Not an Exact Quote from a Book but...

Reading a book that has made me cry at least 20 times so far and I am nearing the end. I won't spoil anything, so consider yourself safe. My Sister's Keeper. That's the book. Anna is considering the difference between what her funeral will be and her sister's funeral would be. She assumes that there would be standing room only at Kate's funeral--Family, Friends, Nurse/Dr's from the hospital, people who have helped raise money for her treatments--again, Standing Room Only. Kate has Leukemia. Anna on the other hand sees her own funeral as much less attended and this brings me to the quote. Again, it's not exact... I don't have the book in front of me (I left it at the counseling center last night and my next session isn't scheduled until Monday). "People would sing Amazing Grace. All the verses, not just the famous one."

This got me thinking not about mortality. Or even about my own funeral. (My songs would be For the Beauty of the Earth [my favorite] and It is Well with My Soul amoung others, I do want lots of music). Nope, this got me thinking about that elusive 3rd verse in the hymns that we just don't sing like we should. Can I say that I am a hymnal person? In the whole hymns versus chorus/traditional versus contemporary debate I fall more to traditional, but have no trouble praising God either way... After all worship is NOT about the worshipper, it is about the object of worship-- and I think God likes both. That is not the debate I am talking about though... I love hymns because they are so theologically rich. They are deep messages that get to the heart of doctrine--why we believe what we believe. And choruses have that too, but hymns have been weeded out. The bad one (musically and theologically) have been discarded and only the truly rich have remained. The new choruses are experiencing that weeding out process right now, but more care has to be taken in singing just any chorus--after all, music is a powerful teacher, and I for one do not want to be taught or teach poor theology. I'm rambling.

Why do I like to sing all verses and not just the famous ones? Because sometimes I read over it and I see what we are missing and I so want that particular truth to be taught.