Music. It's a joyous expression of spirituality used by almost every culture throughout history. In Scouting, music fits in at meal times, during formal worship experiences, and around the campfire to help members develop and express spiritual awareness.
Singing grace at meal times is one of the easiest ways to introduce a spiritual element and music into the daily life of the group. Sung graces have a lot to recommend them. They are usually short - better than long prayers to focus the attention of both adults and young people. I also find a sung grace helps me avoid including things that really don't belong in a meal-time grace and are better left until another time and place in a different kind of prayer.
Short sung graces are also easy to memorize and people can use them on the spur of the moment. Often you sing them to already well-known tunes like this one, sung to Frere Jacques.
Our Father, Our Father,
Once again, Once again,
We would ask your blessing,
We would ask your blessing,
Amen. Amen.
Even those of us who can't carry a tune in a bucket are able to master some of the simple tunes of table graces, and the musical element seems to add an extra dimension to a spoken grace. At the World Jamboree in 1983, a West German troop camped across the road from us sang a grace before all their meals. Not only was it a real treat to hear them, but their strong public expression of their faith made the quietly spoken or silent graces my patrol were using seem somewhat lacking.
A worship service, whether a formal church parade or an informal Scouts' Own is, in many ways, one of the easiest places to put religious music into the Scout program. In fact everyone expects to encounter religious music during a worship service and is surprised if it isn't included. Whether the music is a Bach fugue played on a pipe organ in a cathedral, a prayer chanted in an Indian temple, or a liturgical dance to the beat of a skin drum, it adds life and dignity to the service.
The music at a service is usually easy to sing because it's accompanied by an instrument to guide even someone unfamiliar with the tune. If the words are unfamiliar to some people, others present usually know both words and music and their singing covers up the mistakes of those just learning the song. In a worship service, you can also provide word sheets or hymn books, which isn't very practical at a campfire.
One thing I've learned the hard way is that there's nothing quite as disastrous to a worship experience as trying to introduce music that nobody knows. It's important to teach the music to at least a few other people before using it in a service. Teach it during a regular meeting as you would if preparing a song to take to a district camp. Scouter usually gets a tape recorder and a book of campfire music and everyone sings along until all more or less know the song. You can do the same thing with religious music.
I've also learned to pick religious music with care. Some very beautiful music is simply not usable because it isn't written for the average person or group to sing (it's either out of your vocal range or takes hours of practice). Sometimes the words may express ideas that are inappropriate to the situation or potentially offensive to people of other religious traditions.
Songs like Create in Me a Clean Heart, O Lord, Morning Has Broken, and Thank You for Giving Me the Morning lend themselves very well to a worship service. If your worship service includes the Eucharist or Holy Communion, Alleluia #1, Let Us Break Bread Together On Our Knees, Pass My Love Around, Sons of God and Take Our Bread are particularly appropriate.
Campfires offer some of the greatest opportunities we have to introduce an element of spirituality into Scouting. Every campfire songbook I've seen contains at least a few religious songs. I can't remember a campfire that didn't include spiritual music and always include it in my campfire programs.
Not all religious music is appropriate for every campfire occasion. Two important considerations are the difficulty of the music and the message the songs convey. Campfires are supposed to be fun and there is no fun in trying to sing music too difficult for the group or in singing something that offends someone, even unintentionally.
In placing religious music in the campfire program, I try not to create a religious musical ghetto by putting all the spiritual songs in one part of the program. I've found many people are more receptive to spiritual music if it is mixed with secular music. More important, by mixing the two kinds of music, I can effectively make the point that spirituality and religion can't be separated from other aspects of our lives.
I like to keep the action songs and lively music near the beginning of the program when people are keyed up. A good one to use early in the program is the action song Allelu, Allelu, Allelu. Organize the singers in two groups. The first group stands and sings the first line. then sits while the second half stands and sings the second line. Continue alternating in this way until the last line, when everyone stands to sing together. Second verse same as the first, but a little faster.
Allelu, Allelu, Allelu, Alleluia,
Praise ye the Lord!
Allelu, Allelu, Allelu, Alleluia,
Praise ye the Lord!
Praise ye the Lord!
Alleluia!
Praise ye the Lord!
Alleluia!
Praise ye the Lord!
Alleluia!
Praise ye the Lord!
Some other pretty lively songs that work well at the front end of a campfire are Bless the Lord All Ye Works of the Lord; Come and Go with Me; I will Sing, I will Sing, I will Sing of the Mercies of the Lord; King of King and Lord of Lords; Lord of the Dance;
Mine Eyes have seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord; Rejoice in the Lord Always; The Horse and Rider; and The Joy of the Lord is My Strength.
Later, when I want the mood to settle down, I use more reflective, quiet music like ABBA, Father; Alleluia; Amazing Grace; Father, I Adore You; Kum By Yah; Peace is Flowing like a River; Prayer of St. Francis, See Ye First; St. Patrick's Breastplate and Taps.
This kind of control over the mood of the campfire has the practical value of settling down younger campers before bedtime but, more important, it's very helpful when I'm planning to include a campfire yarn on a spiritual topic. The whole effect of the yarn can be lost if the group isn't in the mood to receive it.
If you're going to tell a campfire yarn, pay special attention to planning the musical part of the program. Prepare your listeners by selecting songs, both religious and secular, that lead up to your yarn. Once you've put the participants in the mood to hear the yarn, you can say what you want to say and end the campfire with music that reinforces the story.
For a campfire, choose music most of the group knows. Songbooks or rattling paper and flashlights can quickly ruin any mood you're trying to create. At the same time, you don't have to sing the same songs all the time. Teach your group new songs using that old standby method of getting a tape recorder and a songbook and spending some time singing along with a tape during a meeting. Or fit religious or spiritual words to music you already know. For example, I've heard the 23rd psalm sung to the tune of The Happy Wanderer. It is beautiful.
You'll find many good campfire songbooks on the market and just about all of them include spiritual music. Most religious bookstores also sell collections of religious music, two of which I can heartily recommend. Both collections consist of more than one volume but you can buy each separately. Both are also available on tape or record as well as in book form.
Glory & Praise is published by North American Liturgy Resources, Phoenix, Arizona. Songs of Praise is published by Servant Music, Ann Arbor, Michigan. For those who work with Beavers and Cubs, I suggest you consider tapes called Hi God and Hi God 2. You'll find these resources in religious bookstores as well.
All of these are collections of Christian music and here is where those of you who work with Scouts of different faiths can be of great help. If you know about music collections of non-Christian songs suitable for campfires, we'd all like to hear about them.
Scouters are bound to discover ways to help every Scout develop spiritually, regardless of his or her religious tradition. What are some of the things you're doing to meet the spiritual needs of Scouts who are of different religions than their leader or most of the other young people in their group? Share your ideas by sending them to the Leader.
Be Present at Our Table Lord
The music is the hymn tune Old 100th, the same tune as for Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.
Be present at our table Lord,
Be here and everywhere adored,
These morsels bless and grant that we,
May feast in paradise with thee.
Hark to the Chimes
Hark to the chimes,
Come bow your head.
We thank thee, Lord,
For this good bread.
For Health and Strength
You'll find this one in most song books.
For health and strength and daily food
We praise thy name, O Lord.
Johnny Appleseed
Look for this one in songbooks as well.
O the Lord is good to me,
And so I thank the Lord,
For giving me the things I need,
The food and the drink and the friends I see,
The Lord is good to me.
Alleluia. amen.
World Hunger Grace
The Anglican Diocese of Huron developed the words. You'll find the music by the Rev. Robert Crocker in the Jubilee Song Book published by the Girl Guides of Canada.
For food in a world where many walk in hunger;
For faith in a world where many walk in fear;
For friends in a world where many walk alone, We give you humble thanks O Lord.
1/20/96