An Interesting Parallel Was Revealed Before Me While Listening To Worship In My Catholic School. It Certanly

An interesting parallel was revealed before me while listening to worship in my catholic school. It certanly helped me view one of my favourite songs in a different light.

(In advance, I feel it’s important to make clear that I’m not a christian. I once was, I’m not anymore. I’m however pretty confident talking about religious themes, due to my catholic upbringing and school. Hope everybody is fine with that.)

Let’s get into it.

A very well known song among christians is the worship song Oceans. If you never heard of it, or just not sure if we’re thinking of the same thing, here’s a video:

It’s a pretty clean example of a worship song. It references the story of Jesus walking on the water, and calling his disciples to follow his example, because the faith in him will keep them above the water and they won’t sink.

The singer calls out to the christian God, saying that their faith and trust in God will keep them similarly safe, that when fear comes and they need reassurance, the presence of God alone (their Saviour’s) will help them. Even when “oceans rise”, they can look above the waves. Because God is always there, he is always reliable, and knowing this, believing sets you free.

The singer also paint their relationship with God as an intimate one. “I am Yours, and You are mine”. Usually lovers say such things — but if you ask any christian, you will soon find out that the love God feels toward his children, and the love a christian feels to God goes even deeper and is more meaningful than the love between lovers. (Or so I’ve been told)

Why am I talking about all of this? Here comes one of the best songs ever written, Marian by The Sisters of Mercy.

If this isn’t the most beautiful song in existence then there is no real beauty at all

If you look at the lyrics, maybe you realise where this post is heading.

In Marian, the singer is singing to the mysterious Marian. It is a call of distress; the singer is “in a sea of doubt”. The image of the sea is used throughout the whole song. The singer is drowning in a metaphorical sea, their only hope is that Marian saves them. Quite a similars setup to Oceans, if you think about it.

Although the singer isn’t sure if Marian can see him struggling, they still trust them wholly, they believe Marian can save them from the horrors. Just as God can lift his followers when their feet fails. They hear Marian calling out their names, just as God calls out for his disciples (or his followers). There is complete trust in both cases, both God and Marian are presented as (somewhat) omnipotent.

It begs the question: is Marian God?

I don’t know. I don’t think that it matters. The personal beliefs of the members of The Sisters of Mercy are unknown for me, and I also don’t really care. Maybe Marian is God, maybe they’re not. You can interpret it as you want, that’s the beauty of art, it’s subjective. Personally I don’t think of Marian as God, but that’s really me.

What matters is the role Marian takes in this song. At first, one could say Marian is simply a love song. Technically would be right, but I think it’s a little bit of an understatement. The singer isn’t just in love in Marian — they look up to them, they adore them. They worship them. The singer is lost and weak, Marian is perfect and powerful (and very far away). If Marian isn’t God, then they’re still in a position usually reserved for gods.

The reason I talked about the love between christians and God is to illustrate the difference between “simple” romantic love and whatever the singer and Marian has going on. By treating Marian as a godly being, the love the singer feels for them is also elevated to a higher level. It’s more devoted, more complex, and one could say it’s also one-sided — although we never hear Marian’s side of things, they never come close enough for us to judge the nature of their feelings.

(This is a stark difference between the two songs, but it’s mainly due to the different themes. In Oceans, the focus is on God’s grace. In Marian, the focus is on the singers loneliness.)

So, to summarize, Marian was a worship song all along, and it took me attending a mass to realize this. Whether or not Marian is the God or just a personal god is up to preference, the song works either way. The keywords are trust, godly love and devotion.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. I apologise for any grammatical/spelling mistakes, english isn’t my first language.

lol i hate today’s era of absolutely zero nuance takes. a friend didn’t behave exactly as you’d wanted them to? cut them off. a guy didn’t text you back instantly bc he has his own life? he’s just giving you breadcrumbs. doing something makes you uncomfortable? don’t do it anymore. someone isn’t instantly available for you? disinterest. just absolutist statements that often don’t apply to the multilayer situations of everyday life. like. stop. literally just stop it

My take on that one gif people were redrawing as hannigram on twt

hii !! it's speak your language day !! soo for today's ask, could you tell me something (in your language) about your country's costumes and folklore?

Ahaa, igen csak ezt lefordítani nem fogom tudni angolra szóval majd a Google Fordító lesz max a barátod :"D (Tényleg bocsi de ezt nem tudom angolul elmondani 😅 vagyis ha a drága Google nem tudja nagyon értelmezni, akkor megpróbálom, de nehéz)

Igazából nekünk suliban van néptánc óránk, ahol igazából minden más ilyen kulturális dolgokról is szó van.

A népviseletekről azt kell tudni hogy kb az ilyen 1800-1900-as években alakultak ki (talán? Nem tudom, lehet/valószínűleg hamarabb is volt), és minél keletebbre vagyunk Magyarországon belül, annál kevésbé díszes. Tehát például a szatmári viseletek sokkal egyszerűbbek mint amik az ország nyugati felében vannak, mert ahogy a textíliák jöttek be az országba, a keleti részbe sokkal kevesebb féle jutott már el, mint a nyugati részbe. VISZONT ettől függetlenül minden viselet gyönyörű a maga módján.

Ez például a szatmári viselet:

Ez meg gombosi (bár Gombos már nem Magyarországon van de ez egy hosszú sztori. A lényeg hogy ez is magyar)

Ez jóval nyugatabbra van mint Szatmár, és látszik is a ruhán, hogy sokkal sokkal díszesebb mint a másik.

Umm a folklore az... Hát nem tudom. Van egy csomó népmesénk de igazából az nem nagyon különleges szerintem. Bár amúgy vannak érdekesek is, de most egy sem jut eszembe.

Illetve ez annyira nem ide kapcsolódik, de van egy vers amit nagyon szeretek, egy magyar költő írta, Arany János, az a címe hogy A walesi bárdok (The bards of Wales in English, if you wanna read it), és szerintem kb ez a kedvenc versem, ami nagy szó mert eléggé hadilábon állok a versekkel/költészettel. Ennek a versnek amúgy van egy tök érdekes háttere, de ha beleteszem akkor már nagyon hosszú lesz az egész (így is az 😂)

Oké, utolsó fun fact, nálunk a családnevet veszik előre, és csak utána a keresztnevet, vagyis ugye amit a szülők adnak. Ez nagyon nagyon kevés más nyelvben van így, amennyire én tudom.

And I hope I wrote everything right cause if I didn't then google translate won't understand it lol

Egyébként ha van itt aki jobban ért a kultúrához mint én, ami azért nem nehéz, nyugodtan javítsatok ki mert nem igazán értek ehhez 😅

If anyone's preparing for an English language exam, here's a perfect example of a formal letter (no need to thank me, you're welcome)

Dear Sir,

I hope this letter finds you in good health

And in a prosperous enough position to put wealth

In the pockets of people like me down on their luck

You see, that was my wife who you decided to—

Uh-oh, you made the wrong sucker a cuckold

So time to pay the piper for the pants you unbuckled

And hey, you can keep seein' my whore wife

If the price is right, if not I'm telling your wife

Sincerely yours,

James Reynolds

I know this isn't ninjago guys but I finished this 17 hour painting for my art class and I was proud of it so...enjoy.

I love Egypt fun fact about me. :)