I challenge anyone reading this article to tell me the names of St George’s parents…
How about a tougher challenge, tell me the name of the wife of the emperor Diocletian who believed at the hand of St George…
You would be one of a small percentage of people to have the right answer on the top of your head. Yes I do know the answer but not because I am a monk and I should know the answer but simply because when I was young I had a favorite Arabic musical called “The Queen and the Prince” the Queen being St Mary and the prince was St George. This musical, basically was a praise to St Mary and taught the life of the Prince George in a cleaver way.
I am sure I had many lessons on St George in Sunday school but I don’t even remember having it. Music has this effect on people, it makes something that is row into something that is not only interesting but makes it unforgettable. This is not a new trend in the church, its actually a trend that is as old as the church. If you look at your psalmody book, you see a section called the DOXOLOGIES this section is basically a collection of praises to saints that are sung everyday. If you read the doxology, or even better sing it, it is basically a praise to the saint by singing parts of his life that glorify God’s name.
We don’t only sing lives of saints in the church but we also sing theology. If you look at every hymn we sing in the church you find a number of theological teaching that we take in just by singing the hymn. I encourage you to read the words of the hymns that we sing on regular basis and name the theological teachings.
For some reason we don’t have many of these songs produced today? I am not speaking about liturgical songs, I am speaking about songs we can sing in Sunday school and in youth meetings, to teach kids and youth about the saints of the church. Whenever I speak about this with people they usually tell me about a song they heard or a song they wrote but unfortunately no one else knows about it. So this is your chance to share it with the world.
About the names of St Georg’s parents I challenge you to get it right in the comments. I hope you prove me wrong 🙂
