Requested by Joshua, one of my very favorite hymns, To Be a Pilgrim, by John Bunyan: and belted out but good by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band. The hymn may be better known as He Who Would Valiant Be, with slightly different lyrics; but we have it here as John Bunyan wrote it.
Among people who know me well, the word “optimist” is not likely to spring to mind. But as a member of the Chalcedon Foundation’s ministry, I can’t indulge that aspect of my personality. I have to try to be a cheerleader. My editor, Susan, thinks that’s a very funny position for me to occupy.
Listen to the hymn while I collect my thoughts. John Bunyan and Maddy Prior are better morale officers than I could ever be.
This is a dark period in history. I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t know that. We try to defend our Christian culture, but the ungodly attack from all directions. And I wind up writing about it, which doesn’t exactly pump me up and which I’m sure is no picnic for my readers. But we can’t just stand there and say everything is peachy, can we?
Everything is not peachy, and we might as well know it. If the human race were actually to do all the things that the ungodly insist we do, it would surely go extinct. Even if they got their world government, it would soon have no one left to govern.
What can any of us say? Trust in God and in His word, pray, comfort and support each other, speak nothing but the truth, put our heads down and work in Christ the King’s service–and grab a laugh when we can get it.
Because the last laugh will be God’s: He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh (Psalm 2: 4).
I love this hymn and just have to post it now and then–To Be a Pilgrim, by John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress. Performed by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band. It’s the kind of hymn that adds some spark to your bark!
Also known as He Who Would Valiant Be.
We’re about to go out doctoring, then I’ll have to buy the week’s groceries, and anyway there’s hardly anybody here today… and I felt a need for this hymn: To Be a Pilgrim, by John Bunyan. Performed with, shall we say, conviction by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band.
I have no idea when I’ll be back.
Yeah, I know, I’ve posted this hymn a dozen times before, and maybe more–To Be a Pilgrim, by John Bunyan, performed with gusto by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band. After the crazed cacophony I’ve had to write up as nooze today, I need something better. A lot better!
The word of the Lord shall stand forever. Amen!
One of the commenters on youtube called this “the great hymn NOT heard in Protestant churches.” But you can hear it here–John Bunyan’s hymn, To Be a Pilgrim, performed by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band. It’s one of my favorities, and I think the churches would be the better for hearing it more often.
I was hoping to watch some BBC Narnia today, but now I have to go pick up a prescription for my cat.
Anyway, as I try to rest between books, I thought it might be edifying to revisit the question of whether fantasy can be profitably used in God’s service.
https://leeduigon.com/2015/01/31/a-defense-of-fantasy/
I really can’t blame readers who think fantasy is at best idle nonsense, and at worst, some kind of dalliance with the occult. But that can be said about anything, can’t it? There’s music that glorifies God, and there’s music that debases man and everything around him. When was the last time you heard somebody zoom down the road with a hymn playing on his car’s sound system?
So of course we can use fantasy in the service of the Kingdom: and the more who decide to try to do it, the better.
To Be a Pilgrim, by John Bunyan, performed by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band–I hope nobody minds me posting this again: my spirit needs some pumping up this morning.
The road is hard.
Keep going.
If you’ve been following this flog for a while, you know that this is one of my favorite hymns–To Be a Pilgrim, by John Bunyan, sung by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band.
As I plod through the obstacles thrown up against me by this day–don’t ask!–it put me in mind of this hymn. Keep on plodding, fellow pilgrims.
These past few days, a lot of visitors to this blog have been looking for John Bunyan’s hymn, To Be a Pilgrim, performed by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band. Well, this is one of my all-time favorites, so I don’t need to have my arm twisted, to post it again.
Remember, we’re always ready to take your hymn requests–so don’t be shy, speak up (well, “Leave a Reply”)…