An Old Songbook

There must be some law of physics that explains how something hidden at the bottom of a stack eventually makes its way to the top of the stack, but if there is, I missed it along with a lot of other things in that class.  Nonetheless, I am a believer.  It happened just today as an old worn out paperback songbook entitled "Spiritual Life Songs" showed up on the top of the stack of books and magazines.   It is not dated anywhere, but wears a worn out tag on the front which says "Lyons Methodist Church"  and inside it is marked .50 cents so I obviously did not steal it, but bought it secondhand somewhere along the way.  For it not to be marked "United Methodist" means it is older than 1968 which makes it an old one.     

Those old paperback songbooks which sat alongside "The Methodist Hymnal" and "The Cokesbury Hymnal" in most Methodist Churches were not used except on Sunday night and duirng revival services.  The songs inside were strongly invitational, a bit more heavenly oriented, and generated more toe tapping and pew thumping than the stately old hymns of Sunday morning.  As I thumbed through the pages I had a great time walking down memory lane as I softly sang one song after another.  Where else do you find a song entitled "My Mother's Bible" than in one of those small paperback songbooks from long ago?   

Music has changed through the span of the years I have known.  Most of the songs in the old book from the Lyons Church would be unknown to today's singers in worship and for sure, most of the new songs sung in contemporary worship services of today are unknown to this old Methodist preacher.  Regardless of the kind of music, it is a precious gift to the church.  It has a way of touching the heart and traveling with the worshiipper long after the words of the sermon have been forgotten.  I only wish I had a better singing voice and had learned to play some instrument other than the plastic flutophone in Mrs. Shoemaker's fifth grade class.