Hymns

I really appreciate the hymns I have learned over the years in the Lord's Recovery. As I sing with the christian group that I am currently meeting with I get frustrated with the overall shallowness and lightness of the hymns we sing. I look at the kids standing with their families, some looking frequently at the clock and others singing with the same gusto as their parents. But most, showing the same lack of interest as most everyone around them. Church is more of a chore I think. It is what good Christians are supposed to do on Sunday. It makes them fulfill the spiritual duty to the family. It must add a little meaning. But I wonder what the kids will walk away with. How is a true relationship with God established?

As Fred and I look back on our being raised in the Recovery (I suppose I can go into all of that history at a later date.) we see how much stress was put on our inner life relationship with the Lord. Seeking Him daily on our own. Praying through Bible verses every day. Memorizing. Praying together, seeking the leading of the Lord as we pray and building on the prayers of others, and what I appreciate the most, Singing Hymns.

I would say the majority of the benefit came from being in the midwest and in the high school and college trainings with Tutus Chu. But not just Titus, there were many other brothers. Fred calls them our heroes. Brothers who have given their lives to serve the Lord, constantly seeking and trying to teach us how to seek as well. He can't see the heroes that the kids in our christian church have.

This morning we were singing a song about how things change and are never the same, which is true for the initial salvation experience, but for second generation kids, raised in Christianity, nothing ever changes, and this is the kind of song that makes it stick out to them how much things are really the same, whether or not they are interested in church, or attentive in their high school gatherings. The more you sing about things changing and never being the same, yet live out sameness, the less real God can be to you. They must grow up to think that they were just lied to and pursue christianity only to the level that will please their parents, or just leave.

I am concerned for my own kids, how Fred and I can give them what they need to have a relationship with Christ. One that is real and true and can last them through the happy as well as the frustrating times; without them being raised in the same unique Christian environment we were raised in. I can see that it won't come from what we are experiencing now. Can we be their heroes?

My dad was one of my heroes. I could tell that whenever he needed to say something to my sisters or me that he would pray about it first. His words came from God to us. I think that many times he was instructed not to speak at all, so he just kept praying.

Anyways, Fred and I are preparing to lead our OAG (One Another Group, basically small group meeting) this week and I am picking some hymns from my old hymnal that are on the topic of trusting God. No problem, since there is a whole section on comfort in trials and trusting in God. I hope that we can be the heroes to those in our group and that we can be proper heroes for our kids.