Today’s guest post comes from Amy Young of The Messy Middle. I know firsthand the challenges and responsibilities of selecting worship music (especially for kids), and I’ve nixed some pretty iffy songs. But I have to say, Amy’s story has opened my eyes to a whole new terrifying genre I think can only be called Christian Children’s Horror. Enjoy the post (if not the song)! -Tamára
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I attended Sunday School faithfully, but nothing from those years really stands out except gathering weekly to sing. I vividly recall every Sunday morning the various grades would shuffle, shove, and be corralled in to the Fellowship Hall by our teachers to sing songs led by Frank Mower (name changed). He loved singing, and bless him for Sunday after Sunday showing up to lead us in song, whether we sounded good or not! We sang with gusto and, at times, hand gestures and actions.
A few months ago I found myself humming a tune I’d sung in that Fellowship Hall week after week. It was a catchy tune I hadn’t thought of in years. I started to sing it under my breath and it was as if I were hearing it for the first time.
Life was filled with guns and war,
And everyone got trampled on the floor,
Did I seriously sing in church about guns, wars, and trampling? With other children? Not as a joke or part of a skit, but in worship? Even trying to harmonize, as much as elementary kids can harmonize, under the direction of Mr. Mower?
I wish we’d all been ready
Why?
Children died, the days grew cold.
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold.
Were there no adults that thought this might not be the most appropriate song for children to sing? About them dying? Starving? Did I mention it was an upbeat tune?
I wish we’d all been ready.
There’s no time to change your mind,
The Son has come and you’ve been left behind.
I have a snap-shot in my mind of a scene from a movie we were shown: an abandoned mixer still running. The message, you too could be raptured while baking. Are you sure you won’t be left behind? I think it was a clip from A Thief in the Night. It turns out the song we sang on Sunday mornings was written by Larry Norman and was the movie’s opening song. As a kid, I knew none of this; I just knew it was a catchy tune.
Man and wife asleep in bed,
She hears a noise and turns her head; he’s gone.
I wish we’d all been ready.
The song at least is thorough. Baking or sleeping, alone or with someone– when it’s time, there will be no warning. Mom, Dad, gone in an instant. Are you sure about your parents’ salvation? Are you sure about your own?
Two men walking up a hill,
One disappears and one’s left standing still.
I wish we’d all been ready.
The lyrics are based on passages from Matthew and Luke that refer to two women grinding, two people in bed, and two people on a hill– one taken, the other left (ah, now I get the mixer, a.k.a. modern-day grinder). Based on scripture, yes, but age-appropriate? Not so much. Of all the songs we sang, this song is the one that I’m humming and wondering what was up with the 70s.
After repeating the first verse, the song ends:
I wish we’d all been ready,
There’s no time to change your mind,
How could you have been so blind,
The Father spoke, the demons dined,
The Son has come and you’ve been left behind. (Repeat softly: You’ve been left behind.)
Now, it’s true that I sang about trampling and starving and turned out fine. I don’t think my theology is overly whacked and I’m not afraid of hiking, baking, or sleeping. But here’s the thing: Music is powerful because of the way our brains are wired to recall information. Young minds are like sponges when it comes to memorizing, making that a key age for pouring in spiritual nourishment.
To the Frank Mowers of the world: You have a hard, hard task. Thank you for showing up week in and week out ready to engage, pour into, and love our young people. As a gentle reminder, what you are doing now will live on. On Sunday morning you have a sea of squirming bodies, but someday far, far in the future, a song you sing this Sunday will pop into their heads and they will hum.
When that happens, they might turn to a co-worker and say, “Hey, listen to this” and actually hear what you poured into them so many years before. May the words out of their mouths be something more edifying than “seriously?”
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…Wow…This makes me glad I was raised Episcopalian.
It wasn’t just the 70s – I’m a nineties kid and I remember this song! Woah. Talk about a realistic slap in the face for an age that doesn’t even understand what “realistic” means.
Incredible to examine the divine power of music (plainly). Massive responsibility to those who write and play for the knee-highs. I’ve been involved in writing music for holiday programmes and it is no light task.
Press on, soldiers, press on.
Thanks for the reminder not just to worship leaders but also to parents. The old “be careful little ears what you hear” is really our responsibility. Though less of a horror story, I always skip the song on “Wee Sing Bible Songs” that says:
“One door and only one, and yet its sides are two,
I’m on the inside, on which side are you?”
I firmly believe there are better approaches to sharing Christ!
This is hilarious. I suddenly feel like violent scary children’s music could be my calling… or not… but either way, Larry will always rock.
Hi Amy! I’m glad Tamara found you! This is a lively piece! Kids understand Usher and Rhianna because there is absolytely no netaphor involved. Its just baby, let’s do it. Interesting how we need to be mindful of religious lyrics too — sometimes the lyrics are almost so cryptic for this generation.
I have vague memories of watching A Thief in the Night at church. Perhaps I blocked most of it out. My Sunday School songs were more of the Father Abraham variety, however, for which I am grateful. It’s interesting to think about which songs stay with us and why.
Wow, in our church we always sung “Jesus Loves Me” and such. I do remember being freaked out by “Power In The Blood” though.
Oh my goodness, A Thief in the Night! Our yearly required movie at the Christian school I went to. I still get nervous when I hear my husband use an electric razor…..
I work in Children’s Ministries, and I heard a wonderful kind man leading the kids singing, I’m in the Lord’s Army. And I looked around at the room full of beautiful faces, many many from all over the globe, undoubtedly from war torn countries, and I felt ill as they all sang, “I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery….” There are better ways to show and allow children to experience God’s love.
WHAT??? Yes, catchy tunes really do last, which can be awesome, or NOT. I did kids worship for awhile and feel pretty confident that everything was centered around joy. (I think, gosh now I feel like I need to dig out my notes and wonder who I’ve scarred.)
Thanks for sharing.
My wife and I have done kid’s worship for about 10 years, and I’ve always tried to pay attention to the lyrics of what we were doing, whether it’s kids or adults I’m leading. I particularly try to avoid bad theology and used to get really annoyed at songs that were just plain stupid or silly. But, I also discovered that God could work through the stupid, silly songs with crazy motions, and when you get to the more intimate stuff, all of a sudden the kids were really worshipping.
Larry Norman for kid’s worship though? Shouldn’t be too surprised, I guess…. Crazy lyrics still exist today though, even in pop stuff that some folks will use in church. How about the Newsboys singing that God isn’t dead, He’s “living on the inside, roaring like a lion”? Catchy tune… they played it at our church on Easter… not what I’d call “theologically solid” lyrics though. Betcha someone, somewhere ends up using that for kid’s worship too….
I didn’t think I knew this song, but as I read the lyrics the tune came back to me. Hmm…wonder where I first heard it.
We used to belt out “The Lord’s Army”. You can’t convince me to teach my wee ones that comparison to shooting and war with being a follower of Jesus. And, I didn’t realize just how crappy a message it was until I was an adult.
That song was basically our youth group’s theme song. There’s nothing like a youth group motivated to evangelize by the image of their BFFs standing alone on a hill.
I think dcTalk must have done a remake of this song in the 90s — not that I’d now admit to listening to them or anything…
Amy – great to see you (read you!) here at Tamara’s! I so remember that song! I’d almost prefer that however to the “I’m inright outright upright downright happy all the time…” Really?? As many other commenters have said, it’s as an adult that I think about these words, how they are implanted in our minds and we end up singing them at odd times — what an opportunity to be able to hand off truth to kids, yet we give them what’s more like pop Christianity. Interesting note – I first heard that song sung by Joanne Pittman’s sister in Pakistan! She sang it really well….!
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