Eternal Father, Bless our Land,
Guide us with thy mighty hand,
Keep us free from evil powers,
Be our light through countless hours,
To our leaders, great defender,
Grant true wisdom from above,
Justice, truth be ours forever,
Jamaica, land we love,
Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica, land we love

Teach us true respect for all,
Stir response to duty’s call,
Strengthen us the weak to cherish,
Give us vision lest we perish,
Knowledge send us Heavenly Father,
Grant true wisdom from above,
Justice, truth be ours forever,
Jamaica, land we love,
Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica, land we love

This is the only version I could find that had the singing included.

They plan to launch the first flights starting in mid 2008, but there is now word that I’ve seen on how cheap it will be. I personally think that if they are able to really bring cheap flights to everyone, the Caribbean will see a big increase in visitors. Plus, it means that Caribbean vacations will be cheaper.

THE Anglican church in Jamaica will include the lyrics of songs rendered by two of the country’s most famed reggae artistes – Bob Marley and Peter Tosh – in the next publication of its church hymnal due by the end of the year.

Rector of the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Rev Canon Ernle Gordon, made the announcement yesterday at the 2007 Michael Manley awards function for community self-reliance at the Little Theatre in Kingston.

Gordon, speaking with the Observer after the awards, said the songs will be Tosh’s version of Psalm 27 and Marley’s internationally acclaimed One Love, but he said the use of reggae rhythms in the Anglican Church was nothing new.
“We’ve been having reggae and mento masses for 25 years,” he said, noting that One Love was used in an ordination service at the St Andrew Parish Church two years ago.

The reason behind incorporating what is generally referred to in Christendom as secular music into the church book of hymns, said Rev Gordon, was the need to establish a Caribbean interpretation of theology.
“I don’t live in England; I live here, so my theology and how I think must reflect my cultural morals. The theology has to be Caribbean-oriented. You have to interpret the Bible according to where you are,” he said. “The church in Jamaica is out of date,” he added.

At the same time, Gordon said the use of the reggae rhythms was not secular, since Anglican theology does not separate the sacred and the secular.

However, the rector made it clear that the emerging genre referred to as reggae gospel was different from what the Anglican church was doing. The difference, he said, boiled down to the words that are used in each case.
“We make it clear that the words we use are correct theology and that they are catholic theology. We even have the Lord’s prayer in mento. (but) whether we use ancient words or not, we make certain that the words relate to the Bible and to our own Anglican interpretation of it,” said Gordon.

Gordon said, too, that unlike many of the proponents of gospel reggae, the Anglican church does not use music for entertainment, but as an offering to God.

“We move our bodies to the songs because we are beings of spirit,” he said. At the same time, he blamed the interpretation of the Bible to which the majority of the Christian world now subscribes for much of the divergent beliefs that exist among the various denominations in Jamaica.

“We have to pick from the Bible and relate it to society. We have to do more expository preaching where we teach and educate the congregation,” said Gordon.

I’m not sure I agree with what Rev Gordon believes about changing theology. I think the culture around you can influence your worship (such as music choices) and your understanding, but it shouldn’t change your theology. Maybe that’s just the preacher’s kid in me, but Christian church theology is handed down straight from the Apostle Paul.

However, I love the music of Bob Marley, and no one can deny that his is religious music. The debate comes from mixing to different religions, Rastafarian and Anglican. I’d love to hear your comments about this.

Anyway, enough about controversial subjects like theology and church. One Love by Bob Marley is off of one of the greatest albums of the last century, Exodus. Take a listen to it and see what you think;

If you liked it, you can get it over at Amazon.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any Peter Tosh to share, but I would like to hear his version of Psalm 27.

Blessed love to you, Idren Ben,

May you and your Empress Monique [my wife] be abundantly blessed by our Father, Jah Rastafari, who is ever-living, ever-faithful.

The first thing I would like to tell people visiting Jamaica is that Jamaicans DO NOT say Irie, Mon, to each other. More frequent greetings would be:
1) Bless Up
2) Nuff Respeck (respect)
3) Mi Yute (my youth)
4) Hail di I

I love showing off the beauty of Jamaica when friends and family come to visit us here. The places I am most likely to take them include:
A) YS Falls [They have waterfalls, water caves, and horseback riding.]
B) Treasure Beach [A relaxing, laid back beach community.]
a) Jack Sprat (beach-side seafood restaurant) [In Treasure Beach]
b) Taino Cove [A Beach Resort in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth]
c) Sunset Resort [Resort and Villas in Treasure Beach]
C) Black River Safari [A boat trip through the Black River morass and wetlands]
D) Cashoo Park Ostrich Farm [On the Black River]
E) Cosmo’s in Negril (beach-side seafood restaurant)
F) Appleton Rum Factory
G) Little Ochi (beach-side seafood restaurant-not in Ocho Rios-on the south coast right on the border between St. Elizabeth & Manchester parishes) [After looking at this, I have to go here.]
H) Lover’s Leap Lighthouse (restaurant there is run by my husband’s cousin, Michelle)

These places are on the south or west coast of Jamaica. We live on the south coast of Jamaica, up in the mountains….far from the tourist areas. No shopping malls, no DSL, no McDonald’s. Thank Jah for that!

Hope this is what you were looking for.

Walk good and may only good duppy fallah backa yuh!
Translation: Take care in your travels and may only good spirits surround you.

Praising My Father itinually,

Lady Roots

I want to thank Lady Roots for posting here. It gave me some ideas for my trip to jamaica next year. I hope it helps you decide where to go. I do know that the next trip (after this one) I want to go somewhere the average tourist doesn’t go or know about, I hate crowded places full of arrogant Americans (yes, I’m American, but I’m not arrogant).

If you have any places you love to stay, or think other people would like, let everyone know by leaving a comment.

Back to Bob Marley. If you are not familiar with him or reggae, Exodus is a good album, but a better album would be Catch a Fire. It was produced to be more of a sound that could cross over into American markets. At the time, white people just did not listen to Bob Marley or reggae. Boy, were we missing out.

The vessel is more than 1,100 feet long and is equipped with an onboard surf park, cantilevered whirlpools, water park, sculpture fountains, rock climbing wall, ground geysers, and a cascading waterfall.

That is just wrong. Sorry. What’s the point of going off ship? What’s the point of going anywhere if the ship has all that? I’m sure you could find all of those activities somewhere cheaper than a cruise ship. But that’s just me. My parents took a cruise to Alaska and loved it. Well, they loved Alaska. Since they are kind of cheap (so am I), they didn’t do a lot on the boat. Apparently one thing they said was that on the ship, you paid to do activities on shore. OK. But once you got off the boat, you could go directly to those places for the activities themselves and spend half of what the boat charges. For instance, if you wanted to horseback ride, the boat would charge you $100 (an example, I’m not sure what it is), but off the boat the same company the boat goes through will charge you $50. Good thing to keep in mind when going on a cruise.

If you’re interested in the Rastafarians, Wikipedia is a good place to start

Reggae was born out of the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica, in a place called Trenchtown. That’s where Bob Marley’s album ‘Trenchtown Rock‘ comes from. A great resource for Bob Marley is No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley by his wife, Rita Marley.

If you don’t want to worry about anything at all, stay at an all-inclusive. If you want to decide for yourself what to do, and experience some real culture, stay somewhere smaller and take care of yourself.

Back to the article, if you can find the packages it talks about, let me know. I’d love to take a look, and maybe book through them.