During service today, we sang "All Things Bright and Beautiful", very apt given that today's Harvest Sunday. Anyway, i thought i knew all the lyrics to this hymn by heart, but then towards the end the screen brought up these two verses:
The sea bejewelled with islands
And fishes formed by him,
The palm fringed sandy beaches
He made for us to swim
The dark and steamy jungle,
The pouring monsoon rain,
The jade green of the padi
Beneath the sun's bright flame
I must admit that i was trying to avoid chuckling ever-so-slightly when these verses came up as my initial reaction was one of somewhat cynical amusement. I also had a sense that i was not the only one. The lyrics just seemed a bit contrived and didn't fit in with the original ones.
However, upon some thought, i guess it's certainly admirable that someone in the region had thought of contextualising these Western hymns so that churchgoers who may otherwise have had no idea what exactly is a purple-headed mountain or the cold wind in the winter (before the advent of more affordable air travel and the internet) had they stuck to the original verses. In fact, upon doing a quick internet search, i realised that there are even more verses:
http://ask.metafilter.com/121698/Additional-verses-to-All-Things-Bright-and-Beautiful
And in any case, it's not as though i could have done a better job :)
