GodReflection: Conflict Zone.
I observed that with my move towards eight decades of life I often find myself more reflective. I continue to be amazed and eternally grateful that the Lord brought so many wonderful godly people into the life of the little boy raised in the New Mexico Desert.
Within any twenty-four-hour day the hymns I’ve been taught over the decades pop more frequently into my mind. For most of my eighteen childhood years we sang from the light-brown Christian Hymns Number Two. What a role this little brown hymnal still plays in my life!
Two men of God glued its pages to my soul. The first was Theron Jay, a gifted tenor raised in Idalou, Texas. Theron, thirty-three years my senior was born with the beat of music in his soul and a strong melodious tenor voice.
He was the valedictorian of his high school class. Gifted with intelligence he made a living, first with his skilled trowel as a stucco mason, then as he manufactured cement blocks for construction. For me, his day job was secondary. Primarily, he led our church in song. Theron taught the four hundred fifty-two songs from our brown hymnal to our church. He imprinted most of them in my memory.
Unlike Theron, I never met Lloyd Otis “L.O.” Sanderson. He was born to musical parents and taught to sing and play the family’s seven instruments. His mother taught him to sight read notes by the age of five. Over his lifetime he wrote hundreds of songs and hymns and among other works, eventually edited and published the songbook we used during my childhood years, Christian Hymns Number Two.
His hymnal flavors my daily walk on earth to this day. The first and final songs of the book were written by brother Sanderson and taught to me by Theron Jay. They serve as bookends of faith.
The Hymnal Great Songs of the Church greeted me and encouraged me during my college years along with Songs of the Church, compiled by Alton Howard, the old Louisianan Radio Stations entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Then during the twenty-seven years our family worshipped with Our Church in Abilene, Texas we sang from the one thousand thirty Songs Of Faith And Praise. This hymnal and the others I mentioned are replete with songs from King David to Martin Luther and they parade through my thoughts at key moments.
As we worship each Sunday, I wonder if we are not doing disservice to the youth. Let me explain. The Book of Psalms was the hymnal of Jesus and the early church. It is filled with hundreds of songs that address peoples everyday walk with God from complaints, to hurt, to praise.
Unfortunately, today’s church has mostly abandoned the wealth of our hymnology of the past three thousand years for a limited number of only praise songs. I remember that we were at the other extreme in the 1950’s and 1960’s when our Sundays were practically void of praise songs.
In stark contrast today’s church sings only seven to fourteen songs repeatedly Sunday after Sunday. Unfortunately, the focus seems to be more on the presentation and the “show” while we overlook the treasure chest of thousands of songs that we have in the Psalms, and the past three thousand years written by God’s people. With a little practice, a good song leader can update many of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries Old English Hymns and still allow the words to rhyme with their original outstandingly written music.
Jesus worshipped at The Temple with the Psalms as his hymnal. When he worshiped there was a chorus with trained musicians still leading worship like they had from the time of King David. Some continue to follow this format today.
However, we need to remember that worship is adoration to God—God Father, Jesus Son, Holy Spirit. And, never for the admiration and entertainment of those who worship.
In my golden years, I continue to find that rich heritage of songs so meaningful. Each morning in my hymnal I encounter encouragement and hope as I come across hymns like Jesus Loves Even Me and Be with me Lord I cannot live without Thee. The words of Come Ye Disconsolate and Does Jesus Care? Enrich my Soul.
When our youth arrive in their old age will they have a hymnology to sustain them? Just wondering.
When We Worship In Today’s Church, We Enter A Conflict Zone.What are your thoughts? What am I not seeing?
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection: When We Worship In Today’s Church, We Enter A Conflict Zone.
God Reflection 