The Hymn Wars

There are hymn wars going on in some Westchester County, N.Y. churches. Some churches love and tout the virtue of their old-time hymns while other churches wouldn't be caught dead playing anything written before the year 2000. On my part, I feel like a kid caught between its' two divorcing parents. Why? Because, I love them both! Yes, my dirty little secret is out. I have never met a song sung to the Lord that left me cold. Just like a child caught in the middle of a bad parental divorce, I hate it when each side bad-mouths the other.

When Lisa* invited me to her marriage re-dedication ceremony, at her new church, she gushed more over the churches' music than her husband. When I asked her what motivated her to leave her old church after fifteen years, her reply surprised me. Well, she said, the music is so amazing! I never liked the music at my old church. People sway to the music, they clap their hands and I am inspired!" She never did explain what she was inspired of.

Bill* was the exact opposite of Lisa. Bill had moved in with his son in Eastchester, N.Y. because he needed a little help. At 77 years of age his health issues necessitated moving in with family and living in a whole new community. He had been born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. and it was with deep regret he would be leaving behind friends at his church that he had known his whole life. His son, who did not attend church, was very supportive in helping his father find a new church home. The problem? The rock band / rock concert atmosphere of many of the churches he visited.

He told his son Dwayne*, five minutes after arrival at one such church, that he simply could not stay because he felt that the Church music might do permanent hearing damage to them both. He even followed up Monday morning with a call to a local environmental agency to check if it were even legal to play music that could possibly cause health damage to its' congregants!

Discussions concerning church music can get quite contentious with people passionate on either side. Some decry the lack of theology and focus of modern Christian music. Those folks feel the lyrics, sound and lightening often add up to a man-centered rather than a God-focused worship. On the other hand, those in the other camp disagree. Claiming instead, that some in the younger set don't even understand some of the antiquated language contained in some of those old hymns.

People on both sides agree that music often effects Church attendance and that various music modes can aide or detract from a Sunday worship service. What both camps never seem to focus on or understand is the damage that they are doing to the greater body of Christ. Would you deny the elders among you the comfort, understanding and closeness to God that they derive from hearing their childhood hymns?

Or what sensible grandparent in the group would rather their grandchild hear a raunchy and ungodly mainstream music lyric and not offer them the alternative that most modern Christian music can bring. Today, Christian artists are singing hymns to God in all the major music genres. These songs offer Godly perspective on the issues of our day. Oh, but the older hymns, while not as issue driven do offer quiet contemplative direction to the listener.

Get the point? This issue is creating segregated churches. You will see churches with primarily a younger congregation, with a few hipster senior citizens involved. Or, there are the churches with a primarily older congregation with a few young people peppered in. Any mature Church of God should be age representative of the community at large. You should see young to old represented in the pews. Jesus Christ declared that he wanted us all to be one in him. Why would we stop going to Church because we don't like the music? We would we oppose having opportunities for people to experience music that might be more understandable to them?

Selfishness, appears to be the answer. Sometimes in our quest for our perfect church experience, we forget what church is all about. We forget how different generations can enhance and teach each other many things. We have forgotten what it means to be a family in our greater society and so, we bring that to all our institutions, including our own churches. The church, on its' part, must be ready to teach godly principles of living, including the concept of serving others. To many people today service to others is some esoteric philosophical value.

Many have grown up in families which did not show what service to others really meant. Some may be in jobs or professions where it just seems to be "every man for himself." Our churches have a real opportunity to teach, nurture and set people in the proper direction. We must take that mantle of responsibility seriously and stop making things like music an obstacle to being closer to one another. Why not try to enjoy each other's music, so that we may better serve one another.









*names have been changed.

The Anatomy Of A Sin

Just as my husband and I were getting caught up in all the fun of Christmas activities, the harsh reality of sin reared its' ugly head. We had just finished dinner in a well-known French restaurant in Westchester County New York. Even though Jean-Jâcques Pâtisserie serves some of the best dessserts in Westchester, tonight we would not partake. Instead, we were looking forward to a party that evening at Church that was billed as "Christ, Carols &Cookies." We were laughing about, I don't remember what, as we walked out into the restaurant parking lot. Our mood immediately changed as we saw a large minivan maneuvering strangely right beside the front of our car. The Anatomy Of A Sin! Running toward our car I realized that the driver had just hit our car and dislodged its' bumper. I looked at his license plate number and partially memorized it. As he was about to leave the parking lot, I ran up to the car and frantically called out to the driver.

"Excuse me, excuse me" I said, "but I think you hit our car!" He rolled done his window and in a less than innocent way remarked, "oh, I didn't think I did." The Anatomy Of A Sin! After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence (where I felt as if I could see the inner workings of his conscience contemplating what it should do), he said "I guess I ought to take a look at it." He then proceeds to back his car up until the car behind him, (trying to exit the parking lot), honks because he's about to hit them too!

He tells me that he will exit and then circle back into the parking lot so as to let the cars out behind him. He was skittish,very skittish. At this point, I wondered if he was about to flee. After all, if we had come out to the parking lot one minute later than we did, we would not have caught him in the act. Further, although I feel he was hesitating at the parking lot exit, he had been about to leave when I caught him. No note on the car or anything and he was leaving. The Anatomy Of A Sin

Happily, he did indeed come around, get out of his car and examine the damage. My husband and he, both tried to get the bumper back into place to no avail. We exchanged names and telephone numbers at this point. His name was Jotham Hull.* I definitely was not on the ball that night, all caught up in the holiday season as I was, or else why was I so stupid? I didn't even get the man's full license plate number. He could simply have given us some phony name and telephone number. To my defense, I have never had a fender bender before. A friend later advised me that the thing to do in such a case would be : to take a photo with my phone of the license plate.

As we assessed the damage, I wondered aloud if we would make it to church that night or should we just head home. This seemed to peek Jotham's interest. He remarked, "are you going someplace?" Feeling nervous to reveal anything of a personal nature to this man of a questionable character, I reluctantly related our Christmas party plans. And, from that moment on, I sensed something in his demeanor change. A lightening up perhaps.

I told Jotham that I would take the car to a local body shop and get an estimate of the damage and then call him. Jotham assured us that he would take care of the bill. I thanked him. His response was that "of course I will take care of the bill, after all wouldn't I want someone to pay for damages if they had hit my car?" Furthermore he remarked, "my son just had his car damaged in a train parking lot. Someone hit his car and then just drove away. It cost a thousand dollars to fix it!"

Jotham seemed to be saying all the right things, but was he being truthful or just trying to throw us off the scent? I wondered if mentioning Church and alluding to the holy had not kickstarted his conscience into operation. I would not know the answer until a few days later. In the meantime, I wondered a lot about what is the Anatomy Of A Sin? How does the wrong that we do in our life come about? Is it just the way we are, the way we were raised or something else? When does what we have learned and practiced become our responsibility? After all we all do have a free will. 

The word sin connotes missing the mark, as when a spear thrower or archer fails to hit their designated target. If you think of all your actions as archery practice, it is very easy to understand how you could not possibly hit the target every time. The Bible confirms this and says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of the Lord -Romans 3:23.  Sin is part of the human condition and we all do it. In fact, I have always been amazed at the fact that you can't read very far in the first book of the Bible before you read about sin, i.e., the Garden of Eden, and Cain and Abel.

God said to Cain : "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But, if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it"-Genesis 4:7. This is the situation in a nutshell. Sin is ever-waiting to ensnare us. It is always at the door waiting to come into our life. We have to realize that fact and get a hold of ourselves the way Jotham apparently did. According to the mechanic at my body shop, there is no way that the driver of the car that hit us did not know that he had almost dragged our bumper off. The Anatomy Of A Sin!

Yet, what made him almost drive off and leave the scene of a collision? What made him hesitate at the exit? He may have saw us and assumed that we had gotten his license plate number. Or, perhaps, he went through a battle with sin and won. I have reason to believe it is the former and not the latter, because a few days later when I called the telephone number that he had given me, he did answer the phone. Then, he had complete mastery over any sin that may have been present. He happily took care of the repair bill, assumed moral responsibility and apologized profusely for putting a damper on our Christmas holiday. He told me during that phone conversation, that he was a committed Christian. I was amazed if not speechless.

Dear readers, to be a Christian does not make us perfect. We are and always will be sinners. Knowing what is right and choosing to fight and rule over our very nature will produce victory in our daily life.  We can do this with God's help. Jotham said that he hoped to see us sometime at Jean-Jâcques Pâtisserie in the future, and I could honestly say that I hoped so too. Jotham even sent us a New Years's card with a very nice message. Isn't this the way every auto collision should end?



* the names have been changed.

How Do You Prepare For A Storm?

This winter has been a record breaking cold season for the New York area. A "snow bomb cyclone" just hit the eastern coast of the United States yesterday. Its' name was Winter Storm Grayson. Schools and many businesses were closed as it unfolded. How do you prepare for a storm? When I know a storm is coming, I do a variety of things. I fill up the car with gasoline. I stock up on food, water, and make sure that any outside displays are safely stored away. My husband just re-insulated some pipes in order to keep them from freezing and he made sure that we were stocked up with ice melt. Most importantly, I try to remember to pray before, during and after a storm.

How do you prepare for a storm? If you are like me, you sometimes struggle with the concept of how to best prepare for the storms of this life. When one experiences a health storm, a financial storm or even a family "snow bomb cyclone," what is the best way to handle it? There are times when I worry incessantly, or I get depressed. Other times, I rack my brains trying to figure out what I can do to manage things best. Whenever I feel like that I try and remember that Jesus said, For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me- John 6:38. This verse reminds me to keep God's Will central in my life and actions, as Jesus did, no matter what. This way, even through the trials we experience, we can honor God. I am reminded of a mighty woman of God who played the piano and served in a summer ministry for children in Ocean Grove, New Jersey every summer. The children would arrive for their morning study and she would always emphatically say,"this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad." She did this with utter joy even as she was dying of scleroderma.

Furthermore, the peace that we are looking for in a crisis will never come from how well we manage things but from how close we stay to God. Although, it is important to act with wisdom in any crisis, that does not mean that we should leave God out of the equation. That is only going to make things worst. So remember when the storms of life hit, the first thing you need to do is pray and ask God to direct you in the situation. Another verse to keep in mind is from the Book of Proverbs, chapter 3, verse 5. It says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.