Why Do You Believe That?

You might believe it because of an old hymn.

You might call me an old hymn fanatic. I love to sing the old hymns. When we were children and traveling with the family we sang hymns some times. Once when Cathy got a tape recorder for Christmas, we sang hymns and other songs all the way to Savannah. Mama loved the old songs. Her family said that when it was her turn to wash dishes, she put the hymnal behind the faucets to hold it open and sang all the way through the dishwashing. I remember driving the hour home from the hospital when Grandmother died. I cried and sang hymns all the way.
Hymns are the source of a lot of our theology. They help us get through the hard times, like dishwashing for a teenager. They comfort us in times of grief.

One of my sociology professors spent some time talking about music. He said that it is an amoral art. In other words, it has the capacity to arouse your emotions but does not direct them. The hymns are different, they direct us to the Lord. Music by passes our minds and keeps playing in our hearts without engaging our mind. When we need the tune, It keeps coming back up, comforting us.

When I read some of the stories of when and how the hymns were written they become even more inspiring. Take for example, Kelso Carter. He is the author of the hymn we have been using to pray for Tommy, "Standing On The Promises". It seems that he was well acquainted with the church because his parents were active in it as he grew up. (much like us) Then when he got on his own, he didn't lean on the Lord and basically did his own thing. (much like us)
Finally, there came the time that happens to all of us and he needed more than himself to lean on. As he fought illness, he pursued the Lord more and more. He spent time reading the Bible and looking for help in it. He stopped trying to make Christianity fit into his mold and began to let the Lord remold him. As he studied the Bible, he found that Jesus made a lot of promises. He found that those promises were all he had to hold onto. When he wrote the song, he wrote it from the reality of that truth in his own life.

I believe that is why the hymns endure. They come from the heart and touch the heart of God. Then as we sing them and learn them, those heart felt messages warm our hearts and they become part of our own theology. It is a way for God to speak to his children.