There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Ephesians 4:4-6 NKJV

Sadly the hymn book seems to have vanished from most of our churches. I understand that with new ways of preserving information that books in general are becoming scarce. I also heartily agree that simply being old, doesn’t make a song more biblical and some of the hymns could deservedly be forgotten. However, the great redeeming quality of the hymn book is that it is the one place where we all meet. Black, White, Hispanic, wealthy and poor, young and old, we often go to our own little corners to worship. Yet, surprisingly, I have found in our nursing home services that, like it or not we usually sing each other’s songs! Onward Christian Soldiers, meet at the Mighty Fortress Lutherans sing about. He’s got the Whole World in His Hands is joyfully sung with nary a dark face in the meeting and during my visit to a large African-American church in Philadelphia , I found they delighted singing “What a friend we have in Jesus.” written by a very white Joseph Scriven for his mother back in Ireland. How God may choose to bring unity among the next generation, I can’t imagine, but for now dear brothers and sisters, “I’ll meet you at the hymnbook!”