by living Christian witnesses. May God help us.

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[i] Smith twice alludes to this being standard historical practice, including claiming that “early Sacred Harp singings” adopted the practice of not speaking in the square. Significantly, he does not actually provide any historical evidence.

[ii] Some things to think about. Who says the purpose was to control divisiveness? Is there any historical evidence that it was used this way? Why is this a modern concern? Who brought in divisiveness?

Religious effect of a hymn

When Joshua Leavitt sent out The Christian Lyre, he testified that “the work is not designed to please scientific musicians, so much as to profit plain christians…” He generally gave a melody and bass for the tune, but sometimes only the melody, writing, “As the number of parts is apt to distract the attention of an audience, or to occupy them with the music instead of the sentiment, the tunes here printed will generally be accompanied with only a simple bass, and sometimes not even with that. In a vast multitude of cases the religious effect of a hymn is heightened by having all sing the air only.”

He also possesses a good attitude about its future: “Possessing no musical skill beyond that of ordinary plain singers, I send out my work, without pretensions. If it aids the progress of Christ’s cause, I shall be rewarded. If not, I shall be accepted according to what I had, and not according to what I had not. And it will prepare the way for some other person to do it better.” (Preface, page 3)

Looking at the Lord’s Supper

I Corinthians 11:23-29 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

Notice five views or ways we ought to “look at” or approach the Lord’s Supper. As we observe the Lord’s Supper, may these thoughts enter and affect our hearts and minds.

Five Looks of the Lord’s Supper

1. Appreciation (gratitude; thankful recognition). In the Lord’s Supper we look upward in thanks for God’s provision, verse 24 “when he had given thanks.”

In everything give thanks. In general, we are to be thankful for God’s provisions for us. All we have is the Lords and we owe him all. He supplies us bread and drink. In the context of the Lord’s Supper, he supplies the bread and wine, which is his body and his blood. Let us be thankful that God provided a Lamb for the offering, a Lamb to take away the sin of the world.

2. Retrospection (the act or process of looking back on things past). In the Lord’s Supper we look backward in memory of the crucifixion, verse 24-25 “this do in remembrance of me.”

As we thank him for his life and blood, we look backward in memory to the event of the past. The event from all eternity. The event that shapes the future. The crucifixion is why the Son of God came into world, to give his life a ransom for many. It is backward in time; it is an historical event. In looking back, we are brought face to face with the past, the present, and the future. But not just the event – the man of the event – “this do in remembrance of me!”

3. Manifestation (an act of demonstration; making evident or showing plainly). In the Lord’s Supper we look outward in proclamation to others, verse 26 “ye do shew the Lord’s death.”

The Lord’s Supper teaches the truth; the Lord’s Supper paints a picture. It manifests in bread and wine the Lord’s death. Those who participate and those who watch see what we cannot say. We preach the gospel with our tongues. We praise his name with our lips. But here in the Lord’s Supper, in common elements from our common experience, we portray the truth in tones we cannot speak and in tunes we cannot sing. Oh, the mystery of the divine.

4. Prospection (the act of looking forward). In the Lord’s Supper we look forward in hope of our Lord’s return, verse 26 “till he come.”

In terms of frequency or the time of the Lord’s Supper, it hard to find a specific schedule that must be followed. But we are to do it “oft” and do it “till he comes.” While looking backward to the marvelous death of our Lord, we are reminded that he yet lives and that he is coming back again. Every time we eat this bread and drink this cup we ought to whisper, at least in our minds if not on our tongues, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

5. Introspection (an act of the examining of one’s own thoughts, impressions, and feelings). In the Lord’s Supper we look inward in examination of our participation, verse 28 “let a man examine himself.”

The Lord’s Supper is not an impersonal and perfunctory experience in which we just go through outward formal motions of eating and drinking some symbolic thing. It calls us to introspection, an examination of our deepest motives of observance. Look not to determine your worthiness, for we are all unworthy and yet made worthy by the blood of Jesus. Drink it worthily, a description of the manner of observance rather than the merit of the person observing, discerning the Lord’s body as you partake of him in that which symbolizes him. The examination is not to keep us from eating and drinking, but to prepare us for eating and drinking! Let a man examine himself, and so – in that self-examined state – let him eat and drink.

To these five looks in verses 23-29 we may add a sixth, where we look from –

6. Participation (or cooperation, an instance of acting together in a common purpose or activity). In the Lord’s Supper we look from inside the congregation, verse 18 “when ye come together in the church” (cf. also, “unto the church of God which is at Corinth,” 1:2)

The Lord’s Supper is not an individual, personalized, or isolated experience. It is a church ordinance, observed when the local congregation gratefully and prayerfully comes together to remember the Lord’s substitutionary death on the cross for our sins.

May we (in the assembly) solemnly, thankfully, and joyfully commune together and with our Lord – looking upward, looking backward, looking outward, looking forward, and looking inward. Praise ye the Lord!

Translating true to the original

Alan Jacobs criticizes the trend in modern translation toward preferring clarity for the reader above fidelity to the original.

“In translation, fidelity is the ultimate imperative and trumps every other virtue: even clarity or readability…modern translations operate under the (perhaps unconscious) ‘feeling that the Bible, because of its canonical status, has to be made accessible—indeed, transparent, to all.’…

“…later translators of Scripture have operated under the (again, often unconscious) assumption that the ideal experience of reading Scripture is one in which clarity manifests itself fully and immediately.

“Undergirding this assumption is, I think, a memory of Christ’s disturbing statement: ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.’ Does this suggest that any translation that presents more difficulties to the ‘little children’ than to the ‘wise and understanding’ is somehow un-Christian? The idea may seem absurd, but it would be unwise to underrate the pressure of such thoughts in an assertively egalitarian, democratizing, and anti-elitist culture like our own today. Only in such a culture would something like ‘dynamic equivalence’ models of translation be developed, because dynamic equivalence—which encourages translators to ask how we in our time and place might say whatever the Bible is taken to say—allows one to deal with difficult passages in the original text not by translating them but by interpreting their obscurities out of existence. Such passages must be cleared away, whenever possible, in order to make the crooked places straight and the rough places plain. The simple and problem-free translation then offers itself as evidence of the simplicity and problem-freeness of the biblical text itself. The translators thus stand to their readers in loco parentis: the ‘little children’ never have to know what struggles their scholarly fathers undertook in order to protect them from the agonies of interpretive confusion.”

Alan Jacobs, Wayfaring: Essays, Pleasant and Unpleasant, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010, pp. 12-14

Come to Jesus Now

Come to Jesus Now was written May 2, 1932 by Mrs. Lillie M. Jackson. She wrote both the words and music. It was published in 1934 in The Colored Sacred Harp, on page 65.

Mrs. Lillie M. Jackson was the wife of Joseph A. Jackson, and was the daughter-in-law of Judge Jackson, the compiler of the song book. It appeals to come to Jesus “while you are young.”

Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

Come to Jesus, come today,
Oh, come while you are young;
Jesus he is calling now,
Come to Him, yes come my friend
Oh, come while Jesus calls;
Jesus bids you come to Him.
Jesus stands and pleads for you,
Children, come to Jesus.

The Colored Sacred Harp was first published in 1934, by Judge Jackson of Dale County, Alabama, with help from Bishop J. B. Walker. The collection contains 77 shape-note songs, composed by Black singers in southeast Alabama (with the exception of B. F. Faust).

Judge Jackson was born March 12, 1883 in Montgomery County, to Aaron and Silvy Jackson. In 1902 he married Lela C. Campbell. They had 12 children. Several of his family members contributed to The Colored Sacred Harp: Dovie D. Jackson Reese, Emma Mae Jackson McKenzie, Pauline Jackson Driggs, John C. Jackson, Joseph A. Jackson, and Samuel W. Jackson. Daughter-in-law Lillie and son-in-law E. D. McKenzie contributed one song each.

Lillie Mae Bryant was the daughter of Edmond and Minnie Lubele (nee Hearn) Bryant. She was born in Jackson County, Florida, 1913, She married Joseph A. Jackson around 1931. They had at least five children. At some point they moved to the Cleveland area of Ohio. Joseph and Lillie M. both died while living there, but they are buried in the Johntown Cemetery in Dale County, Alabama. Lillie died January 15, 1988.

Listen to the song here: COME TO JESUS NOW.

What AI exposes, and other music links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• What AI Exposes About Our Songs and Our Souls -- “Can a soul-less artist produce a soul-full act of worship”
• The Case for Shorter Hymnals -- “The truth is, congregations love repetition. We all do, whether we know it or not. Repetition is what makes music music and what makes good music good music.”
• Styles – Sacred Harp Singing -- “...regardless of location or voices, Sacred Harp sounds unlike academic choral singing or gospel singing in which melody dominates and harmony embellishes and supports it.”
• Shape-Note Singing in Mississippi: A Preliminary History -- “Sacred Harp singing in Mississippi, especially in Calhoun, Chickasaw, Webster and adjoining counties, has long been identified by a unique practice not found elsewhere: the use of seven syllables (doremi) to name the four shaped notes.”
• Scripture References found in Hymns. New Lists -- “I have begun to create a cross references between hymns and Scripture which those hymns reference.”
• Sacred Harp Museum Catalog -- “Listing of items held at the Sacred Harp Museum, Carrollton, Georgia.”
• ‘Sacred Harp Singing’ Goes Gay: Should You Mark and Avoid? -- “The other is the Cooper revision, known as the ‘Blue Book,’ published by the Sacred Harp Book Company, which is the older of the two and which has not (yet) been hijacked by the queer contingent.”
• Sacred Harp and Related Shape-Note Music Resources: Tunebooks, Music Books, and Hymnals -- “This guide focuses on music stylistically related to that in The Sacred Harp tunebooks but not on shape-note gospel music.”
• Rethinkin’ Our Thinkin’ -- “The first 15 pages of Rethinkin’ Our Thinkin’: Thoughts on Sacred Harp ‘Myths’.”
• Jamie MacDonald, Christian pop singer -- “Jamie MacDonald was among the new class of Artists named to watch as Spotify presented the rising stars of 2026.”
• Gon’ Act Like A Preacher, Ride From Town to Town -- “This article is an initial ‘testing the water’ on a subject in earlier African American song which has rarely been considered in print up to this point in time – the preacher in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”
• Be Still, My Soul -- “Two gifted women from two different countries gave the English-speaking world this beautiful hymn of comfort.”
• Approaching 150 -- “The first 15 pages of Approaching 150: A Brief History of the East Texas Musical Convention and Sacred Harp in East Texas.”
• Anchor Hymns Makes Old Things New -- “The group’s tagline, ‘songs that will outlast us,’ nods to its mission to offer the church newly composed songs and newly arranged hymns that feel both historically rooted and forward-looking.”
• An Argument for Heartier Hymnals -- “Allowing room for growth means having songs you can grow into, as well as songs that fit your people currently.”

Catena Bible

Here is an interesting Bible commentary that I ran across online:

• Catena Bible

Catena in connection with Christian Theology particularly means “a connected series of texts written by early Christian theologians.” This Bible/Commentary allows you to select a Book, Chapter, and Verse of the Bible, click on that verse and see comments on that verse by early Christian writers. This could be a helpful tool if you want to easily locate what was said by Tertullian, Chrysostom, Irenaeus, Jerome, Bede, etc., etc.

Caveats.

• All so-called church fathers are not sound Bible believers; some were heretics (some more and some less).
• This appears to be Roman-Catholic-oriented, since it includes the commentary of the very much later Catholic theologian George Leo Haydock (1849) alongside the “church fathers.”.
• With these caveats, wise use of the Catena Bible might allow it a useful study tool.

For “to me”: A Christian’s Hope

Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

I recently heard this verse referenced at a graveside, and as we are often wont to do, summarized as “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” I have no criticism of that, as we generally understand it in that context. However, the three short introductory words are very potent.

“For to me” encompasses a Christian’s hope.

“To me” demonstrates that this is not a universal truth for all people. It is a truth for Paul (to me), and for people in the same category as Paul – born again believers. Unbelievers do not live in Christ and do not gain in death.

“To me” enforces that this statement is not just an abstract notion, but concrete reality. In life Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20). In life Christ is the matter (Hebrew 12:1-2) and the goal (Titus 2:13). In death we gain relief (Revelation 21:4) and rest (Revelation 14:13). In death we gain reward (2 Timothy 4:6-8), gain union (v. 23; 2 Corinthians 5:8) and reunion (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).