From a small child until now, my life has been centered around God and the church. I have always been convinced that God loved me, hated sin, Heaven is real and Hell is hot. Like most children, I was easily distracted in church. We would people-watch and play games with the hymnals. Even with all the distractions you can’t help but get a little theology in your head when you attend four services every week. Looking back, I have to confess that a lot of my theology and understanding of the Bible came through the songs that we sang.
I love Pentecostal music especially the old hymns. We sang from a hymnal entitled “Pentecostal Praises” and to this day I can’t help but sing one of the beloved songs once or twice a week. I learned about God’s love singing, “I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore….Love lifted me, love lifted me. When nothing else could help, love lifted me.” And “Leaning, Leaning, safe and secure from all alarm, leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.” I may not have understood all the words but I knew God loved me and could be depended on. I am convinced that this next song was written with moms in mind. “Watching you, watching you, every day mind the course you pursue. Watching you, watching you, there’s an all seeing eye watching you.” My mom could figure out what I was up to before I even acted upon any of my thoughts. I think it was that God-given all-seeing eye. As I grew older, it was the knowledge of the “Eye” that kept me out of a lot of trouble.
Oh yes, we sang about sin. I knew sin was something I needed to get rid of because sin and Heaven didn’t mix. How did I know? We had a song; “Heaven is a Holy place filled with glory and with grace, sin can never enter there. All within its gates are pure, from defilement kept secure, sin can never enter there…. If at the judgment bar, sinful spots your soul shall mar, you can never enter there.” We kept singing and I learned that sin had a remedy; “Would you be free from your burden of sin? There’s power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you o’er evil the victory win? There’s wonderful power in the blood”. Not only could I be free of sin but I knew that I would never have to face that sin again because, you got it; there was a song, “They’re underneath the blood of the cross of Calvary, as far removed as darkness is from dawn. In the sea of God’s forgetfulness there’s room enough for me. Praise God my sins are gone.” The words of that song filled me with such peace because I knew that once God had forgiven me, there was no more condemnation and even God didn’t remember what I had done.
I loved the toe-tapping, hand-clapping melodies. Oh how the joy of the Lord filled my heart as we lifted our voices and sang, “Some glad morning we shall see Jesus in the air coming back for you and me joy is ours to share. What rejoicing there will be when the saints shall rise, headed for that jubilee yonder in the skies.” Or, “It is joy unspeakable and full of glory…Oh the half has never yet been told.” So many memories and so many songs run through my head. They taught me to love a wonderful savior that not only died for me but has a place prepared for me to live for all eternity. I am so thankful for my Pentecostal heritage and the hymnal theology that I still hold close to my heart today.
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