From the Pastor's Desk....June, 2006
By Hal Polk, BraceBeagling 
June 07, 2006

One of the characteristics of the church I pastor that sets it apart from many others is the traditional form of its worship. One of the expressions of this form is choice to praise God with the use of hyms rather than the trite, repetitive songs used in many churches.

The reason for this is not that it hasn't occurred to us to discard the familiar in favor of the new! The reason is not that we can't afford the screens and electronic gadgetry such a change would require!

The reason we use traditional hyms in our worship is our conviction that the effort to teach and express our understanding of the nature of the God we gather to praise requires the finest music and language commonly available to us.

To reduce the worship of our holy and sovereign God to the spirit of a college pep rally, or to treat the lofty truths of our faith like a product to be sold by the use of simplistic slogans denigrates both God and the glorious truths about His nature and will He has made known to us!

I understand that those truths can never be fully contained by the human mind and can never be adequately expressed in human language. But I also strongly blieve that in our private devotions and corporate worship we need continually to stretch our minds abnd vocabularies in the effort to comprehend and proclaim these things.

If you are looking for something to be thankful for let me suggest that you praise God for the faith and wisdom of the elders of your church who refuse to sell our birth-right for a mess of contemporary pottage!