It has been said, “If you remember the 1960s then you weren’t there. Yes I was there – and – I do remember. Maybe that in itself is some sort of commentary on who I was during my high school and undergraduate college years. I graduated from high school in 1965 and received my undergraduate degree in 1969. My draft lottery number was 27 – so – when I received my undergraduate degree I was well aware that some sort of military service awaited me in the not too distant future – more about that later because it also relates to the subject matter at hand.

I vividly remember sitting in American History class in the eleventh grade when the news broke that President Kennedy had been shot. The news that Neil Armstrong had stepped on the surface of the moon happened during a matinee performance of the musical “George M” – the producer stopped tha performance for the announcement and led us all in the singing of George M. Cohan’s “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

I was very much a part of the “hootenanny generation” and learned to play three or four chords on my inexpensive guitar so I could be an active participant. Years later when I conducted The Nashville Symphony in a Pops Concert with The Kingston Trio it was a real treat – I already knew all of the songs!

Over the years I also have collected numerous remembrances of the changes in the language used for hymn texts. Some wonderful – some laughable – some valiant in purpose but horrible in reality due to the lack of expertise of the createds who were manipulating the beautiful poetic language of the past to honor an agenda of correctness for the then present.

I openly admit – I object to singing “Good Christian friends rejoice” when it is so obvious – at least to me – that “Good Christians all rejoice” is such a better choice. One of the coming posts will include my journey with “Let There Be Peace on Earth” and the textual changes that were embraced by the authors.

And I will never forget the time when “Rise up, O men of God” seemed to be the perfect choice to follow the sermon on the coming Sunday. I said to the pastor, “Don’t worry – we will sing “Rise up, O saints of God” and was then surprised when the pastor responded, “Please no!” – and then explained that the problem was with one of the interior stanzas – “Rise up, O saints of God, the church for you doth wait . . . rise up and make her great.” He quickly followed with, “Only God is able to make the church great.” I understand this much better now that I have studied the writing of Karl Barth – yes, my pastor friend and colleague had studied as a student of Barth in Basel, Switzerland.

To this day I make sure I am looking at the text on Christmas Eve for “It Came Upon The Midnight Clear” – because I know I will sing “Peace on the earth, good will to men” rather than “good will to all” because that is how I learned it as a child. That is not an excuse it is just the reality when you are chronologically gifted enough to sing most of the familiar hymns without looking at text while you sing

And for me it is not just the hymns – every time we pray the prayer that Jesus taught – especially at memorial services – when apparently I am not sure whether I am a debtor or a trespasser I often seem to end up being a debt-passer.

This is just part of my story – and – of course there is much much more to consider – which will be our focus in the coming days.