Two weeks ago I introduced the Men in White to a popular song in our tradition, "The Greatest Commands."
The song features, as all good Church of Christ singing does, four part harmony. The twist with "The Greatest Commands" is that each voice is singing different words. The words are a mixture of I Corinthians 13 and 1 John. The lyrics:
Alto:To hear the harmony lines on piano click here. To hear voices singing the parts click here.
Love one another, for love is of God.
He who loves is born of God;
And knows God.
He who does not love, does not know God,
For God is love, God is love, God is love.
Bass:
Love bears all things,
Believes all things,
Love hopes all things,
Endures all things.
Tenor:
God is love, God is love, God is love.
God is love, God is love, God is love.
God is love, God is love, God is love,
God is love, God is love, God is love.
Soprano:
Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
With all thy soul, all thy strength,
All thy mind.
Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
For God is love, God is love, God is love.
This song is huge in the Churches of Christ. I absolutely love it. So I was excited to try it out with the guys in the study. They can't really read music, we're not all that great at harmony, and, obviously, we don't have altos and sopranos.
But we did get three the first three parts off the ground, the alto, tenor and bass lines. I had groups of guys who got the various parts down come up front and sing with each other, holding their lines while I introduced the next. That's as much harmony as we've ever pulled off! We've got a new song under our belts.
A blessed night. Goodness, how I love singing out at the unit.
