Found It

Some time ago, I was looking for something in writing from the Free Presbyterian Church regarding their position on women's dress.  I couldn't find the FP position in print myself, and when I asked a couple of people for help, they couldn't find it either (though they did, to their credit, go to great lengths to try to find more information for me).

It wasn't until some time later that I happened across an article on the Holdfast blog entitled "Long Hair and Femininity," and at the end of it was this link to a resolution of the synod of 2003, as printed in the FP magazine.  I've copied and pasted it here:

At its most recent meeting, in May 2003, the Synod reaffirmed the Church's adherence to the Scriptural standard expressed in this Resolution originally passed in 1970:

There is evidence that the "permissiveness" of the age has influenced the Church. In particular this is the case in the dress of the women, and in the hair styles of both men and women.

The Word of God demands of women that they be dressed in modest apparel, and the Synod urge the women of the Church to give heed to this counsel. Not only does it require modesty of dress but also distinction in dress between the sexes. The practice of men and women wearing clothes which obliterates this distinction is quite contrary to God's Word and expressly declared to be an abomination to Him. "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God" (Deut 22:5).

The Word of God clearly teaches that the hair of women should be long and the hair of men (and boys) short. Long and short are relatives. To argue from hence that the matter cannot be determined is to cast the most serious and solemn aspersion upon the Divine wisdom. "Doth not even nature itself teach you that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering" (1 Cor 11:14,15).

The Church must therefore condemn these practices as contrary to God's Word and direct her people to seek the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to enable them to live unspotted in the world.

So there you have it.  I'm not sure what I was expecting exactly, but I was happy with the way this resolution was written, in that it does not compromise on important Biblical principles of modesty and distinction in dress; and also in that it is no more specific than the Bible regarding how exactly one should be feminine or masculine (the specific application of these principles being left up to the discretion of church government within a given culture/era).

Slightly off topic, but it would be nice if past resolutions of Synod were more accessible online.  I am sure that many of the resolutions are somewhere to be found in past issues of the FP magazine, which are indeed available online, but they aren't searchable, so it is quite difficult to find something specific when desired.

A Really Neat Family Photo

Check out this awesome family photo from my sister's blog.  Okay, it's not "my" family in this photo, it's the Smith family.  But my family and the Smith family do overlap a bit--I've got two siblings, two in-laws, and four nieces in this photo.  Can you find them?

Family Reunion Photo (don't forget, you can double-click on the photo for a better view)

In the center are Grammie and Grandpa, then to the left and right are Rev. Lyle (our minister) and Uncle Ernie, two of Grammie and Grandpa's four sons.  All the rest are spouses, children, spouses of children, and grandchildren of the two brothers. 

Two spouses will soon be added to this large family: John (back left, next to Jett) is engaged to Naomi from New Zealand, and Sarah (bottom right, next to Uncle Ernie) is engaged to Dave from Canada. 

I've enjoyed getting to know this family over the last few years.  The first time I, personally, met any of the Smiths was when a few of them drove Jesh and Caleb back to Indiana from Texas (long story).  It was on that first visit of theirs to Indiana (many more followed) that the photo at the bottom of this post was taken.  This was before any of the Smith cousins had gotten married, so the family as a whole was a lot smaller then.

Oh, the stories that could be told.  Someone should write a book. :)

I Like It

One of the young people (Sam maybe?) discovered this one.

I like it.  Maybe you will too.

Leo Siberski conducts the Danse Bacchanale, from "Samson & Delilah" by Saint-Saens.

May Psalm Sing

We try to host psalm sings on a monthly basis, but sometimes it's hard to squeeze them in.  The Smith families were busy with family events during Jett and Evelyn's visit, and Rachel and Peter's.  And Jesh has been busier than ever with work, especially in recent weeks as he's been preparing to give a presentation at a conference in Vienna.  (Those of you at the FP church in London will be seeing him shortly, D.V., as he plans to stop there for the weekend both on his way to Austria, and on his way back again.)

But on Saturday we finally managed to have a psalm sing for the first time since February.  Despite the last-minute notice, a good number of people were able to make it.  Hopefully next time we'll be able to plan things farther in advance (yes, I know you've heard me say this before).

Our psalm sings usually involve a bit of good-natured debate over various points, from pitch or tempo to which version of a tune or psalm to sing.  This time proved to be no exception. :) We also spent more time than usual learning parts, since we didn't have advance notice of what tunes we would be practicing.  But despite the delays, we managed to sing and record four selections.

Psalm 21:1-6 to Free Church


Psalm 50:1-4 (1st version) to Malan


Psalm 50:5-8 (1st version) to Old 134th


Psalm 71:21-24 to Sheffield


I hope you enjoy these recordings.  I look forward to singing with you all again next month, all being well.  Next time, we hope to work on at least one tune that's *not* in our split-leaf psalters; Mercy has offered to copy and edit a couple of tunes from other books, so that we can print them out and pass them around beforehand.

A Trip to the "Alligator Park"

We live not far from a state park known for its population of alligators.  One morning recently, I checked the weather forecast and saw that the day would be exceptionally beautiful, so I decided to take the boys to the "alligator park."

As it turns out, we only saw one alligator in the wild.  He was pretending to be a log, and waiting for dinner to come along.

We did see baby alligators in the nature center, and a nice lady who worked there got one out of the tank for the boys to pet.  We also saw an alligator skeleton in the nature center, and lots of other creepy (live) critters like poisonous snakes and spiders.  I think the nature center was the boys' favorite part of the park.

I, however, most enjoyed our hike.  The boys like to run, so they did.  I reminded them of the story of the tortoise and the hare, but to no avail.

We saw lots of white birds (what are these?)

And grey ones (don't know what this one is either)

And cool trees.  I like live oak trees.  How do they grow such huge branches parallel to the ground without the trunk splitting open?  A marvelous feat of engineering!

The boys liked this hollow one...

By the end of our hike, this tortoise mama was still good to go, but the two hares boys were worn out, so we called it a day.  Look at our dusty feet.

Lined out Psalm-Singing, Scottish Style, in Israel

Last week, I posted the first of two recordings of lined out psalm singing in English.  The first one was an older recording made in Scotland.  This second recording of lined-out English psalmody is particularly interesting to me, because while the precentor and singers are Scottish, the recording was made in Israel.  This is a tour group led by Rev. David Campbell of the Free Presbyterian Church, singing in St. Anne's Church at the pool of Bethesda.  Rev. Campbell was also the precentor for this recording.

Psalm 22:22-24, to Moravia, lined out


As I listen to this recording of the psalms being sung by Scots in Israel, I remember how my parents (who are in Israel) have told us that the Jews don't sing the psalms in their entirety as we do in the Free Presbyterian Church.  They sing only some of the psalms.  The remaining psalms are read or recited, or chanted by a cantor, but not sung by congregations.

It's so sad to think that this is a people and a nation who have the psalms in their original languages, and yet they do not sing them.

My mom is working on music for some of the psalms that are not commonly sung in Hebrew, to make them singable.  You can read about her efforts in her recent blog post.

First Harvest, 2011

Here's Elijah holding the first harvest from our little garden--a cherry tomato.  Elijah loves home-grown tomatoes.  He was eager to convince me that this one was ready to harvest.  After the photo it went straight into his mouth--well, after a quick stop by the sink to be rinsed off. :)

We are in the midst of a severe drought here in southern Texas.  They say it's the worst in forty or fifty years.  We haven't had rain since January.  Thankfully our well is fine, so with regular watering, my garden is doing well. 

Lined Out English Psalm Singing

For the longest time I thought that lined-out singing was something only done in Gaelic , and in a handful of small American denominations--the Primitive Baptists, for instance, and some African-American groups, where it is also known as "Dr. Watts hymn singing".  I knew that the Scottish psalter had once been lined out, but thought that practice had died away long ago.

So, I was surprised to learn, recently, that a few Free Presbyterian congregations in the Highlands of Scotland still practice lined-out psalm singing in English.  The lining out is traditionally done, specifically, during communion table services (while approaching and sitting at the Lord's Table). 

For those who are unfamiliar with lined-out singing: lining out is the practice of having the precentor read or sing each line of a hymn or psalm, after which the congregation sings the same line to the appropriate tune.  The Westminster Assembly in the "Directory for the Publick Worship of God" suggested lining out as a solution for congregations where most were illiterate and could not read the psalm for themselves, or congregations with not enough psalters to go around.  Of course, Free Presbyterian congregations are literate and have plenty of psalters, but lining out is still done at some communion table services for the sake of those communicants who do not take a psalter with them to the table, and who do not yet have the usual psalms memorized.

(Apparently a very small but very vocal group of American Presbyterians think that lining out is the only appropriate way to sing the psalms--I think that argument is well refuted in this article by a Mr. Coldwell.)

I've recently been sent two recordings of lined out psalm singing in English that I thought I would share with you.  The first is a very nice older recording which I've come across more than once, and which you may have heard already.  This is Psalm 116 to Coleshill, lined out by precentor Calum Mackay, in the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, Portree congregation.  This recording was made in the 1980s.

The second recording will have to wait till later in the week: a recording of lined-out psalm singing from another part of the world. :)

Love

I got an unusual sort of love note from a certain little boy this morning...

Jeshurun and Other Photos

I thought I would post a few pictures, including some of my little brother.  Hopefully he will forgive me. :)

Jesh has been working long hours these days.  His employers have been happy to put his skills and work ethic to good use by handing him more and more responsibilities!  They've had him traveling a bit in recent months, once to present a paper at a national conference, and several times to give presentations and attend meetings with a client in Mexico.  He's got more traveling planned for coming months, including a trip to Europe to present a paper at an international conference. 

When Jesh is not traveling for work, he is working late, usually not arriving home until well after dark.  But he still finds time to spend with my boys, reading to them and talking to them and teaching them things in an informal way.  Here he is just arrived home from work, reading a story to the boys.  (Jeshurun is not fond of having his picture taken, so he was grumbling "That isn't very nice," as I took this picture.)

You can tell the above photo is a few months old for a couple of reasons.  First of all, yes, that's a pacifier in Noah's hand.  The pacifier is no more.  Secondly, the photo was obviously taken before the last round of haircuts!  I cut Elijah's hair myself the old-fashioned way (with scissors), but Mercy (my sister) cut Noah's hair with her clippers.  I wasn't sure how Noah would feel about the clippers, but he didn't seem to mind them at all.  Here he is getting his hair cut.  (Please pardon the clutter.)

An "after" shot.  Isn't he handsome?

Jeshurun and Matthew (Mercy's stepson) just happened to be wearing matching shirts that evening, so I had to get a picture.  Mercy had just cut Jeshurun's hair as well as Noah's.  She cuts a lot of hair, including mine...which reminds me, I think it's about time for a chop!