LET GOD'S PEOPLE SING OUT LOUD!

  On a Friday, I visited Aunt Frances. She will be 95 on April 26, 2022, and misses my Uncle Fred Crain, who passed on in 2018. Aunt lives in the memory-care wing of Spring Park, an assisted-living home in Travelers Rest, SC. 

Aunt sat in a wheelchair near her dining area. Ms. Lisa, introduced herself as the home’s assistant director and asked if I — holding my guitar case — had arrived to play for the group. I was there just to visit Aunt Frances, but Ms. Lisa invited me to sing and play for eight folk sitting near Aunt. Most memory-care residents (those who could walk easily) had gone on a bus trip, she said. 

“OK,” I said, getting out my guitar and finding a seat. I sang a few hymns and persuaded Ms. Lisa to sing a solo verse of “In the Garden.” 

“I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses … And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and he tells me I am His own,” she sang before hurrying back to work. 

Many older people remember the song “In the Garden.” A study reports that if songs spur personal memories, those songs can cause stronger positive emotions than even looking at photos of by-gone days. “Music represents who we are and how we feel, so it’s what we remember,” someone said.

“Music has a way of forcing itself upon our attention as no other art has,” someone said.  

Music can promote faith in God as we worship him in song. The Bible tells about people who sang: 

After the Israelis crossed the Red Sea (Exodus 15), they sang: “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord … saying, ‘I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.’ … And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.” 

Jesus and his disciples sang: “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives” (Matt. 26:30).

The Apostle Paul said, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God” (Col. 3:16). 

Does your singing have to be perfect? No. The Lord likes to hear all birds sing, even if they “can’t carry a tune in a bucket,” I think. “If only the best birds sang, the forest would be silent,” Henry Van Dyke said.

In 2017, Nielsen estimated that Americans spend  over 32 hours a week on average listening to music. Often it’s background music — muzak in stores, CDs, radio, or TV, says “Faithforward.” “Outside the church there are few opportunities … for people to sing together. Much of the popular music (including Christian music) composed today is for performance rather than for participation.”

Congregational singing is important. “Music unites the congregation so that God is worshipped with one voice,” someone said. 

Music is a gift of God and part of the created order, says Faithforward, adding, “The human voice has priority in praising God: Other instruments are to be used primarily in the service of the singing of God’s people. The congregation is always the primary choir. … While it is possible to be actively engaged in worship and in prayer while listening to an anthem or solo, a diet of worship which does not regularly include ample opportunity for all the members of the congregation to join in song will be impoverished worship, and the life of the church and the faith of its people will suffer.”

The main focus of congregational singing is to the Lord. “O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth” (Psalm 96:1).   

Faithforward says that music is made first of all to the Lord and only secondarily to each other: “Music should communicate and express a sense of awe and wonder in the presence of God; it should lead our thoughts toward God rather than toward ourselves. … People tend to remember the theology they sing more than the theology that is preached.”

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing” (Psalm 100:1-2).

GINGER SMITH, A LADY WHO LOVED THE LORD, PASSES ON

Photos: (top) Ginger Smith, (middle) Ginger and Kylie at a younger ages, (bottom) Ginger.

 

  I had only seen Ginger Smith, a woman with red hair, one time: when she was rolling a garbage container to the roadside where Barbara, my wife, and I were walking. We said, “Hello.” We never really met her. Ginger lived in a mobile home behind the house to the left of our residence. She lived there with Ms. Loretta (her mother), and Ginger’s red-headed daughter, Kylie, 13. A firetruck and a county patrol car arrived at their home shortly after dark on Sunday night, April 3, 2022.

That Sunday night, Ginger, died. The next day, they called Kylie, who was being treated in Tennessee for health issues, about her mother’s death. She took it hard, they say. Vickie, our neighbor across the way, keeps up with community happenings, and she informed us. Vickie stays in touch with Loretta. After Ginger’s death, Loretta went to stay with Ginger’s 20-something daughter, Kaitlynn, in Travelers Rest, SC.

Strangely, a day after we learned of Ginger’s death, I looked on Facebook to view part of the Sunday service from the O’Neal Church of God located in our neighborhood. At 40 minutes into the program, as the pastor started his message, I saw the back of Ginger’s head as she stumbled to the altar. The pastor said, “Someone come pray with Ginger; she often has these health issues.” Ginger was lying there (out of my video sight), and several ladies and church “first responders” gathered around. They called an ambulance. The hospital released Ginger, but she died that night. The church held the memorial service on Saturday, with no charge to the family. 



  The Memorial Service for Ms. Ginger Smith at the O’neal Church of God, 3794 Berry Mill Rd, Greer, SC 29651:   

  

On Sat., April 9, 2022, we drove to the O’Neal Church of God, just south of Blue Ridge High School in rural, upper Greenville County, SC, about two blocks distance from our house. We attended the 3:00 p.m. memorial service for Ms. Ginger Smith, our late neighbor whose body was cremated. The weather was cool and cloudy but no rain fell. Our neighbor, Vickie, and her granddaughter, Whitley, 15, rode with us. 

Kylie, 13, a petite daughter of the deceased, greeted people at the outside front door of the church. Her pregnant, older sister, Kaitlynn, stood by her side, providing comfort to the weeping Kylie. Whitley gave her a hug, and Kylie’s crying increased. They are school friends and live 75 yards from each other. My wife, Barbara, hugged Kylie. I missed speaking to Kylie but spoke to her sister. “I’m sorry for the loss of your mother,” I said. Kaitlynn responded cordially. Ms. Loretta, Ginger’s mother, sat inside the church house with Ginger’s brother, Timmy. 

Two sections of pews supplied seating, along with a row of choir seats located behind the pulpit. Near the pulpit sat a piano and a section for band members. A tenor saxophone sat upright on a stand. The open altar in front of the raised stage where the pulpit stood provided a place for gathering. A large photo of Ginger Smith sat on the floor in front of a table-centerpiece located in front of the on-stage pulpit. 

Barbara, ahead of me, entered a back pew. I sat in the middle of that pew, next to a tall young man wearing a denim coat with a shoulder patch showing these words: “Enduring Freedom Veteran.” A small metal piercing adorned his left eyebrow. His white-walled haircut sported longer hair on top.

The deceased’s family sat on front rows. A good-sized crowd show up for the funeral, showing support for Ginger’s family. The church’s pastor, the Rev. Tim McConnell, a tall, trim man with gray hair and mustache, began the service.

“We, as a church family, today, miss her dearly,” he said. “Seems impossible to believe — just last Sunday, she was sitting right here where her mother is. … Don’t ever take life for granted. Ginger probably invited a lot of you to church, and you probably gave her excuses, but, today, she got you here. And you’re here, I know, because you love her.” 

Pastor McConnell prayed, “I know if she were here, today, she’d be sitting on the front row, smiling.” 

Attendees viewed a video of still pictures of Ginger and her family. The video was accompanied by touching songs, including “When I Get Where I’m Going” with these lyrics: “When I get where I’m going … there’ll be only happy tears. I will shed the sins and struggles I have carried all these years. … When I get where I’m going, don’t cry for me down here.”

The pastor said they would always remember Ginger and her red lipstick. He read Psalm 91. “She knew this psalm,” he said. “Ginger trusted in the Lord. 

He invited Kylie to the platform and stood behind her as she spoke. 

“I didn’t know this day would come this soon,” Kylie said. “On April, 3, 2022, heaven gained a very beautiful angel. My mama … she loved God. The first time she stepped into this church, the very first footstep, she felt God, and she never stopped coming to church after that. … She welcomed Jesus in her heart, and when she did, she was immediately happier. You could see the smile on her face, the joy in her heart, when you saw her smile and pray. … My mom, she loved everyone … And she loved everybody, no matter what they did to her… My mom and my dad have had a lot of troubles before, but I don’t care what anybody tells me, my mom and my dad were soulmates; they were. They loved each other and that never changed. My mom was my best friend. When I found out that my mom was gone, it was like losing the other half of me. She always forgave me, no matter what … She would always understand. I’m gonna miss all our little moments together … She never lost hope … If you still have a mother-figure in your life, or your mom, make sure to keep her close to you. Make sure to tell that you love her and respect her, and let her know how much she means to you, because you never know when her last breath’s gonna be. I learned that the hard way … not being able to fix all the bad things I’ve done to my mom, you know, it’s hard and a lot of regret … You never know when your last moment with someone is gonna be. … I hope my mom forgave me before she left into heaven … .

“If you guys don’t mind, I’d like to say a quick little prayer before I head down: Dear Lord, I thank you for all the moms out there who are taking care of their kids and their babies. And I thank your for my mom and for the time I had with her. I thank you for showing me the smile on her face and the happiness … Thank you for the gift of life. Amen.” 

Kaitlynn, Kylie’s older sister, gave Kylie a hug before ascending the stage. She read from Psalm 92 that she saw in her mother’s journal: “God has created me and given me life.” 

She read her prepared writing: “Mama, I will always remember your infectious laughter … the way you hugged me, and all my fears and hurt would melt away. And I will cherish the memories, good and bad, in my heart forever. And the most important thing you taught me was to love deeply, endlessly, and without regret … Mommy, you taught me to be kind and forgive easily. You gave me life … you were destined to be my mama. I am forever grateful to have had you. You were my best friend, Mama … You loved me until your last breath. … It’s not goodbye, Mama, but until we meet again, you’re my special angel, and I love you eternally — your Doodlebug.” 

Pastor McConnell said Ginger took notes and came to church with a cup (and maybe ice), for the long haul. She sat at the front of the church. He said that Ginger said, “I sit at the front to be close to my pastor and the Word of God. If he wants to step on my toes, there they are.”

“I don’t know her history,” he said. “She said she’d been through a lot of hurt but God forgave her.” Ginger didn’t just want a handshake when greeted — she wanted a hug.”

He said that the Sunday morning Ginger died (on Sunday night), she started to the altar as he began his morning message. She “fell at the altar and had her Bible clutched under her arm.” Church first-responders attended to her and called an ambulance. The hospital examined her, and she returned home and died that night.

“She didn’t have a whole lot in this world, but that didn’t bother Ginger,” he said. “She had a Father who owns it all … Ginger was a daughter of God because she trusted in the blood of Jesus Christ. She said about her family, ‘I forgive them all whether they forgive me or not.’ … We celebrate her home-going, and we’re the ones left with the grief. Don’t be angry with God; be glad for Ginger.”

He read Hebrews 10:25: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

“We need to tell people how much we love them, not tell them what’s wrong with them,” Pastor said. “One day, if you know Jesus, you’re going to see this lovely lady again.” 

He read 1 Thessalonians 4:15: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.”

“And the dead in Christ shall rise first,” Pastor said. “Ginger never felt like she was first in this life … but on that day … my comfort is in knowing it’s not a goodbye … Ginger prayed for many of you … she handed me a list of over 40 people she wanted to go to heaven with her.” 

He led a “sinner’s prayer” for anyone who wanted to accept Christ.

He mentioned the front seat and asked, “Who will take her spot?”

The church played a recorded song Ginger liked: “In the Sweet Bye and Bye” sung by Dolly Parton. 

The assistant pastor led in a prayer. 

Psalm 27:4 was read: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.”  

Pastor McConnell said that the Ladies Ministry “prepared a meal downstairs for the family.” He prayed, “Thank you, Lord … we trust and believe she’s in your presence. In Jesus’ name … .”

    *Site for the Facebook showing of the funeral: 

https://livestream.com/onealcog/events/10319346/videos/230485473 

 

WHAT DID JESUS DO DURING PASSION WEEK?

 What did Jesus do during “Passion Week”? According to Doug Bookman of christianity.com, that week unfolded this way:

Day 1: Palm Sunday

Jesus rides into Jerusalem, fulfilling Zechariah 9:9b: “See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey … .” 

He spends the night in Bethany, a village on the Mount of Olives’ slopes, about two miles east of Jerusalem. Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus live there.

Day 2: Monday

Jesus leaves Bethany, curses the fig tree, weeps over Jerusalem, and cleanses the Temple for the second time in his ministry. Driving money changers out of the Temple, he says, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’” (Luke 19:46). He sleeps in Bethany. 

Day 3: Tuesday

Jesus leaves Bethany, finds the fig tree withered, and teaches on faith. Temple religious leaders intend to arrest him. Jesus evades their traps and says: “For you are like whitewashed tombs … inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy … Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?” (Matt. 23:24-33).

Jesus and his disciples go east to the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem. Jesus gives the Olivet Discourse, telling about the end of the age (Matt. 24:1–25:46). Judas Iscariot negotiates to betray Jesus (Matthew 26). Jesus and the disciples return to Bethany to stay the night.

Day 4: Holy Wednesday

Jesus spends the day and night in Bethany.  

Day 5: Maundy Thursday (“Maundy” comes from the Latin “Mandatum novum do vobis,” words Jesus spoke to his apostles: “A new mandate I give to you” — the command to love and serve one another.)

Peter and John prepare for Passover. After sunset, Jesus eats the meal with the 12. Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane; Judas betrays him. The High Priest condemns Jesus. In the early morning hours, Peter denies knowing his Master three times before the rooster crows.

Day 6: Good Friday — Trial, Crucifixion, Death, and Burial

Pontius Pilate finds Jesus guilty. Jesus endures accusations, condemnation, mockery, beatings, a crown of thorns, and abandonment. After multiple unlawful trials (Thursday night and early Friday morning), he is sentenced to death and then crucified at “the third hour” (9 a.m.) on Passover day (Mark 15:25).

Judas Iscariot, overcome with remorse, hangs himself early Friday morning.

Jesus’ Seven Sayings from the Cross:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34 NIV).  

“Today … with me in paradise.”

“Woman, behold thy son … ” (darkness from noon till 3 p.m.).

“My God, My God … .”

“I thirst.”

“It is finished.”

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46, NIV).

About 3 p.m., the veil is torn, rocks are rent, and some graves are opened, and people rise (to mortality) and go into the city.

Jesus’ side is pierced.

Passover lambs are slain in the Temple.

Jesus’ body is buried by sundown. 

By 6 p.m. Friday evening, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus’ body from the cross and lay it in a tomb.

Day 7: Saturday the Sabbath — it ends at 6 p.m., and Christ’s body is ceremonially treated for burial with spices purchased by Nicodemus (John 19:39-40).

In the tomb, Jesus Christ pays the penalty for sin by offering the perfect, spotless sacrifice.

“For you know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19 ESV).

Day 8: Resurrection Sunday

Jesus Christ rises from the dead (before dawn). Early Sunday morning, several women go to the tomb and see that the large stone covering the entrance had been rolled away. An angel says to them, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay” (Matthew 28:5-6 ESV).

PALMS PAVED HIS DONKEY'S PATH

   Palm Sunday begins the Holy Week. Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter, known as “Resurrection Sunday.”  

Palm Sunday began with Jesus and his disciples traveling over the Mount of Olives. The Lord sent two disciples ahead into the village of Bethphage to find a donkey for him to ride. They found her and her colt, as Jesus had said they would. The owners questioned them. 

“Hey, what y’all doing there?” the donkey’s owners might have said. Maybe they thought the disciples were would-be horse thieves.

The disciples gave the answer Jesus had provided: “The Lord needs it.”

The Bible says this took place to fulfill what the prophet (Zechariah 9:9 ESV) said:

“Say to the daughter of Zion,
 / ‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
 / humble, and mounted on a donkey,
 / on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

The disciples brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them. 

(Cloaks are sleeveless, long, outer garments made of single pieces of fabric that hang loose. Matthew mentions a donkey and her colt. Though Mark, Luke, and John mention only one young donkey, that does not mean there were not two. Mark and Luke indicated that the colt they acquired for Christ never had been ridden. Matthew omitted that information. Cornelius a Lapide’s commentary on the passage says that Christ first rode the donkey up and down the mount and then transferred and rode the colt into the city. Others say Jesus rode the colt while its mother was led nearby.) 

Jesus rode a donkey for three reasons, according to amazingbibletimeline.com: 

1. The first one is a fulfillment of the Zechariah 9:9 prophecy about making his entry while riding a lowly animal. 

2. A leader rode on a horse if he was coming in war and a donkey to signify peace.

3. Jesus used the donkey to connect with the common people. 

Jesus rode the colt as he entered Jerusalem. 

Many people were headed to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, the festival that remembers the escape of the ancient Israelites from Egypt. Jewish males were supposed to go to Jerusalem to the Temple for at least three “pilgrim festivals”: Passover (Pesah, a 7-day observance), Pentecost (Shavuot), and Booths (Sukkoth). On that Palm Sunday, a crowd probably was following Jesus because of his fame in Galilee.

“Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee’” (Matt. 21:8-11 ESV)

“Alleluia, how the people cheer and palm leaves rustle as the king draws near,” said John Beavis.

“This crowd understood that Jesus was the Messiah; what they did not understand was that it wasn’t time to set up the kingdom yet — although Jesus had tried to tell them so (Luke 19:11-12),” gotquestions.com says. “The crowds looked for a Messiah who would rescue them politically and free them nationally, but Jesus had come to save them spiritually.”

People celebrated as Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. They paved the street with cloaks and palm fronds. I believe Jesus enjoyed the moment, though he knew what was coming.

JESUS HUMBLED HIMSELF

 “Many would be scantily clad if clothed in their humility,” someone noted. 

Most of us may know of someone who was proud but “his chickens came home to roost” and he got his “comeupins,” a slang word for “comeuppance,” meaning “a well deserved rebuke or penally.”

The Bible says, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:8 NKJV).   

James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

This Old Testament verse sums up the idea: “Before honor is humility” (Proverbs 15:33). 

“Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil’s reach as humility,” Jonathan Edwards said.

Dwight L. Moody said, “God has nothing to say to the self-righteous. Unless you humble yourself before him in the dust, and confess before him your iniquities and sins, the gate of heaven, which is open only for sinners, saved by grace, must be shut against you forever.”  

“Humble” is defined as “having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance; not proud or haughty; not arrogant or assertive.”

“Humility is being free from pride and not thinking of yourself first,” someone said. “It is realizing your talents and gifts are from God, putting your worth in Him, admitting you can never live up to His holiness and perfection, seeing how much you need Him and asking for His help.”

Jesus Christ laid aside his Deity (his divineness) and demonstrated the greatest humility. 

Paul writes about Jesus’ humility in Philippians 2. Paul says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Who, being in the form of God … .” 

Paul says that Jesus was “in the form of God” but did not count equality with God a thing to be used for his own benefit. Jesus emptied himself, left heaven, and was born in human form, taking on the role of a servant. 

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:8-11).

Pastors refer to “the incarnation.” “Incarnate” means “embodied in flesh.” Jesus was born on earth as a baby — he took on flesh, was “embodied” in flesh. God assumed a human body and human nature and became a man in the form of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the second person of the Trinity. Christ was truly God and truly man during his earthly mission. 

In the New York Times Magazine, Nancy V. Raine told a story heard years ago from a friend named George: 

"In those days, work crews marked construction sites by putting out smudge pots with open flames. George’s 4-year-old daughter got too close to one and her pants caught fire like the Straw Man’s stuffing. The scars running the length and breadth of Sara’s legs looked like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. In the third grade she was asked, 'If you could have one wish, what would it be?' Sarah wrote: 'I want everyone to have legs like mine.'"

“When we suffer pain, we want others to understand,” says Craig B. Larson, who reported that story. “We want others to be like us so they can identify with us. We don’t want to be alone. … God does understand. When Jesus became a man, he did something far more difficult than having legs like Sarah’s.”

Jesus humbly put on a garment of flesh. “He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).