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Christmas Day in the Morning!

December 24, 2014 / Awc / One comment

On Christmas Day in the Morning! Cover illustration by Antony Groves-Raines
Carols collected by John Langstaff

I can’t imagine celebrating Christmas without music. These joyous illustrations come from On Christmas Day in the Morning! a book of carols gathered by music educator and founder of Christmas Revels John Langstaff. The witty pictures were created by Antony Groves-Raines, an Irish artist especially known for his advertising work for the Guinness company. To get in the spirit while you look at the pictures, listen to Orla Fallon’s rendition as you scroll down.

As the revels end, the angels pack up their instruments, climb what must be Jacob’s stepladder, and bid us adieu.

Merry Christmas!

Category: angels, art, children, Christmas, fun, joy, music /

A bit of fun with St. George

April 25, 2013 / Awc / One comment

April 23rd was St. George’s day so, just for fun, I thought I would share a few depictions of St. George that you don’t see every day. St. George is one of the world’s most venerated saints, and is the patron saint of England, Boy Scouts, soldiers, and many nations and cities. Like the Archangel Michael, St. George is a warrior saint. The story of St. George and the Dragon came back to Europe with the Crusaders. St. George is also one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers mentioned in Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel: “When at night I go to sleep/fourteen angels watch do keep….”

St. George and the Pterodactyl
Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, 1873/1868

Boy Scout as St. George
from Scouting for Boys, 1908

50th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts in Greece
stamp designed by A. Tassos (Anastasios Alevizos, 1914-1985),

St. George window by Hans Acker, 1440
Ulm Münster, Ulm, Germany

And finally, Wallace Tripp‘s whimsical reinterpretation of a bas relief by Michel Colombe (1508, Musée du Louvre).

St. George After Colombe
Wallace Tripp

St. George and the dragon
Michel Colombe, 1508

(These last two images originally posted by artist and photographer Thom Buchanon on his blog mydelineatedlife.blogspot.com)

Category: art, fun, saints / Tags: Baden-Powell, dragon, Hans Acker, Louvre, Michel Colombe, St. George, Tassos, Ulm Muenster, Wallace Tripp, Waterhouse Hawkins

What is the Bible?

January 8, 2013 / Awc / Comments Off

If you liked to talk to tomatoes, or ever found yourself smiling at a squash, then have we got a website for you: Jelly Telly is an online video network created by Phil Vischer, the co-creator of VeggieTales. Jelly Telly aims to be a Nickelodeon of sorts for Christian audiences. Right now it’s in beta version as a website which streams about 20 minutes of content daily, but larger projects are apparently in the works. One show, Buck Denver asks “What’s in the Bible?” has also been developed into a curriculum. This video is part of that curriculum and asks the question, “What is the Bible?” Like some of the best of the Veggie Tales material, the video feels open and honest and wrapped in a gentle humor. It won’t replace the “Song of the Cebu,” Stuff-Mart Rap, and “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything,” but it’s well worth your 1:08.

Category: Bible, children, fun, humor / Tags: Jelly Telly, Paul Vischer

Faith is your steering wheel

October 23, 2012 / Awc / 3 comments

You’re probably familiar with images of the Old Ship of Zion and the Gospel Train, but in 1957 the Dixie Hummingbirds updated the mode of transportation for the journey to heaven. “Christian’s Automobile” features the incomparable Ira Tucker, who sang with the group for an astonishing 70 years. Like many of the gospel train songs, this one is both serious and playful as the metaphor gets stretched further and further. Tucker tells us

You gotta check on your tires
You got a rough road ahead
And when you are weary from your journey
God will put you to bed….

You’ve gotta check on your lights
And see your own faults
Stop while you can see them, children
Or your soul will be lost….

But my favorite image comes at the end, when Tucker sings:

And I’m not worried
About my parking space
I just want to see,
See my Savior face to face

What better way to express “I go to prepare a place for you” and the hope of the beatific vision at the time when Americans dreamed of seeing the U.S.A. in a Chevrolet.

Prayer is your driver’s license.