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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Melody (08/24/06)
Writing Challenge - Melody

404 words


A Song Remembered

“In my heart, there rings a melody.”
The old hymn floated up, taking me back in memory to Sunday school hour at a little white church where the adults requested old favorites. We sang along, enjoying the old songs before we climbed to the loft for our teens’ class.
How often over the years, those songs came back to me. Lost in the woods, I sang, “His Eye is on the Sparrow and I Know He Watches Me.” Unsure about a decision, I remembered, “He Leadeth Me, Oh Blessed Thought.”
I sat in a modern sanctuary now, where the hymnals stayed neatly in their racks and we sang songs splashed on the wall. Dan led us in his own music, more of a chant than a song, accompanied by a blare of amped-up guitars and horns and the rumble of drums.
When did the melody fade, I wondered. Choir robes now hung limply on hangers. Special music meant only a solo by Dan or his wife.
A friend told me that his church uses a blend of hymns and newer songs.
“We don’t do those seven-11 choruses, though,” he said with a grin. “You know, they have seven words and you sing them 11 times.”
I knew, all right. One Sunday morning, a friend of mine counted while we repeated the same words over 30 times.
The volume bothered me even more than the repetition. When I asked Dan to turn the sound down, he brushed off my concerns. He had checked the volume and the decibels were within a safe range.
The turning point for us came the day our daughter invited us to her church for a concert. Before the service, we listened to a medley of songs played by the church pianist and one of the choir members.
My husband leaned over and said, “I feel more worshipful now than I have in two years at the other church, and the service hasn’t even started yet!”
Drawn by the music, we returned. When we drove past the road to the old church, my heart longed for friends.
“You shall go out with joy,” the Lord encouraged me.
Yes! I answered silently, lifting my head.
My husband glanced at me. “Isn’t it great to be excited about going to church again?” he asked.
I nodded and another song rose within me.
“Making melody in my heart, unto the King of Kings!”

- end
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Dolores Stohler 
08/31/06
Thanks for writing this. I, too, miss the old hymns and the choir that used to sing so beautifully. It's hard to feel worshipful with the music pounding in your ears like a rap song. And where is the creativity when you can't find more than a few words with which to praise your God? I'm with you all the way.
Virginia Gorg
09/03/06
A good reminder that worship doesn't have to occur only in church. I love those old hymns - they speak praise to our Lord. This is nicely done and held my attention throughout. :)
Marilyn Schnepp 
09/04/06
A really great story lost in a maize of typed words running together with no paragraphing and no spacing.

I loved the story, the message and the truth behind the difference in the two churches. Gospel music and old hymns do more for me than a thousand sermons. Thanks for this personal insight.
Well done (except for the formatting mentioned above)

Edy T Johnson
09/05/06
I've lived what you write.

Praise the Lord He does have jewels to be found in the words and melodies of some of the newer music. But, like you I miss singing the harmonies of hymns we memorized as children. Well done!