How I Got Religion

So, how did you learn your religion? I’ve heard of people who got theirs from Sunday School and a few who had parents or grandparents who read the Bible every evening. But I think I got my grounding by singing hymns and carols.

One of the first songs I learned was “Jesus Loves Me,” and I’ve discovered that my little Sunday-schooled grandchildren have learned it also. When I played the piano at a nursing home, everyone, no matter what their age or mental state, could and did sing “Jesus Loves Me.” I still believe that He loves me, and nothing that has happened to me in life has disabused me of that belief.

“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” was popular at our Sunday School, but it was also one that my grandmother played and sang. I have no memory for poetry, but I know most of the words to this hymn, and it’s theology hangs in my head even when people tell me that God couldn’t possibly listen to what all us myriad people have to say.

Grandma loved “The Old Rugged Cross,” and I do, too. There’s something haunting and yet satisfying about the words, and the music is just right. She also sang “Abide With Me,” “May the Lower Lights Be Shining,” and “In the Garden.” I think they are universal favorites.

Until recently every school child learned Christmas carols at school as well as at church. “Silent Night” is the most oft recorded song in the world, and the picture it makes of Jesus’ birth is just “how it was,” as far as most are concerned. Where was Jesus born? In the little town of Bethlehem, of course. Who came to see him? Harald angels, shepherds watching their flocks by night, and wise men traveling from afar.

When I was 14 I started taking piano lessons from Miss Johnson who was the music director and organist at a Christian Church in my city. She got me into the youth choir, and for four years I sang choir music, even participating in Handel’s Messiah four times. (I still think the alto part is the tune.) One of the songs we sang was “For God So Love the World,” and I loved that song! I can sing it today, albeit with the alto as melody.

One of my most embarrassing moments came when I was quite grown and had been “out of the church” for 13 years. One time some of my church friends kept mentioning John 3:16, and I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. Finally I demanded, “What IS John 3:16?” They looked at me like I was a yokel, couldn’t believe I wouldn’t know it. When they repeated it, I said, “Oh, I know that one!” And I did. From singing it as an anthem.

I’ve had a lifetime of studying the Bible and theology, but I think the basis of all my religion is what I learned by singing with others the hymns, carols and anthems of our faith.

Probabilities and Certainties

When I was in psychology 101 at Bradley University, Dr. Smith told us about his experiment with predicting heads or tails in coin tosses. He said that he and some others took 1,000 pennies and flipped them one by one and then tallied the results. And the result was that there were 500 heads and 500 tails. I don't really remember what he was trying to teach with that anecdote, but it stuck in my memory as the gospel truth.
Fast forward to today and the problem of certainties. For example, the saying goes that the bread always falls jelly-side down. I've had occasion to test that out, and I'd say it was more like an 80% likelihood, but others would argue with me. I'm not about to get 1,000 slices of jelly bread to try it out.
I do have one certainty, however. When you put your cup of coffee in the microwave and start it up, the turn table will revolve and will come to a stop with the cup on the far side of the oven. Jim and I have tested it hundreds of times, and it always works out that way!