valley of humiliation

reading chambers the theme lately has been living in the valley of humiliation. and i am struck by the things that are confronting me here in coventry, the means by which i am being humbled. two things come quickly to mind: music and speech. in music, at least church music, i have a rich heritage. my father sang us children to sleep at the foot of the stairs with hymns. put words to music and i easily remember them, and my hymn repertoire is extensive. well, in the states that is. at the little baptist church we are attending, every sunday thus far they have sung, with great gusto, song after song that i have never heard. humbling. england: 1, pride: 0.

then there is speech. today as the pastor introduced me to the congregation (not, i might add, the first time he had said this) he told them that i would be learning to speak english properly while i was here. no matter that two of my compatriots are ESL with varying levels of proficiency, and the 3rd is not english but australian, no, it is the american that is sneered at and told, several times, that she does not speak english. as prepared as i was for this by being warned, it is still a struggle because (again that nasty little pride) i have a strong vocabulary and have always felt that my grasp of the english language is above average, due to my reading and training at university. here, however, the accent is really the key (whether or not i know more english words and use perfect grammar is irrelevant) and i fail because i speak with the wicked accent of a rebellious people. again, england: 2, pride (reluctantly): 0.

as you may well ascertain, here in the valley i am still learning to die properly. but i do believe and cling fervently to the mantra: He must increase and i must decrease. amen, so be it.