By JUDY KILGORE
Religion Editor

Anyone who knows a whit about me knows how important music has always been in my life. I grew up in the era of big bands, Broadway musicals, and parlor pianos. All those hold pleasant childhood memories, but the most memorable songs that have stayed with me through the years are the old hymns sung from the Cokesbury Hymnal. I practically grew up in the East Point First Methodist Church. I remember putting my pennies in the basket on my birthdays (“Yes the pennies say she's --- years old.”), eating spaghetti dinners and doing folk dances at MYF on Sunday nights, and singing, singing, singing the old hymns on Sunday and Wednesday nights.

I confess to “defecting” to another denomination in my middle adult years and loved the ceremony, the ritual and the reverence of the services...but I really missed my old hymns. And so, in 1995, I went back to the Methodist Church where I could sing “Dwelling in Beulah Land,” “Love Lifted Me,” and “When We All Get to Heaven,” on a regular basis. I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven.

But I discovered a disturbing fact. Many of the old hymns were no longer in the hymn book. In fact, it was now called “The United Methodist Hymnal” instead of the “Cokesbury Hymnal.” Huh? I discovered a battle was also raging (well...maybe that's exaggerated a bit) among older and younger church members over what they called “contemporary music.”

Well, after reading your bulletins and newsletters for almost a year now, I am beginning to believe this battle is not unique to our church. And also, after being an active participant in our church's music program for the past four years, I realize “contemporary” music ain't so bad after all. I see your music ministers trying to keep the peace and open your minds to that attitude also. There is a place in the church for all kinds of music, I have learned. It is the ultimate form of praise.

With that said, I would like to share with you the writings of Kevin Adkins, Music Minister for the Fayetteville Christian Church. Kevin has done a few columns called “Yesterday's Music Not Outdated,” in which he takes a favorite old hymn and gives us the background on it. One of his most recent was everybody's favorite..the one most of us can sing without even looking at the words... ”Amazing Grace.”

Kevin writes:

“Sunday, March 5, we sang my old favorite hymn, `Amazing Grace.' John Newton (1725-1807) wrote stanzas one through four and John P. Rees (1828-1900) wrote the fifth stanza. In this powerful hymn, Mr. Newton puts (into) words his appreciation for grace. Grace for a man who considered himself a `wretch.' Before his conversion to Christianity, John was a seaman who captured West African natives and sold them as slaves. So touched by God's grace when he was nearly involved in a shipwreck during a terrible storm, John took Christ into his heart and changed his way of life. As a matter of fact, John Newton so much appreciated God's grace that , at the age of 39, he became an ordained minister of the Anglican church. God's grace can change ANY heart! He can take our lives, no matter how bad, and turn them into something wonderful. God's GRACE truly is AMAZING.”

Thanks, Kevin, for sharing that meaningful bit of history with us. Maybe the next time any of us sings that wonderful old hymn, we'll remember John and his trial and conversion and remember just how Amazing Grace can be. And how beautiful the old hymns are.

Until next time...keep the faith.

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