Found this on my desk as I was going through papers today and thought it was a good one to post on here… It was given at the Hartford congregation on July 12, 2009…

Matthew 5: 13-16

          How many of you remember ‘The 1910 Fruitgum Company’? How about the ‘Peppermint Trolley Company’… the ‘Cowsils’?  …How about the ‘Archie’s’? OK, then, who would like to explain what was meant by the term, ‘bubblegum music’? 

          The lyrics were simple (some would say simple-minded!), and the tunes were catchy and easy to sing,,, and so, ‘professional’ music people tended to look down their noses and say that these groups, and all of their songs, were aimed at kids, or teeny-bobbers’… who you might expect to be seen blowing bubbles at any given time… and were not meant to be taken seriously at all! And I will freely admit that there can be little sociological significance to “Yummy, yummy, yummy, I got love in my tummy…”, especially compared to something like, “He ain’t heavy, He’s my brother!”

          You see, in many ways, the mid-sixties was a time of social upheaval… and much of that was reflected in the pop-culture of the time. But at the same time, there was a very strong conservative undercurrent that resisted all such change. And so, one could find Andy Williams crooning, ‘Moon River’, the Ames Brothers singing ‘Cab Driver’,  Neil Diamond doing ‘Stones’, and the Beatle’s ‘Revolution’ all being played on the same radio station! At the theater, you could choose to see Goldie Hawn in ‘Butterflies Are Free’ or John Wayne in ‘Hellfighters!’ one time, and choose between Dustin Hoffman in ‘The Graduate’ or Julie Andrews in ‘Mary Poppins’ another! And people would take note of which of those you went to see… your peers would pay attention to the songs you liked, which ones you sang along with… and they would judge you, and place you into ‘categories’ of  ‘cool’ or ‘not cool’… or, in my day, I guess it was either ‘hip’ or ‘L7’.

          Now, when the Prom Committee selected ‘Butterflies Are Free’ as our Prom movie my Junior year, I had no choice but to go see it… and to this day, I could not tell you what it all meant. And when one of mom’s professors at SIUE recommended for the class to go see ‘The Graduate’, she thought I was old enough to see it as well and took me along… it was twenty years before I got the full import of all of what that was about! But I Chose to go see ‘Hellfighters’, and to this day it is one of my favorites! (I love all of the big, yellow Caterpillars in it!) And as recently as two years ago, I showed ‘Mary Poppins’ to a friend to try to illustrate a point! (That there is More to life than just Money!) So, those who were closest to me at that time knew, pretty well, what my values were… and I would say that, for the most part, we shared those values… after all, that was part of what makes close friends ‘close’!

          I have to admit, though, that my taste in music has always been what can only be described as ‘mixed’. Yes, I had a lot of ‘Three Dog Night’, I have ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vita’,  Iron Butterfly’s (the original ‘heavy-metal’ group) first album, the ‘Worst of the Jefferson Airplane’ (with lyrics like, “One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small…” … their take on ‘Alice in Wonderland’…), and some Beatle’s albums… I had (and Have!) a lot of Neil Diamond, I’ve seen Judy Collins in concert at least twice over the years and got Peter, Paul, and Mary to each sign one of their album covers for me after one of their concerts a few years ago! But I also had, and have, albums by The Peppermint Trolley Company, The 1910 Fruitgum Company, and the Cowsil’s. I used to say that my library ranged from Beethoven to Bacharach to the Beatles, and that is Just as true today as it was forty years ago!

          Now, when I first started putting all of this together, it was with the thought that I would point out how I had tried to hide my fondness for bubblegum music and it’s like… but the more I dwelt on it the more I remembered that, generally, I was Never one to bandy-about how I really felt about something… and the truth of the matter is that, in addition to the ‘bubblegum’ style songs, there were also a number of Really Good, serious songs on many of those albums as well… and I did what I could to see to it that as many people as possible became aware of them as well, playing them at every opportunity that I could!

          Would that I had been as out-going and open about my Faith!! Well I remember telling the neighbor girl, who was older and really pretty, about my getting baptized, and her cry of dismay, “You’re not one of those Holy Rollers, are you?!” I didn’t know what a ‘Holy Roller’ was, but if she didn’t like it, then I Definitely was NOT one, and very strongly told her that! After that, I just opted to not discuss religion with her. And for the most part, that just became the easiest way to deal with living in a secular world… don’t discuss religion!

How many Christians over the last two-thousand years have taken that same attitude… and so, failed Utterly at Being a Christian?! What fools men be!

In Proverbs 28:26, the writer tells us, “He who trusts in himself is a fool…but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.” And what one of us has never had the thought that ‘we knew best’? And if it seemed better to keep-the-peace by not discussing, or even showing, our faith, who did it hurt?

But what is the definition of Faith? There may be a number of ways to phrase it, but I like this illustration from Practical Bible Illustrations from Yesterday and Today… “It was a good answer that was once given by a poor woman to a minister who asked her, “What is faith?” She replied: “I am ignorant, and I cannot answer well, but I think it is taking God at His word.”” So the next question becomes, “What is God’s word”?

In Matt 5:13-16, Jesus Himself tells us, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” And in Eph 4:11-13 we read, “It was he [speaking of Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  Let me read that again, “It was [Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we ALL reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” … and we aren’t going to do that by keeping silent and playing it safe!!

For the most part, over the years, nobody could ever accuse me of not speaking my mind on most any particular subject… though I would Hope that with age has also come the wisdom to sometimes just keep my mouth Shut! But I have to admit that, as easy as it might be for me to defend and even promote bubblegum music, Case tractors, and western clothes, it can Still be difficult to spout-off about Christ and what He means, not only to the world-at-large, but to each and every one of us as individuals… but it is Exactly that that He is expecting me to do, each-and-every day! And it is Exactly that… that He is expecting each-and-every one of You to do, as well!!

Another example from the Practical Bible Illustrations from Yesterday and Today tells of  Philip Henry, who, upon visiting a tanner one day, found him so busy tanning a hide, that he was not aware of his approach until he tapped him on the shoulder. The man was startled by Mr. Henry’s unexpected arrival and exclaimed, “Sir, I am ashamed you find me here.” “Nay,” replied Mr. Henry, “may the Lord Jesus when He comes find me discharging, with the same faithfulness and zeal, the duties of my calling.

May the same be said of each of us!!