Sing

I've grown up with a pretty eclectic collection of church music. Being raised in a good Church of Christ home, we didn't sing anything to any instruments. There was one occasion at my brother's high school graduation that the band had a beautiful trumpet fanfare to the hymn "God of Our Fathers." I remember my father wouldn't sing. But I grew up to the old, old songs. Christian Hymns II and III were our songbooks. I still have several copies of them in my library. There are some great songs. My mother used to sing "Rock of Ages." It was her favorite song. I couldn't stand it. Too slow. What did it mean? On and on. It has since become one of my favorites. "Sound the Battle Cry," "Come Ye, Disconsolate," "Ready to Suffer," were all songs we sang. I led the song "Does Jesus Care" right before a sermon one time and the preacher came to me afterward and said he wasn't sure what I was trying to say. The chorus says something about "the long nights dreary." He said he wasn't sure if I was talking about his sermon or not.
We moved to Searcy, Arkansas when I was a sophomore in high school. There we had high church. I'm not complaining, because there are some tremendous songs in the Great Songs of the Church book. "O Sacred Head," "Night with Ebon Pinion," "Twas on that Night" were beautiful songs musically and poetically. Many of those songs are still written on my heart. Stamps-Baxter music was taboo, almost sacreligious. There was a time in college when I was in choir when we weren't allowed to sing on the bus on chorus tours because of the strain on our voices. So we would get down some old song books and whistle the different parts. "Let Me Live Close to Thee" in the whistling mode sounded like a caliopy. Now THAT'S sacreligious! We could hardly get through the first line because you can't laugh and whistle at the same time.
With the addition of Christian music, new names and new songs have emerged. Names such as Michael W. Smith, Twila Paris, and groups like Point of Grace, Mercy Me, and Casting Crowns have all changed our music. My biggest gripe about music today is the songs we sing that last for ten minutes and all we do is change one word. Not that we can't be edified by those kinds of songs. We just haven't been very creative.
But I love to sing "We Shall Assemble on the Mountain" and "There is a Redeemer." In the chorus when we sing "Thank you, O, my Father for giving us your Son. And leaving your Spirit 'til the work on earth is done" moves me everytime I sing them. I can hardly get through the song. There'll be singing in heaven. In fact, Revelation talks of a new song. There's a book out called 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. He relates his story of being clinically dead for 90 minutes and being greeted outside the gates of heaven. I'm pretty much a skeptic on things like this, but you have to hear his words. Listen to his description of the singing in heaven.
"The praise was unending, but the most remarkable thing to me was that hundreds of songs were being sung at the same time--all of them worshiping God. As I approached the large, magnificent gate, I head them from every direction and realized that each voice praised God......Many of the old hymns and choruses I had sung at various times in my life were part of the music--along with hundreds of songs I had never heard before. Hymns of praise, modern-sounding choruses, and ancient chants filled my ears and brought not only a deep peace but the greatest feeling of joy I've ever experienced....As I've pondered the meaning of the memory of the music, it seems curious. I would have expected the most memorable experience to be something I had seen or the physical embrace of a loved one. Yet above everything else, I cherish those sounds, and at times I think, I can't wait to hear them again--in person. It's what I look forward to. I want to see everybody, but I know I'll be with them forever. I want to experience everything heaven offers, but most of all, I want to hear those never-ending songs again."

"I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high." Psalm 7::17 Have a great day! JW