Our School Song
Tomorrow we will gather for our Opening Chapel, one of the five or six times the entire student and faculty body comes together for celebration and worship. It's the official kick off of another school year--now that we have the entire school on campus, hitting their strides with the new year.
We always encourage parents and friends of Trinity to join us for these important events.
One of the things we'll do is to sing our school song, the "Non Nobis," by Patrick Doyle. It's a beautiful rendition of Psalm 115:1, our school verse and the motto that we all see every time we walk through the doors of the gym.
Non nobis, domine, domine,
Non nobis, domine,
Sed nomini, sed nomini
Tuo da gloriam.
Not to us, Lord, not to us,
But to your name give glory.
I realize that many folks may not know the school song, so our wonderful music teachers gathered a few of our students to sing it for us. Many thanks to Abigail Lloyd, Chandler Younts, Rachel Hand, Cordelia Walker and Leslie Knight for giving us a way to learn this song.
We talk a lot about the Non Nobis at Trinity. Our coaches help their players to learn to play as a team, Non Nobis. Our service learning program is all about Non Nobis. The way we raise money at Trinity is Non Nobis. The way we celebrate academic and athletic accomplishments is intended to foster a Non Nobis attitude.
What does that look like? It looks like "I am Third: God first, others second." And this is not a sulking, reluctant, grudging way of letting others go first. It is the way of wisdom that knows that God has made us so that our true happiness and glory come as we learn to step aside and live our lives for God and others. It's a paradox, but it's a profound truth, and if our Trinity students can learn this before they leave this place, we will have done them a world of good.
If you're wondering how this song came to be the school song, here's a tidbit: Back in 1995, when the school was just getting started, Kenneth Branaugh's Henry V was showing. Henry's Agincourt speech, followed by the battle scene and this version of the Non Nobis made a strong impression on me back then. The verse seemed such a great banner for the school, and we started singing Doyle's version in school assemblies. It caught on, and here we are today still singing it. I hope we all go on singing it for a long time!
We always encourage parents and friends of Trinity to join us for these important events.
One of the things we'll do is to sing our school song, the "Non Nobis," by Patrick Doyle. It's a beautiful rendition of Psalm 115:1, our school verse and the motto that we all see every time we walk through the doors of the gym.
Non nobis, domine, domine,
Non nobis, domine,
Sed nomini, sed nomini
Tuo da gloriam.
Not to us, Lord, not to us,
But to your name give glory.
We talk a lot about the Non Nobis at Trinity. Our coaches help their players to learn to play as a team, Non Nobis. Our service learning program is all about Non Nobis. The way we raise money at Trinity is Non Nobis. The way we celebrate academic and athletic accomplishments is intended to foster a Non Nobis attitude.
What does that look like? It looks like "I am Third: God first, others second." And this is not a sulking, reluctant, grudging way of letting others go first. It is the way of wisdom that knows that God has made us so that our true happiness and glory come as we learn to step aside and live our lives for God and others. It's a paradox, but it's a profound truth, and if our Trinity students can learn this before they leave this place, we will have done them a world of good.
If you're wondering how this song came to be the school song, here's a tidbit: Back in 1995, when the school was just getting started, Kenneth Branaugh's Henry V was showing. Henry's Agincourt speech, followed by the battle scene and this version of the Non Nobis made a strong impression on me back then. The verse seemed such a great banner for the school, and we started singing Doyle's version in school assemblies. It caught on, and here we are today still singing it. I hope we all go on singing it for a long time!
Comments
Non nobis Domine, indeed.