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There was once a farmer who went to the city one weekend and attended a big city church. When he got home, his wife asked him how it was.
‘It was good’ he replied, ‘ but they did something different. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”
“Praise Choruses? What are those?” she asked.
“Well, they’re sort of hymns, only different.”
She wanted to know how different they were so the farmer tried to explain.
“If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn’ , well, that would be a hymn. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:
‘Martha, Martha, Martha,
Oh Martha. Martha, Martha,
the cows, the big cows, the brown cows,
the black cows, the white cows,
the black and white cows, the cows,
the cows, the cows, are in the corn,
are in the corn, are in the corn,
the Corn, Corn, Corn’
and if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well, that would
be a praise chorus.”
The next weekend, his nephew, a young Christian from the city, came to visit
and attended the local village church. When he went home, his mother asked
him how it was. “Well” said the young man, “it was good. They did something
different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.
“Hymns?” asked his mother, ‘What are those?”
“Oh, they’re Ok, just different.” When she asked how different this is what he said:
“Well, it’s like this. If I were to say to you: ‘Martha, the Cows are in the corn” that would be a regular song. If on the other hand I were to say to you:
‘Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry.
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
to the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth
– for the way of the animals who can explain…
yea those cows of glad bovine, rebellious delight
have broke free from their shackles, their warm pens eschewed,
then goaded by minions of darkness and night,
they all my mild sweet corn have chewed..’
Then if I were to do only verses one, three and four, and do a key change on the last verse, well, that would be a hymn.
‘Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves” says St. Paul in today’s Epistle but not necessarily, it would appear, from the same hymn sheet.
Though perhaps we need to take note that in the little story I have just told, both the Farmer and his nephew said that what they had experienced was ‘good’. In that expression there was a unity.
Hymns, spiritual songs, Psalms are a recipe that St Paul seems to think will unite Christians in praise and no matter from what source our hymns and songs come, there will be a hope that as we sing together in praise of Almighty God, the words or the tune, or even both, will lift our hearts to heaven. That is, after all, the aim.
All our praise is directed towards God and whether it be a chorus or a Latin hymn there is no other desire than that in their own way they speak to us of God and allow us, therefore, to raise our hearts and voices to Him. And therein lies the unity at the heart of all praise, whatever form it takes.
For Paul the exhortation to sing hymns, psalms and spiritual songs has another purpose. They keep our minds on things heavenly when we live in a world which so easily distracts us from God. Today’s reading from the letter to the Ephesians is part of a section which contrasts Christian with non-Christian conduct.
It begins in Chapter 4 verse 17 where Paul tells the Christians in Ephesus not to live as the Gentiles (non-believers) do 'in the futility of their minds, darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart.' By contrast, those who follow Christ must put away their former life and be renewed in the spirit of your minds and be clothed with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Paul is here describing the baptismal process whereby the Christian life is embraced as a new birth and a new humanity. What governed life before baptism must now be shunned. We must remember that in New Testament and early Church times, Christians were baptised as adults and they brought to the font a lot of baggage from which they had to be set free. By the waters of baptism they were delivered into a new and living hope and into a way of life which was no longer governed by sin but by repentance – that act of will which turns our lives towards God and which opens us to the flooding of his love which we call grace.
Paul follows this with a list of moral exhortations – put away falsehood; speak the truth; deal with anger; don’t let the devil in; live honestly; share with the needy; don’t give in to evil talk; get rid of bitterness, wrath, wrangling, slander, malice and be kind to one-another, tender-hearted, forgiving as God in Christ has forgiven you. This conduct is again contrasted with what life is like without God before he reminds us that we no longer live in the darkness of sin but as Children of light.
The opening words of today’s Epistle sum up the message Paul is seeking to drive home – we are to be careful how we live. We are to take care that we live not according to the folly of the world but rather in the wisdom of God.
There are three ways that wisdom shows itself in our lives. The first is that we use our time wisely because it is God-given and, of course, we have no idea how much more will actually be given to us. There is something to be said, therefore, for living each moment as if it is our last – not in a morbid sense but in the sense that all time is precious and must be used to the full. Because life is a gift and can be taken away at any time then it makes sense to live each moment .
Jean-Pierre de Caussaude, a Jesuit priest of the 18th century coined a phrase, The Sacrament of the Present Moment, and in his writings suggests that each moment holds infinite riches beyond our wildest dreams but we will only enjoy them if we invest them with love and faith. If, in fact, we abandon ourselves to God whom we are to find even in the most mundane moments of our lives. Just as a Sacrament is a sign of God’s presence so each moment brings an opportunity to be close to Him. Much the same thought is to be found in Celtic Spirituality. The Celtic Christians found God in everything and saw that everything and everyone reflected God.
I have to tell myself that when the downward drag of the world with all its bleakness and busyness crowds out God’s brightness and nearness. For whenever we think God is absent from our lives it is always that we have taken ourselves away from God. He is always there, waiting for us.
Making the most of Time demands a lot from us these days because it is all too easy to squander time and to fool ourselves into believing that we have none to spare. We have to ask ourselves why it is that the moment we get busy we abandon God and abandon prayer. Is it perhaps because we still do not love him enough?
Paul’s second exhortation is that we are to understand what the will of God is. Now that demands an act of will on our own part because we have to let go of our own desires and seek only God’s for us. Because , generally, we like to be in control, it is hard for us to hand our lives over to God and, as it were, to say with Mary, Be it unto me according to your word. One way in which some Christians have tried to put this into practice became popular in America during the 1990’s – based on the initials WWJD – What Would Jesus Do. Thousands of Christians used the phrase as a reminder that their life must be shaped by Jesus and that they must act in a way that Jesus would approve.
Another use of the initials makes it a more active phrase – Walk With Jesus Daily. It’s actually not a bad catch-phrase if you are seeking to live your life according to God’s Will though, of course, it requires a deep study of the Gospels to get the right answer! What Would Jesus Do can easily slip into – What is God’s Will for me in this or that situation.
Paul’s third exhortation in today’s Epistle offers us the help we need to fulfil both the other two – be filled with the Spirit. This is God’s way of helping us to both use our time wisely and to seek His will. The thing is – God never abandons us to our own devices. He knows that if we are left to ourselves then we will probably fail. Allowing the Spirit to direct and guide our lives takes away all limitations and opens possibilities for us to grow and develop beyond our wildest imaginings but it does mean that we have to let go of our own plans and, again, like Mary, hand our lives over to God.
And what holds us close to God is worship which leads to Thanksgiving. Give thanks says Paul. Living Thankfully is the clue to a fulfilling life which is rooted in God. When I was doing this week’s newsletter I had a space to fill so I put in the little cartoon which is of God sitting in heaven sorting out the prayer requests. At the risk of losing whatever attention you are still giving to this sermon, I will point out what is obvious. The ‘Asking’ prayers are always greater than the ‘Thank you’ prayers – and yet if it were the other way round, our lives would be overturned.
Thankful lives are God-centred lives and if we take nothing else from today’s Epistle, at least try that because it will transform you.
Give thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let your hearts sing that particular hymn, or spiritual song if you prefer, and Praise with Thanksgiving will bring you close to God.
Where else would you want to be?