Rave On!

Today's continuous Old Testament reading is the defeat of Baal's prophets, from 1 Kings 18.  This is one of my favourite Bible readings, because of the brilliant descriptive vocabulary used in Elijah's mocking of the prophets: they limped around the altar, apparently, and at one point he asks them whether their god is on the toilet.  Then it says this:

"And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention." - 1 Kings 18:29

If you're not very familiar with Buddy Holly, you might want to listen to this song.

No-o-o matter what you pray and do

Baal’s not here to stay with  you

Rave on with your crazy fooling and

My God will soon be ruling

When he sends fire from heaven, rave on

The way you dance and limp about

The way you beg and scream and shout

Rave on, you crazy lot, you,

Maybe your god forgot you, or

Maybe he’s on the potty, rave on!

Rave on, I’m gonna match you, cos

I know your god’s a statue,

I’m so glad that I’ll dispatch you when I’m proved right,

Rave on, rave on and tell me

Tell me not to be holy

I tell you, the Lord’s the only saviour in sight

[Instrumental] Come on, you crazy prophets of Baal!  Show me some real rock ‘n’ roll!

Rave on, I’m gonna match you, cos

I know your god’s a statue,

I’m so glad that I’ll dispatch you when I’m proved right,

Rave on, rave on and tell me

Tell me not to be holy

I tell you, the Lord’s the only saviour in sight

Ha, ha, ha!

Ha, ha, ha!

Ha, ha, ha!

The Daniel Song

Yes, I know.  The May Meme has fallen by the wayside, because of Life.  Who knows whether it may reappear before May is out.

In the meantime, I have been guest blogging about telling Bible stories to children, over at the Families First magazine blog, and have also been inviting questions and requests on Facebook and Twitter.  One question was about how to make children, most of whom barely know the Christmas story, aware of the whole scope of the Bible and the way it all links together.  

Some of my favourite Bible tells have been of entire lives - Joseph, Daniel and Moses - over church weekends when there are several days or sessions for episodes.  I wrote this song a couple of summers ago when telling Daniel for a holiday club, and thought I'd post it here as an example.  The refrain was part of the story, and the new verse was learnt by the children at the end of each episode.  As it's a cumulative song, the whole thing was sung every time and thus memorised.  It goes to a jazzed-up version of the tune of When I First Came To This Land - if anyone apart from me still knows that folk song!

1

We are in a foreign land

Trying to live by God's command

The king said “Praise my man of gold,

You must do as you're told!”

But God's no liar

He saved us from the fire

Though the world might think it's odd,

We will follow God!

2

We are in a foreign land

Trying to live by God's command

The kings were spooked by dreams and ghosts

But Daniel knew the most

He said: The writing on the wall

Says your kingdom's gonna fall

And God's no liar

He saved us from the fire

Though the world might think it's odd,

We will follow God!

3

We are in a foreign land

Trying to live by God's command

The king was tricked by jealous men

Threw Daniel in the lion's den

But he said: Now I've prayed

I know I'm not afraid

Because the writing on the wall

Says your kingdom's gonna fall

And God's no liar

He saved us from the fire

Though the world might think it's odd,

We will follow God!