I was looking through some of the older hymns for another entry in this recurring series when my eyes fell upon "Peace, Perfect Peace."  This small, seemingly insignificant hymn, one that is often labeled "boring" especially by a younger generation, has lasted almost a century and a half despite that misconception.  I started doing some research and came across this article, which says it far better than I ever could.
 
               So here are the words of guest writer Matt W. Bassford, from his blog, hisexcellentword.blogspot.com.  (Used by permission.)  I recommend the entire blog wholeheartedly.
 
                                     Hymns and Scriptural Literacy

In the worship wars, one of the most common criticisms of traditional hymns (sometimes stated, often implied) is that they are boring.  Particularly, they bore young people, so if we want young people to continue to worship with us, we’d better sing songs that are exciting or at least interesting.

Admittedly, most traditional hymn tunes are not the kind of music that sets the pulse to racing.  In fact, many hymn-tune composers were aiming for solemnity and thoughtful repose rather than excitement.  However, even though I find this to be true, I personally still don’t think that well-written hymns from any era are boring.  Even if they leave me contemplative, they don’t make me want to go to sleep.

I wonder, then, if the source of boredom for some and fascination for others lies not in the music but in the lyrics.  In particular, I wonder if it lies in the rich Biblical allusions that are characteristic of the best traditional hymns.  Singers who are Scripturally literate will recognize the Biblical language and appreciate its use, while singers who aren’t Scripturally literate will miss the point and find nothing to dwell on.

I started thinking about this while singing “Peace, Perfect Peace” at a funeral last week.  For those who don’t know it, here are the first five verses:
 
Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.
 
Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.
 
Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round?
On Jesus’ bosom naught but calm is found.
 
Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away?
In Jesus’ keeping we are safe, and they.
 
Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?
Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.
 
“Peace, Perfect Peace” is a hymn I’ve known all my life.  I can’t remember learning it.  However, I certainly have not fully understood it for all or even most of my life.  The music isn’t particularly stirring (see “solemnity and thoughtful repose”, above), and even though I knew what the words meant, I didn’t get the hymn.

That changed once I started reading through the Bible regularly.  In the course of so doing, I encountered Isaiah 26:3, which reads, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” (ESV)
Ohhh.  All of a sudden, the hymn went from blah to brilliant.  Edward Bickersteth didn’t pluck the phrase “peace, perfect peace” from thin air.  He plucked it from Isaiah 26:3.  In fact, he is confronting the apparent impossibility of the promise that Isaiah 26:3 makes.  

How can it be that God guarantees that I will have complete and total peace despite all of these problems I’ve got?  Just look at all of ‘em!  I’m constantly struggling with sin, my life is busy and out of control, I’m depressed, I miss my family, and I have no idea what’s going to happen next!
(Side note:  even though this was written nearly 150 years ago, it’s hard to imagine a better portrait of the lives of 21st-century Christians.)

In every case, Bickersteth points out, the answer to our problems is Jesus.  In the blood of Jesus, we find forgiveness for sin.  We rest in our service to Him.  We turn to Him in despair.  We trust Him to protect our loved ones, no matter where they are.  It’s even OK that we don’t know the future, because we do know Jesus.  In other words, Jesus is not only the fulfillment of all of the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.  He’s the fulfillment of Isaiah 26:3, because perfect peace is possible through Him.

That’s an amazing point.  It’s so profound that “profound” doesn’t really do it justice.  Any Christian should be able to sit and meditate on that for a good long time.  

However, “Peace, Perfect Peace” doesn’t come right out and make that point.  It implies it, but in order to catch the implication, you have to know Isaiah 26:3.  
Sadly, a lot of Christians are more likely to know the square root of pi than they are to know Isaiah 26:3.  They’ve never read the Bible cover-to-cover even once.  When they come home from work, they don’t bust out the Good Book to relax.  They turn on the television.  As a result, their spiritual maturity is about on the level that a good friend of mine lampoons in his Answers To Every
Question In Bible Class:
               “Who did it?”
               “Jesus!”
               “Where did it happen?”
               “Jerusalem!”
               “What should we do?”
               “Obey God!”

Christians on this level are going to be baffled by the likes of “Peace, Perfect Peace” just as surely as the natural man of 1 Corinthians 2:14 is going to be baffled by the things of the Spirit of God.  They will find their worship home in the contemporary songs written with a Jesus-Jerusalem-obey God amount of depth because that’s how much spiritual depth they have too.

Of course, it’s not necessarily shameful for a Christian to be at that level.  If your hair’s still wet from your baptism, you’ve probably got some growing to do before you grow into Isaiah 26:3.  Yes, our repertoire should include songs for brethren at the wet-hair stage of spiritual maturity.  Often, believers at this point are best served by hymns that use simple, accessible choruses as a gateway to meatier verses.  Here’s something for you to understand now; here’s something for you to grow toward understanding.

What is shameful, though, is for Christians whose hair dried 25 years ago to remain spiritually immature and Biblically ignorant.  If you’ve allegedly been devoting your life to the Lord for decades (which is true of most Christians), you should know Isaiah 26:3.  

In fact, “Peace, Perfect Peace” assumes this level of Biblical mastery.  Bickersteth didn’t write the hymn because he thought that congregations of Victorian-era Anglicans would miss the point.  He wrote it because he expected them to get it.  The hymn’s survival, long after Bickersteth himself died, shows that worshipers did get it.  It is only the Biblical illiteracy of our age that renders the hymn (and others like it) inaccessible.

The solution to the problem is not to dumb down the repertoire.  That would be like “solving” the crime epidemic on the South Side of Chicago by making murder a misdemeanor.  When you address failure to meet a standard by lowering the standard, all you get is more bad behavior.  

Instead, we must allow our challenging hymns to challenge us.  In our songs, we need to wrestle with concepts above the Jesus-Jerusalem-obey God level.  We need to sing things that we don’t fully understand yet, identify our lack of comprehension, and seek answers in the word.  Let’s put away the childish things of a content-light repertoire and worship with doctrinally rich hymns that will lead us on to maturity!
 
Matthew W Bassford
http://hisexcellentword.blogspot.com/

Just as I was taught in my college pedagogy classes, I ran my music studio with a policy letter.  It explained what the students and parents could expect of me and what I expected of them.  It explained the payment schedule, and all the things they received for their money—far more than the minutes I spent parked on the bench next to their child.

            The letter also explained my “instant dismissal rules.”  The trick to instant dismissal rules is to have very few, but to enforce the few you do have without fail.  Suddenly you are being treated like a professional instead of the little old lady down the street who teaches a piano lesson or two to pass the time.  I was a professional, the professors told me, with 13 years of training—about as much as a doctor, so I did deserve to be treated that way.  I went over the letter at an interview before ever accepting a student—especially the instant dismissal rules--and the parents signed it and kept a copy.

            My instant dismissal rules?  If you miss seven lessons in the year, whether excused or not, you are dismissed.  If you miss three consecutive lessons, whether excused or not, you are dismissed.  Those two were as much for the student and his parents as they were for me.  If a child was missing that much, he wasn’t getting his parents’ money’s worth.  It also wasn’t fair to my two year waiting list to have to wait for a spot held by a child who was seldom there.  Since the applicants had come from that list themselves, they understood that point immediately.

            My last rule was this:  if you miss the Spring Program you are instantly dismissed.  Why?  I spent at least $200 a year on my annual program in recital hall rent, refreshments, paper goods, printing, and props.  Besides solos, we always had group numbers, and if one child missed, it wrecked a whole piece for several students, not just him.  And finally, this was my advertising; this was how I showed the parents that I was worth the money they were spending.  A wrecked Spring Program was a business disaster.

            In 35 years I think I invoked the instant dismissal rule only twice.  One student was ready to quit anyway, so she simply didn’t show up for the Spring Program.  She knew exactly what she was doing, and since I halfway expected it, I managed to keep the damage to a minimum.

            But another time, a young man who was doing very well didn’t show up and had not called ahead.  (Yes, if there was a legitimate emergency I was not a Hard-Hearted Hannah.)  No one else knew where he was either, and I had to scramble at the last minute to find an older, accomplished student who could pinch hit for him with no warning.

            The next morning I called his mother and told her he was dismissed and why.  Her reaction?  She was furious.  “We had company!” she exclaimed, and I then made mention of the policy letter she had signed, telling her that her company would have been more than welcome.  “That old thing?  I haven’t even looked at it since you handed it to me.  How am I supposed to remember all that stuff?”

            Any time I tell that story, people are horrified at that mother’s attitude.  Her son’s piano lessons obviously meant nothing much to her.  Yet while we will shake our heads at that story, we often do the same thing to God.  Imagine the mother above had been talking about the Bible. “That old thing?  I haven’t even looked at it since you handed it to me.  How am I supposed to remember all that stuff?”  I have a feeling some will try the same line on God at the end of the “term,” and will find out the God enforces his instant dismissal rules too. 

            My Spring Program was also an awards ceremony.  I managed to find enough things to award that any child who worked at it even a little could win something.  Only a few walked away with first or second place trophies from State Contest, yet anyone who came to every lesson, or met the make-ups I offered for excused absences, could win a perfect attendance ribbon.  If a student went away empty-handed it was because he didn’t try, and for no other reason.

            God is going to be handing out awards too, and you get the big one for simply following the rules in the policy letter and doing your best every moment.  Pull it out today.  He does expect you to read it.  He does expect you to remember it.  He doesn’t even mind if you bring your company with you.  But don’t expect Him to change the rules just for you.
 
He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. Rom 2:6-8
 
Dene Ward

In the past few years I have found myself fighting sleepless nights on more than one occasion.  Keith always tells me that when that happens to him, he sings hymns in his mind until he falls back asleep.  I have yet to find a better thing to do, unless it is praying, but often they are the same.  How many songs can you find in your hymnals that are nothing more than prayers set to music?  I have a feeling that most of David’s psalms follow that same pattern.

            I recently found a phrase in the middle of a scripture that made me smile, even though the context didn’t.  Still, I think pulling that phrase out of its context is not wresting the scriptures in this case.  “God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,” Job 35:10.  I wonder how many times those hymns popped into our heads because a loving God sent them our way to help calm us and reassure us.

            The righteous sing for joy on their beds, Psalm 149:5.  After I found that verse, I began to wonder why “bed” was particularly mentioned, just as “night” was in Job. 

            Perhaps it is a metaphoric allusion.  We take to our beds when we are seriously ill.  I can get up and do things when I have a cold, but if I am really sick, I am in bed.  People who are nearing death are usually in bed, in fact, we call it the “death bed.”  In times of worry, when we try to sleep, we find ourselves tossing and turning in bed, just as I have done so often recently.  Why would we be inclined to sing at those times?

            Isn’t it obvious?  If we are God’s children, we have hope, we have a foundation of joy in our lives that keeps us grounded, and that joy often shows itself in song.  Even in prison, having been beaten and wondering what the morning would bring, Paul and Silas sang hymns of praise “at midnight,” Acts 16:25.  They weren’t in a comfortable bed, but the “nighttime” of trouble was upon them.  Even from childhood, aren’t we all just a little afraid of the dark?

            Do not think it strange that songs often come to us during these times.  Our God does not leave us desolate.  He gives us songs in the “night,” songs of comfort, songs of hope, songs of praise for his grace and love, songs of encouragement, songs of edification and even chastisement.  Those songs would not come to your mind without a God who cared enough not only to send his Son, but to send you songs in the times you need them most, in the night time of sorrow and fear and pain. 

            Often the grace of God comes in a song that keeps going round and round in your mind.  It’s up to you to sing it.
 
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. Psa 42:8
 
Dene Ward

I taught piano lessons (and later added voice lessons) for over 35 years.  By the time I had to quit due to my eye problems, I had a full studio with a two year waiting list.  My students participated in three competitions a year, and no less than four joint recitals, depending upon their ages and their pieces.  At the end of the year, we had what I billed as "the Spring Program," because most people considered recitals "boring" and our programs were anything but.  We put on a show and we had fun.  And afterward I handed out sometimes as many as 20 awards, including some state competition trophies.  Yes, it was a very big deal in our lives.

              "Our lives" because my boys were part of it.  I taught them both.  Lucas went on to focus on voice and theory, while Nathan stayed with the piano.  It's always satisfying to see your children follow in your footsteps.  One day Nathan and I sat down and sightread duets for a half hour or so.  I don't know about him, but I had a blast.  He had grown and learned enough that we could share on an equal footing, a truly exhilarating experience.

              And now, thanks to seeing Daddy play at home, my grandson Silas has started piano lessons.  Last spring I went to his first recital.  He had wowed me all morning, playing a hands-moving-together piece at a difficulty that no 6 year old student of mine had ever reached—with only 8 months of piano under his belt.  We not only practiced his piece, but his bow as well. (Any of my old students reading this will understand.)  And so we all went to the auditorium and sat four rows from the front while he walked up to the grand piano and played his piece.  Perfectly.  With the classiest bow of the evening.  Just last week he did the same thing, this year playing three pieces—perfectly with an almost professional bow.

              I couldn't stop smiling.  And I also couldn't stop the tears from welling in my eyes.  Somehow I managed to get them under control before he saw them, and I gave him a huge hug.  "I am very proud," I said.  "You have made me very happy."

              As proud and happy as I was that day, there are a few other things that would make me even happier.  I doubt I even have to list them.  You know exactly what I am talking about because you wish them for your children and grandchildren too.

              I still help Silas with his piano practice.  With a new piece I often play the left hand while he plays the right, and then we swap places.  By then he can manage to put both hands together himself.  I still help with the theory homework, clapping out rhythms and asking questions that lead him to the right answers.

              But more often than that, we talk about Bible characters, narratives and principles.  We talk about God.  We pray together and sing together.  We memorize verses and recite them together.  Doesn't he get this from his parents?  Of course he does, but the more he gets from more different people—especially people who mean something to him—the more it will mean to him, and the better it will stick.  Just like his Grandma and Daddy playing the piano.

              That first recital was wonderful.  But a first public prayer, a first sermon, and of course, the first commitment--when the time is right--will be even better.
 
But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. (Ps 103:17-18)
 
Dene Ward

We usually think of enablers in a negative sense—people who allow others to engage in destructive behaviors by their avoidance of the issues.  But enablers can be positive influences as well.  Teachers and coaches are enablers.

            I once had a student who, by the time she reached her high school years, had convinced herself that she could not memorize music.  We discussed the various types of memory—muscle memory, aural memory, visual memory, and intellectual memory, all of which are involved in memorizing music.  All of our competitions involved memorizing, and though I always gave my students a choice about participating, she wanted to do so, even though the process of memorizing seemed to elude her. 

            She would only attempt one type of memorizing—muscle memory.  “That’s the only way I can do it,” she said, over and over as if it were a mantra.  The problem with relying on muscle memory alone is that when you are nervous, you tense up and suddenly everything “feels” different.  She wouldn’t even try to work on the other methods.  So I took things into my own hands to prove to her she could.

            Every quarter we had a class instead of a private lesson.  For that quarter class I arranged learning stations.  The students moved from station to station, accomplishing tasks in the various areas of music, keeping track of their scores as they went.  As one student left a station, another took his place. 

            At one station I placed an eight bar piece from a beginner book on a music stand.  They were to sit and study the music making mental note of beginning notes, the way the music moved, and the rhythm pattern, then try to play it without the music, having made use of both visual and intellectual memory.  I stood at this station since I had to be the one to look at the music and tell them if they got it right.  If it was correct the first try, they got 10 points, the second try they got 5 and the third they got 3.  If they still did not play it correctly, they got 1 point for trying and then moved on.  This was a class of teenagers, students who performed at the moderately difficult level in the state competition, so playing this simple five finger melody with a two chord accompaniment was like asking a college math professor to do the multiplication tables.  Only one student took 2 tries and it was NOT the young lady in question.  She accomplished the task on her first attempt.

            “I know what you were trying to do,” she said afterward, “but you’re wrong.  I can’t memorize that way.”  I wanted to scream at her stubbornness.  I had just proven that she had the intellectual capacity for more than basic muscle memory and she was still arguing with me.

            I imagine God must feel the same way about us sometimes.

            May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, Col 1:12.

            To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 2 Thes 1:11.

            For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Tim 1:7.

            Who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Pet 1:5.

            “Yes, but…” I hear you saying.  It isn’t me you are saying that to—it’s God.  It’s his power that has been granted to you, to endure, to overcome, to fulfill every good work, to last until the end.  It’s the same power, Paul says in Eph 1:20, which raised Christ from the dead.  That power will enlighten you, give you hope, wisdom, knowledge, and a rich inheritance; it is “immeasurable” (vv 14-19).  To deny it with a “yes but” is to call God a liar.

            Maybe the problem is that we want God’s power to do it for us, with no effort required on our parts.  It doesn’t work that way.  We must patiently endure.  We must do good and stay faithful no matter how difficult it becomes.  That is what God’s power, not our own, enables us to do.  And that means, “I can’t,” is no longer a valid excuse.
 
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Eph 3:20,21.
 
Dene Ward
 

A long time ago my piano teacher organized her students into something called a junior music club, and one year I served as president.  Because we students were members of this club, we were eligible to participate in several special events and recitals, including something called “the Festival” where our performances were rated by a judge, who also gave helpful comments and encouragement.

              Twenty years later I joined a local chapter of the Florida Federation of Music Clubs and eventually attended one of their State Conventions.  As I watched, listened and learned, all the pieces began to click into place.

              FFMC is a group of “senior clubs.”  Unlike a professional organization, parents of students and music lovers in the community are allowed to join, along with the independent music teachers, which greatly increases your volunteer pool as you try to spread the love and appreciation of music and support music education in your communities. 

              Each teacher in the local senior group was supposed to organize her students into a junior club.  My teacher, whom I later discovered had been a State President of FFMC, did exactly that.  Here is the genius of that plan—you are growing your own replacements, teaching them what the organization is about, making them as useful as possible in whatever capacity they can manage at their various ages. 

            Unfortunately, few teachers did anything more than put their students’ names on a roster so they could take advantage of the privileges of membership.  Responsibility was never taught. And worse, the senior division, all the way to state level, did not use their younger members, even though they held “state elections.”  My son Nathan, who was also my student, was elected state president of the junior division in his senior year of high school, but I had to suggest, recommend, and finally push for him and his fellow officers to be used as real members.  No one had ever thought of that, which is probably why I did not at first recognize FFMC years later.  No one had taught me the ropes.  As a student I was a member in name only.

              The same thing happens in the church.  We look at our young people and call them “the future of the church,” and then sit back and assume that someday in that future they will “grow up in all things unto him” (Eph 4:15). 

              Here is the problem:  We treat baptism like flea dip for our dogs.  We get our children wet and say, "Whew!  Got rid of all those sins, now they're safe."  But Romans tells us that when we are baptized, we are raised to walk a new life.  Something has changed.  Do they know that?  Can young children even articulate what needs to change about themselves?

              Jesus says you don’t make a commitment to Him until you count the cost.  Have we helped them count the cost of discipleship to the Lord?

              Colossians tells us that we are raised from baptism to "walk with him."  "Walk" means a lifetime not a moment.  Are they old enough to even comprehend that sort of commitment?

              1 Corinthians 12 says baptism makes them “members of the body” (I Cor 12:13).  If they aren’t ready to be working members, committed servants who put others before themselves, then they aren’t ready to be baptized.
If all we teach them is that they must be baptized or they can't go to Heaven, all we have done is terrorize them, and shame on us.  It is simple to indoctrinate a child well before he is able to count the cost of changing his life, make a lifetime commitment and actually begin serving.  The New Testament knows nothing of junior members in the church; babes, yes, but even babes participate in on-the-job training, and most of the "babes" we see in the New Testament are physically adults.  This is the point:  Either they are members or they aren't according to Corinthians.  Consider the following.

            A working member does more than read the Scripture and pass the plates.  For one thing, what about the young ladies?  These young people may not have the deep knowledge and wisdom to participate in every aspect of the work, but they should all be able to serve the Lord’s body.  Teach them how and expect it of them.  Or else do not baptize them.

              Take them visiting with you—the sick, the lonely widows, even the bereaved.  If you don’t think your child can handle that, then think again about whether he was really mature enough to commit.  Have them help clean the houses and do the yard work for those who no longer can.  Keith had a stroke one year in the middle of leaf season.  Half a dozen young high school men came to our home—a thirty mile drive—and raked all morning.  Another group helped unpack when my mother moved, and another helped clean.  They were thrilled to help, returning to me again and again with, “What should I do now?”  These young people are obviously ready to serve.

              Teach them to take responsibility for their own Bible study.  That’s what a committed disciple does.  Expect them to not only do their class lessons without being told, but to develop personal study habits.  If you always have to remind them, are they really as devoted to the Lord as their baptism should have shown them to be?  If you are making excuses, especially in regard to their age, then once again you may be admitting that all you did was scare your child to death, not make them dedicated disciples.

              Take them to the extra Bible studies with you.  I do run a Tuesday morning Bible class for the women, but I also hold one on the third Sunday afternoon of the month for those who have secular jobs or other daytime commitments—like high school and college.  I have had teenagers as young as sixteen take part.  They do their lessons and comment almost as freely as the older women. 

              Turning your baptized offspring into working members will also do this for you—if I expect to teach my child what it means to be a member of the Lord’s body, I need to be showing them how myself.  Nothing made me a better Christian than having that red, wrinkled, squirming infant placed in my arms.  The same thing should happen when your child becomes a babe in Christ. 

              And speaking of babies, do you know why we have adult infants in the church?  Because we scared the innocent to death instead of teaching them early enough about conversion, service, and commitment.  There may be no better way to ensure the demise of the body of Christ than turning it over to the coddled who were taught that baptism was only about escaping Hell.

              Don’t call your young people by that unscriptural term, “the future of the church.”  Either they are members of the body or they are not.  Prepare them.  As the old saying goes, the future is now.
 
For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit. 1Cor 12:13

And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, according as any man had need. And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved. Acts 2:44-47
 
Dene Ward

It was popular in 1978 and I still remember it after nearly 40 years.  Not an original part of the musical “Grease” the song, sung by Olivia Newton-John, was added during the filming, even though the producers were not crazy about it.  Eventually it won a Grammy and was nominated for a Best Song Oscar:  “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”

              I wonder what all those starry-eyed, romantically inclined teenagers would think if they knew what God meant when He wanted you to “devote” something to Him.

              Behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. Jer 25:9

              Jerusalem was to be “devoted” and that meant “destroyed.”  And no, it’s not a onetime use of the word.

              But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.   Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.  And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Josh 6:18, 21, 24

              Jericho was “devoted” to God by fire.  It was totally destroyed.  When Achan “took of the devoted thing” he was stealing from God.

              So here’s the question for today.  How do I devote myself to God?

              We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Rom 6:6

              I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20

              And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

              The cross you bear is not some illness or disability or trial you go through.  Most of those things just happen to us.  Jesus is talking about something you do voluntarily, and everyone knew that if you saw a man carrying a cross he was on his way to his death.  Jesus says you kill that old man, crucify him, daily.  Then and only then can you be “hopelessly devoted” to him.
 
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Col 3:5-10
 
Dene Ward

Before I am labelled an old fuddy-duddy, let me say that this is meant to be a simple request to all song leaders of the Lord’s people to please look closely at your selections before you actually get up and lead them.  You may not realize it, but you are entrusted with the task of enabling God’s people to worship Him in song AND teach one another. You are also in the unenviable position of having to satisfy different tastes, abilities, and knowledge levels.  Wouldn’t it be wise to choose a good mix of different types of hymns, different lyric types, different music types and styles?  Let me show you one problem when you don’t do this.

              We generally have two hymns before the lesson.  What if the song leader chose “Glorify Thy Name” and “I Will Call upon the Lord”?  This is what you will be singing:

Glorify Thy Name
Father (sung 1 time)
Jesus (sung 1 time)
Spirit (sung 1 time)
We love you, we worship and adore you (3 times)
Glorify they name (12 times)
In all the Earth (9 times)

That means you sang “Father/Jesus/Spirit we love you, we worship and adore you, Glorify thy name in all the earth,” and that was the extent of the teaching in that song.  Pardon me if I am underwhelmed, but let’s check the second song too

What do we sing in “I Will Call Upon the Lord”?

I will call upon the Lord (6 times)
Who is worthy to be praised (4 times)
So shall I be saved from my enemies (4 times)
The Lord liveth and blessed be the rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted (4 times)

That means you sang this:  “I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised.  So shall I be saved from my enemies.  The Lord liveth and blessed be the rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted.”  Yes some of this is very good, but it isn’t really very much in quantity.

            It seems to me that we are singing an awful lot to say very little.  Maybe those two songs should not be sung on the same day, especially if that’s all there is to our singing.

              Please compare any song written before 1960 and, while you will still find some fairly worthless songs, you will find far more who give us line after line of truths straight from or alluding to God’s word in a deep and thoughtful manner, songs that, if meditated upon and sung “with the understanding” will enrich your spiritual life far more than many, maybe most, of the newer songs.

              Let’s now clear up some misunderstandings.  I have heard it said, “The Psalms are full of repetition.”  Have you studied them?  Only one that I can think of is “full” of repetition, number 136.  It was obviously meant for group worship in a time when hymnals were unheard of.  It is a type of psalm called “responsorial.”  Only the leader—the choirmaster or chief musician--knew the words, but to help the congregation participate, they were given the phrase “His lovingkindness endures forever” to repeat after every line he sang, twenty-six different lines, by the way, with no repetition in them.  That was a remedy for a situation that no longer exists.  Every place I have worshipped has a hymnal for every person.

            Other repetitions in the Psalms are nowhere near that level, and were sung as refrains, the same way we sing a chorus after a verse nowadays.  They tend to come after stanzas that cover several verses, none of which is repetitive.  Usually you won’t find the refrains more than three times, sometimes only twice.

            For the record, I like both of the hymns I have listed above.  Do you know why?  I like the harmonies in “Glorify Thy Name,” and I like the music and style of “I Will Call Upon the Lord.”  But are those good reasons to sing them?  Not on your life.  For one thing, music in those days up through the first century and several centuries beyond, was not about harmony and metered rhythm—they hadn’t been invented yet.  Even melody was more akin to a chant.

            Hymns should appeal to us because of the lyrics, not the music.  I far prefer the older hymns that help me recall passage after passage after passage.  In them I can find references or quotes of literally dozens of verses, not just one line or verse repeated ad nauseam.  Aren’t the words supposed to be the most important thing in our singing?  How else do we “teach and admonish?”  Certainly not by syncopated rhythm!

            So let’s sing one of those occasionally, maybe to get the interest of the younger folks ignited, but let's not leave our older folks in the dust.  And let’s remember what we are supposed to be doing and pick out a few hymns with deeper meaning. Let’s check to see how much teaching is actually being done on a given Sunday morning.
 
What is it then, brethren? When you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. 1Cor 14:26
 
Dene Ward

I know—if you are not a musician you don’t know what I am talking about, but it really is 101—basic and easy.

            “Diatonic” means “two tones.”  A diatonic scale is made up of two kinds of tones—whole tones and semitones, or more commonly, whole steps and half steps.  As Occidentals, the diatonic scale is the most pleasing tone to our ear.  Try using a scale of only whole steps and it will set your teeth on edge.  My students used to call it “outer space music.”  Try making music with a half step scale and it will sound like you’ve let a hive of bumblebees loose in the room.  The point is, it takes two kinds of steps to make pleasant music.

            As humans we have a tendency to see “two kinds” in practically every situation and to do our best to make it NOT work.  In the early church when everyone was Jewish, they still managed to make a distinction between Jews born in Palestine and those born elsewhere (Acts 6).  Once Gentiles were converted, the distinction was circumcision (Acts 15).  If that weren’t enough, the bias became wealth (James 2), and then the full blown heresy of Gnosticism (1 John)—those who “knew” things others did not.

            “You’re not like us so you don’t belong,” was the attitude.  “Change or leave,” was often unspoken but surely intended, and if change was not possible, then leaving was the obvious “choice.”

            Paul spent several chapters in several epistles reminding us that while we are to repent (change) from a life of sin, no other change was required.  In fact, our differences make us a stronger, better body.

            But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."…But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 1 Cor 12:18-21,24,25.

            What I cannot do, maybe you can.  What you can’t, maybe I or someone else can.  Every ability is important and thus every person.  In fact, we have a tendency to judge differently than God does in that area.  As we have noted before, it was a woman who sewed for the poor whom Peter raised from the dead (Act 9), not the martyred preacher deacon (Acts 7) or apostle and cousin of the Lord (Acts 12).

            God expects us to live together, love together, and work together in harmony.  Rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, black and white, we are to make beautiful diatonic music together, not segregate ourselves into uniform groups that can only make weird sounds, sounds only fit for aliens, and not for the friends and neighbors we hope to save.
 
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus, Gal 3:27,28.
 
Dene Ward

We sing a few hymns written in a minor key.  They are always more difficult for the congregation to learn, primarily because we are used to major keys, the good old “do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do.”  Practically anyone can sing that scale and get it right (if a little flat), even if they have never studied music.  I would guess that 80-90% of modern Western music (as in “not Oriental,” which is how we use the term “Western” in music theory) is written in a major key.  Minor keys are less common, but common enough that they do not sound too odd to our ears—we still “get it” when we hear them.

            One of the ways we introduce minor keys to a child is to talk about “happy” music and “sad” music.  “Sad sounding” merely touches the surface of what makes a key minor, but it’s a good place to start, especially with a young elementary school child, or even an adult non-musician.

            Often at the end of a minor (sad sounding) composition, the third note will be raised to the note it would have been if it were the parallel major, something we call a Piccardy third.  Suddenly something that sounded “sad” sounds “happy,” if only for that final chord.  That’s what I want you to think about this morning—a sad song becoming happy.

            I think we have done the Lord a grave disservice by promising our new converts a happy and peaceful life.  We are preaching a “health and wealth gospel” as strongly as any televangelist when we do so.  What about the “cross” Jesus says we must take up?  What about his promise that men would “hate you?”  What about Paul telling Timothy, “Yes and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” 2 Tim 3:12? Jesus said to count the cost before committing to him.  How can people do that when we tell them that all their problems will be solved as long as they get wet and sit on a pew?

            When I try to make Christianity a panacea for life’s ills, I am putting too much emphasis on the sad music of my life and not enough on the ending “Piccardy third.”  God gives us the promise of an eternal and joyful reward—at the end, not necessarily in the middle. 

            How did Moses give up the wealth and power that would have been at his disposal?  By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. Heb 11:24,26.  Do you see that?  He considered those things “fleeting.”  He understood that relative to eternity, his 120 years of life was nothing.  Most of us will be lucky to live 2/3 that amount of time and we still can’t give up what Moses would have considered “the lesser wealth.”

            Life may be in a minor key for us.  In fact, Jesus promises that it will be in many cases, and often because of him.  But he leaves us with the promise that one day the joy will be unfathomable and unlimited.  Yet only those who suffer through the minor key “for his name’s sake” will enjoy a Piccardy third at the end—a time when the happy music takes over, a new song we will sing forever.
 
"Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets, Luke 6:22,23.
 
Dene Ward