In this E-psitle:

Marking the Amish
What and Why We Sing

The Apostle Paul advises the Philippians to mark those whose lives serve as example of Kingdom living (Philippians 3:17).

There’s been a lot written this week in the aftermath of the shooting at the Amish School in Lancaster County. National news reports have tended to focus on three aspects of the story. First is the context: the Amish and their way of life that eschews so much of modernity and technology. Second is the amazing forgiveness that marked the Amish response to the tragedy. The third part of the story has been the life of the murderer, a man, who among other things “hated God.”

The Amish are very different than almost all others of us. The simple clothes, horse drawn buggies and quiet separatism are the most obvious differences. We in the Reformed Tradition disagree with these Christian brothers and sisters of the radical Anabaptist movement about their interpretation of what it means to be “not of the world” (John 17:15), but in terms of core theological conviction, we have (or should have) more in common with the Amish than with the Oprah-ized therapeutic feel-goodism that has become the state religion in the last couple of decades.

So while many reporters aren’t quite sure what to make of the Amish and their forgiveness (see Ann Curry from NBC, for instance), we would do well to mark the Amish as among those whose lives serve as an example to us and so live. Yes, in Ann Curry’s words, the forgiveness shown by the Amish is incredible, literally unbelievable, in a world driven by ambition and revenge. But for those who take Christ seriously, it has to be not incredible, but credible. Jesus teaches forgiveness in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). He lives it on the Cross (Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, Luke 23:36). The Apostles exhort us to follow both the teaching and the example of Christ (As the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive, Colossians 3:13). Just like our Amish brothers and sisters, we are called to forgive. It’s a credible call and we should not be at all different than the Amish when it comes to forgiveness.

Finally, we hear of Charles Carl Roberts, a man the Amish insist was not evil but who did evil. We are told that after the death of newborn daughter nine years ago, Roberts began the downward spiral that ended earlier this week in an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County. “I haven’t been the same since it affected me in a way I never felt possible. I am filled with so much hate, hate toward myself hate towards God and unimaginable emptiness. It seems like every time we do something fun I think about how Elise wasn’t here to share it with us and I go right back to anger,” Roberts wrote in his suicide note.

Anger towards and hatred of God grows out of a sense of injustice and abandonment. Certainly David, the man after God’s own heart, knew a sense of divine injustice and abandonment. Consider this anguish he expresses in the opening of the 13th Psalm: How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?

Like David, we can always bring our deepest questions and heaviest sorrows to God. Though David did not allow his sense of injustice and abandonment to grow into anger and hatred, God can handle all our anger and all our hatred. He did on the cross. What happens when we open our hearts and everything, everything, that is in them to God? David’s Psalm ends this way: But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Charles Carl Roberts did not have to live alone with his anger and hatred, and neither do we. Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Finally, a note about worship on Sunday and the music we will use:

We will be singing two praise songs with Graças and two traditional hymns. Music really is the language of heart and mind, and it is good for us to understand what we sing and why we sing it. I have put a brief announcement in the bulletin. At first I intended the announcement to serve as an explanation of the male-exclusive language in one of the songs, but expanded to this:

Music in this morning’s service includes:
Face to Face, written in 1993 for Promise Keepers, the men’s ministry movement of the 1990’s.

These are the Days of Elijah was written by Robin Mark in 1995. Mark is a composer/worship leader in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The song was written in response to Mark’s struggle with the sovereignty of God in light of genocide in Rwanda.

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah was written in 1745 during the great Welsh revival by the Welsh pastor and hymn writer William Williams.

Fairest Lord Jesus is thought to have come from the Moravian followers of John Hus and was sung during a time of intense persecution of their Reformation church in the early 17th Century.

Many people say that blended (multi-dimensional!) worship can’t/won’t work. I desperately want to prove them wrong. I want to say to one group that it is a sin for a generation of Christians to not know “Fairest Lord Jesus” as it was sung by Moravian martyrs or “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah” sung in response to the outpouring of the Spirit in Wales 250 years ago. But it is also a sin for a generation of Christians not to know what God is doing in the world today. “Days of Elijah” is not some insipid praise chorus and “Face to Face” spoke to a movement of men that made a difference.

Robin Rich, the Irishman who wrote “Days of Elijah” was interviewed recently and I would encourage you to read what he had to say about the writing of “Days of Elijah” and his understanding of our need for both old and new in worship.

PC: What would you say to those who are mourning the loss of the great hymns of the faith in our worship services?
RM: I’d say I’m one of them. We try to incorporate the best of the old with the new in our services. Some of the fine old Irish hymns such as “Be Thou My Vision,” and “My Song is Love Unknown,” are staples of our church. They are great songs of truth and worship and should be recounted as often as possible in the new churches. We don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater when we introduce new forms and styles of songs. However, we really should try not to hold onto tradition for tradition’s sake.

The full interview is here: