As a child, I sang a version of the hymn that was all my own:
Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest,
And in our hearts take up Thy rest;
Come with Thy grace and heav'nly
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made,
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
In my version "ace" rhymed with "grace", and that seemed right, plus an ace in cards trumps all the other cards. What better to have in hand than a heav'nly ace? I loved the idea.
You may want to tell of your own childhood misconceptions of the words of common prayers and hymns. They don't have to be Pentecostal.
My boys (now 28 and 30) thought it was: "Give us this day our day old bread.." Finances were kind of tight when they were little boys!
ReplyDeleteamyj
My daughter always used to sing the well known carol A Whale in the Manger
ReplyDeleteAmy, your boys knew where their bread was buttered.
ReplyDeleteErika, the mental picture of a whale in a manger is hilarious - even a baby whale.
The whale carol continued: the little love Jesus lay down his sweet head.
ReplyDeleteNow that's lovely, Erika. The words of the carol should be changed.
ReplyDeleteI thought for years that "the lamp is the light of the city of God" instead of lamb. Made sense to me.
ReplyDeleteMotheramelia was clearly not raised on enough of the Book of Revelation. LOL
ReplyDeleteIt's not a hymn but as a child I thought that "suffer the little children to come unto me" meant something like "you jerks, look how the children suffer just to get to me." Not a bad midrash, all things considered.
Amelia, considering that you wanted to walk as a child of the light, the lamp made perfect sense, your lack of knowledge of Revelation, notwithstanding.
ReplyDeleteI didn't say that. Paul said it.
Not a bad midrash at all, Paul.
Here's one that I remember my sister telling me from the "Hail, Mary":
Hail, Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst swimmin'....
Keep in mind that "There's a bathroom on the right."
ReplyDeleteJust ask CCR!
Fred, another mondegreen! I just learned that word, and I had to throw it in. I'm told that CCR sometimes used the line in performances.
ReplyDeleteI use to be confused in the hymn "let us with a gladsome mind" at the line
ReplyDelete'For His mercies aye (I?) endure'
Brian, I'm sure that many children thought the same.
ReplyDeleteThere is a hymn 'The angel Gabriel' about Mary that contains "most highly favored lady..." in the refrain. I once heard "most highly flavored lady..." and now can't sing it without doing that at least once during the hymn.
ReplyDeleteSusan, that's wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI'm preparing a post on the feast of The Visitation, which was yesterday, but transferred to today.
Ah yes, The Visitation. That's the day my son the priest was born. Prophetic or what?
ReplyDeleteHilarious thread so far!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite was, "Up from the gravy rose"--as in "grave he arose". Somehow the theology of Easter & Ascension merged into an image of Christ ascending into heaven from a pink rose covered in thick, creamy chicken gravy. Sort of like that Dali painting with the sunflower or chrysanthemum--only worse. My mother made the best gravy in the world, but for years I had trouble eating it--for some reason.
Ginny, or a William Blake? No, I think Dali is better.
ReplyDeleteIn preparation for attending Mass at St. Joseph Benedictine Abbey in Covington LA with my 4 very young children about 25 years ago, I had told them all about Monks. When our minivan crossed the little Bogue Falaya River Bridge to enter the Abbey grounds the following Sunday, I pointed out the fact that the River was good for swimming at this point.
ReplyDeleteOne of my good little RC children (who was about 4 at the time, and loved to pray the Rosary) chimed in with the question: "Oh is that where The Monk goes swimmin'?" I said probably not, as the Monks probably didn't spend much time swimming. "Well why does the Hail Mary prayer keep saying, 'Blessed are thou, a monk swimmin'?" she asked with the most curious little expression I'd ever seen in the rear-view mirror.
Crapaud, that trumps my sister's version of the "Hail Mary".
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