#32

#32. We have many CD's in our home which we play a lot. The latest one is a renewed version of music sung by the Mennonite Hour Chorus many, many years ago. Mennonite Media has done a very good job in taking the old recordings and making good quality CD's from them.

The latest one we have is entitled, "All Nature Sings," a compilation of hymns from various seasons and with several different groups from The Mennonite Hour. The hymn, Eternal Father, began playing this morning, and immediately the number 32 came into my mind. Also immediately I blurted out, "#32, let's sing #32, Eternal Father." Then I began to wonder, what song book was that in? And again immediately it came to my mind, the old black Church Hymnal. And so I asked my wife, do we still have one of the old black Church Hymnals. She said, yes, its up on top of the cupboards under that old lunch box. So I got the kitchen stool and looked. Sure enough there was the dusty hymnal. I looked at number 32, and guess what, it was "Eternal Father, when to thee, beyond all worlds by faith I soar . . . ." I was almost awestruck to think that after all these years, who knows how many, my old, forgetful mind, could recall something like this.

I began leading congregational singing in our church when I was 16 years old. I don't know how many years I led singing, but quite a few. Nor do I know how many times I led #32 in Church Hymnal, but many, many times. It was one of my favorites back then, and still is. It is amazing that a number like that can pop up from nowhere in one's mind.

All of which says something about the importance of learning the right things in our early years. The hymns which we sang when we were young, and also as our children were growing up, somehow have made indelible impressions in our brains, which under the right circumstances, can be brought up after long years of absence from our consciousness. Our children attest to that. Most of them do not attend churches where very many hymns are sung, if at all, but they can still sing them when we get together as a family.

Music has always been a part of my life, both in my home and in church, and I hope it always will be. The music sung in our churches today is all good music, for the most part, but I miss the hymns when we don't sing them. I have learned through the years to enjoy many different kinds of music, some which I get tired of quickly, but I never tire of the old hymns. There just seems to be something about the words and music that have endured through the years that touches my soul in a deeper way. I often wonder what music our grandchildren will have in their memories when they get older. I hope its something that will bring inspiration and hope to their souls like #32, and others, have to mine.

Pilgrim on the way