Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #240

THIS WEEK IN REFLECTION

Probably the biggest thing on my mind is I was emailed three worship songs on Thursday night that I need to translate so I can interpret them on Monday morning, 9/11. It’s will be my first time doing a prepared interpretation, on stage, in front of around 850 people. If you’re curious, the songs are “I Speak Jesus,” “All Hail King Jesus,” and “Praise.” It’s really important to adopt the energy of the musicians, and they do get pretty amped up at my school. The whole place will be singing together. Not only that, but when the song has lyrics that have signs in ASL, that doesn’t mean they go together. So, the line “burn like a fire.” I can’t sign FIRE, SAME. That makes no sense in ASL because it’s an English idiom. Which is when you get me online researching what fire means in the Bible and how it’s used. And of course it’s not used in one way, so what does it mean in this song? I sort of feel like I’m in a sophomore poetry class.

Another thing to consider is how I’m creating patterns in the ASL and tying together themes. To back up a bit, the lyrics are, “Break every stronghold / shine through the shadows / burn like a fire.” I looked in the Bible, and “stronghold” is apparently a reference to the Letter to the Corinthians, meaning the stronghold was more a mental barrier between them and God instead of a literal defense against enemies. “Shadows” in the Bible typically refer to the presence of God behind a person, but that doesn’t fit with the song, so I’m thinking they mean more like a dark place. Well, if I’m doing a mental stronghold, why not do an emotional dark place, like depression? I decided to go with the cleansing fire, which is really hard to sign when the music is moving. Just narrowing the concept further and further. If I have mental and emotional sadness, why not take my suffering and say it’s finished, like a purifying fire? Altogether I’m signing something like MENTAL WALL, CRUMBLE. DEPRESSION, DISSOLVE. SUFFERING FINISH. This is all just two lines from one song out of three.

Fingers crossed for me that it goes well — and if you know what “burn like a fire” means, please tell me. I’ll let you know how it went next Sunday!

IT DIDN’T MAKE IT TO GRAB THE LAPELS

Sadly, I had to stop reading The Brothers Karamazov with Bill. I couldn’t manage to keep up because the plot from chapter to chapter seemed stagnant, and the dialogue, up until I stopped, was more about philosophical opinions than character or plot development.

THIS WEEK’S BLOG POST

Cathleen Schine’s To the Birdhouse was a big flop, and I know it’s not me because they shot her dead over on Goodreads. I know they say that explaining a joke kills it, but someone is going to have to explain to me exactly which part was funny in that novel . . . Also, I get the inkling that the quote on the cover of the book below was praise from one of Schine’s previous books.

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG POST

Because Biscuit and I liked Pearl Cleage, we read the second book set in Idlewild, Michigan, not far from where I grew up. Cleage gives the main character from What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day a reason to leave town so we can focus on her widowed big sister in I Wish I Had a Red Dress. Review Wednesday.

BOOKS I BOUGHT

Books I paid for (that are not textbooks) since January 2023: totaling $41.38

BOOKS ADDED TO THE TBR PILE

I grabbed a couple of beat up books at a quarter each from the library book sale where I volunteer. And thank you to Biscuit for her recommendation!

31 comments

  1. Well, I think you’ve hit on one of my personal bugbears with lots of contemporary Christian music, which is that songwriters use lots of vaguely biblical-sounding allusions without thinking about what they really mean in context! (I’m sure that this was also true of many older songs – but survivorship bias means that the hymns we still sing today tend to be a bit more grounded in scripture). Anyway, I think you’re probably on the right lines with a cleansing/purifying fire. Still, given the reference to “strongholds” and the fact that just before she is talking about addictions, it also put me in mind of all the times in the psalms that fire is used as a metaphor for God scattering Israel’s enemies or going ahead of them in battle. I don’t know how you would translate that into a sign, but that’s my best guess! As for “shadow” I think that might be a psalm reference too, in so far as it’s a reference at all – to Psalm 23, where David talks about walking through the valley of the shadow of death and not being afraid because God is with him. I don’t know if it’s true of Ps 23, but many of the Davidic psalms were written when David had fled for his life because King Saul was trying to kill him – so if I’m right, that too has a sense of evading/escaping/being rescued from perilous enemies.

    Also, I love watching the BSL interpreters at conferences, especially during sung worship! Although I don’t really know any BSL it’s such an expressive language that watching people sign songs often gives me a new appreciation for them. I hope you have a good time and that it goes well!

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    • Oooh, Lou, this reply gives me confidence in what I’ve done with my translation. I did think about fire destroying enemies or washing clean, but it just didn’t seem to fit. We’ll see what kind of feedback I get tomorrow when I’m done. You’re right, though, about it being bothersome that biblical language is used without accurate intention. Perhaps the songs will energize people to read the Bible and see what it says?

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      • That’s a live discussion in lots of churches – some people think we should only sing psalms and other excerpts from scripture for that reason. I’m nowhere near that strict, and I think that would be alienating for visitors or new Christians – as you say, a lot of the argument in favour of contemporary Christian music is that it is a good way to start people off on the journey of looking stuff up for themselves – but I do wish songs were written more carefully. The “friendlier for visitors and new Christians” argument doesn’t really wash when a song is so ambiguous that someone from outside the church can’t work out what it means without a tonne of research.

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  2. I do hope all goes well for you at the commemoration – it sounds rather daunting to have to sign in front of so many people on such an important occasion. You’ve done a lot of research though so that will stand you in good stead.

    Hm, seeing your comment about Brothers Karamazov is filling with me with nervousness. It’s one of the books I’d like to read but I do find Russian literature challenging…

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    • I’m enjoying Bros K, Karen. Sure, the characters talk too much about God, but I’m finding the interactions between the three brothers, their lecherous father, and the women who do or don’t love them, more than enough to keep me going (I think I’m also meant to keep my eye on one of the servants). Review coming up in a month or so.
      One note: I’m listening to it, so I’m able to zone out during philosophising and sermons. I’m not sure what reading would be like.

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      • Ha! During the philosophy and sermons I doubled down on paying attention because I didn’t want to miss what was like a point that would emphasize the character’s viewpoint. It was too much to keep in my head. Had we read this if I were working 9-5, I would have kept going.

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    • Oh, it’s not a commemoration but a chapel service for the student body of my college. This is spiritual emphasis week, so there is one every day.

      Karen, check out the new 2023 translation by Michael Katz. It’s thoughtful and much more readable than another translation I tried a few years ago.

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  4. Fascinated by your discussion re signing those lines. They read to me like a call to survive, to rise above the challenges … so burn like a fire means to me to be strong and powerful like a fire. I don’t know the song so who is supposed to “break … shine … burn”? But how you sign that! Good luck. I’m sure you’ll do fine … you have such heart it will surely shine through!

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  5. “Burn like fire” just reminds of me U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”

    I have kissed honey lips
    Felt the healing in her fingertips
    It burned like fire
    This burning desire

    Anyway, I hope that you had success with your interpreting today!

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  6. Holy hell (no pun intended) your next ASL assignment sounds REALLY HARD. I have no idea how’d you even go about untangling those conundrums, these things are so subjective! Good on ya for muddling through this, I likely would have given up years ago. School does sound exhausting to me now though, I don’t mind an online course here and there but going back to school is a major challenge, and I commend you for it. I can’t wait to hear how it goes on Sunday!!! Good luck 🙂

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  7. I am no help with the song interpretation, but golly, you have to think of things I never would have considered! I hope it all goes well!

    I was thinking of you on Saturday when James and I went to the Monarch Festival, a big celebration of Monarchs and their migration to Mexico my neighborhood has at the lake by my house every year. Anyway, we were watching a group doing Mexican folk dances. They had ASL interpreters, which was awesome. So the MC of the festival would speak in English and in Spanish and the interpreters looked to be signing what he said but I don’t know if they were signing in Spanish or translating the Spanish and signing in English. Before some of the dances there was also a recording explaining the origins of the dance and it was in English and Spanish and the interpreters signed both. Can you sign Spanish in ASL? Or is there a Spanish version? And how common are multilingual interpreters for something like that?

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    • Multilingual interpreters are not common, but I know there is one in Chicago, and some down south near the border. So, typically it’s English, Spanish, and ASL. However, there is a Mexican Sign Language, so it’s possible they were doing English, Spanish, and LSM (Lengua de Señas Mexicana).

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  8. Based on the line, I would assume fire here to mean something like a cleansing, spiritual fire. It puts me in mind of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit appears like fire above the disciples heads. There’s lots of imagery about purification and refinement through fire in the Bible so that’s where my mind goes. Lou is right though that a lot of modern Christian worship tends to mix metaphors and be less scripturally grounded that the hymns that are still being sung.

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