Of course, as someone mentioned, recently, you sometimes might have to tweak certain words in some songs, according to your needs, but, for the most part, particularly on some of the CDs or MP3s recorded by this songwriter, you can go with most of the lyrical content. One exception, in my view: I did not particularly like one choice of words, however. “He Got the Job Done,” which was put in, no doubt, with a noble, Christ-exalting motive, that of singing about the finished work of Christ, but our present usage of the term seems to relate more to mundane tasks and so on, which seems to cheapen the message, somehow, but that’s just me -- others will feel free to disagree! Mostly, in her songs, though, the words are great. An added boon is that, on many CDs, a backup section with instruments is given, so that kids can sing with that alone, and perform. By the way, it is no mean backup – these recordings are done in Nashville by professional groups.
The songwriter is Debbie Dewart, a Christian attorney now resident in North Carolina, who spends her ordinary workday helping folks, often Christians, who have had certain Amendment rights violated, and she has often done this without a fee, where needed.
Here is a song excerpt from the collection “It’s Easter All Year Around Here:"
"Thomas was not there that day
But he heard all the others say
“He is alive – it’s really true”
But doubting Thomas had no clue
Jesus spoke and told him what to do:
CHORUS
Put your finger here and feel My side
See My hands, they show you how I died
They nailed Me to the cross the other day
But here I am and I’m alive always
Put your finger right here.
And one song, in particular, about Peter, from the collection called “The Rising Son,” has poignant and frank remembrances, yet still keeps the words in the language of a child:
Before the rooster crowed that day,
Peter would get scared and say
He did not know the Lord, Jesus Christ
CHORUS
Cockadoodle-doo, cockadoodle-doo
Cockadoodle, cockadoodle, cockadoodle-doo
The rooster crowed . . . cockadoodle-doo
He crowed three times and Peter knew
He knew that he had sinned [Mark 14:72]
The work of Christ on the cross is, of course, described in certain of the songs – here is the first verse of one of them:
TRULY HE IS THE SON OF GOD / Matthew 27:27-54 © 2012, Resurrection Rabbit, Inc.
Jesus died between two thieves on the cross
He did nothing wrong -- He died for us
People said – if you’re God’s Son,
Save yourself – come down at once
But this is what our Lord came down to do
CHORUS
The sky got dark in the middle of the day
The earth was shakin’
And the rocks were breakin’ in two [breakin’ in two]
When Jesus died for me and you
The guards took a look
As the whole earth shook
They were filled with dread and one of ‘em said,
“Yes, truly, this was the Son of God!”
I also particularly like one of the songs that relates to the Remembrance of Our Lord: it is called “The Last Supper Song.” Believing children might get a blessing out of it, I am thinking.
There are also songs relating to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Most of the events leading up to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ are covered in one collection or other, as are the events following, until His ascension. Here is an example:
Jesus went to heaven He went back to His heavenly home
He is at the Father’s right hand,
He is seated on His throne
And someday He’ll come to get us, yes, that’s what God has planned
We’ve heard the words He promised, yes, we understand
CHORUS
He sent His Holy Spirit, yes, His Holy Spirit
And now we have God’s power ‘cause His Spirit lives in us
He sent His Holy Spirit, yes, His Holy Spirit
And we are goin’ all over the world
Now, I could go on and tell you more, but, suffice it to say, that Debbie Dewart, the songwriter, has put out some remarkable CDs, and, by the way, these are available for download, as well. The ones relating to Easter have some gems in them, and the really nice thing is that she has published the words on her site for children’s groups that wish to perform them. Aside from the Easter-related CDs, ones I particularly like are the recent songs about, first, the major prophets, called “Messages from God,” and the minor prophets, called “More Messages from God.” Imagine singing "O-O-Obadiah," for example! Is that not childlike?
TWO IMMEDIATE DIFFICULTIES and TWO WAYS TO OVERCOME THEM:
- THE VOICE RANGE: Most songs are not recorded in the normal voice range – that means they are not singable by you or by me, or by kids in Sunday School. SO, you could transpose them.
2. ANIMAL CONTEXT: The songs are written in a context of “Rabbitville,” which means they are, supposedly, sung by rabbits who are praising the Lord. So, occasionally, you will hear a phrase like, “We, here in Rabbitville.” This is not a great problem, since, if you wish a general context, rather than an animal one, words can be altered, and Rabbitville, for example, has the same cadence, roughly, as “Sunday School.” The reason Ms. Dewart framed her songs this way is told on her site: briefly, the;y arose out of a situation where she was volunteering, in California, to teach Sunday School in an institution for kids that had been abused, removed from their homes, and such. They did not trust adults, so she took the strategy of bringing in a stuffed bunny rabbit, and they did begin to listen to the rabbit, and eventually, to the adult holding the rabbit. So, that’s the reason! It’s also the reason for the high voices, which are what those rabbits were deemed to have. Her story is at this link:
1. THE MAKE-BELIEVE ASPECT: You may go along with the rabbit theme for very young children, but you may, in some cases, run the risk of having the children take everything as make-belief, later, sort of like Santa Claus, right? So, that’s a tiny cautionary note - I realize that such personages as "Charity Churchmouse" seemed to have managed to be seen as stand-ins for humans in days gone by! 2. THE AGE LIMITATION: There is also the fact that, even though these songs are wonderful for most any age, older children might balk at singing rabbit songs. When it comes down to it, of course, rabbits are not moral beings, saved by grace, so it might get complicated and you might have to explain, explain, explain, and possibly to your elders, who might wish to have a word! (Having said all that, rabbits would probably love to sing praise if they had that capacity, and all nature sings, as is mentioned in another song, but, anyway!) So, anyway, I would suggest just possibly using the songs without the rabbit theme, unless with the very young.
SAMPLING THE SONGS:
Here is a page where you can get access to hearing snippets of some of the songs – just click on any CD cover, and samples of all of the songs in it will come up. Ones I particularly recommend are “Easter All Year,” “The Rising Son,” “I’m Dreaming of a White Easter,” “Messages from God,” “More Messages from God,”
Some other collections are more related to Rabbitville but there are gems in most of them. And, they can be downloaded individually, in most cases. A site where snippets can be heard is
Just click on the CD cover of any collection you might wish to hear.
HOME PAGE:
The home page for all of the information is
Just thought I would pass all of this information along, in case it is of benefit to someone. I did not find it on a Christian music site, but on a Biblical Counseling site, so thought it might not be encountered by many people.
COMPLETE PERFORMANCE VIDEOS OF SOME OF THE SONGS:
YOU TUBE has some good examples of some of these songs, and some of the more recent ones are posted there, including ones about the prophets:
JONAH
JOEL
PROPHETS in GENERAL
EZEKIEL
HOSANNA
I WILL PRAISE THE RISEN LORD ALL DAY LONG
GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOU
I’M DREAMIN’ OF A WHITE EASTER
This site has various illustrated stories based on the Bible for children in the Spanish language. The link is:
