What is it about the third verse of a hymn? Why don’t Fundagelicals sing it? I grew up in the Southern Baptist church, and we used a hymnal every week. If the hymn had four verses, we would sing the first two and then the worship minister would say,  “Let’s sing the last verse together. . . .” What did he have against the third verse? Why didn’t we ever drop the second verse? I’ve got to go find an old hymnal and find out what was in the third verse. There might have been something likeactually rhythm or joy. I could see how that might get banned. We weren’t allowed to sing “WonderfulGrace of Jesus” because the chorus was too bouncy! Of course, if the hymn had five verses, thenverses three and four were dropped. I guess the middle verses are sort of likea middle child; no one seems to takenotice of them.

After more than a decade of debate; a whole group of young people leaving, and the ninety-eight-year-old worship minister retiring; the new worship minister (A mere child of fifty-three) finally allowed some of those 7-11 worship choruses (The same seven words eleven times) to be sung during the underattendedSunday evening service. However, he did modify them. On the song “We Exalt Thee” he changed the lyrics from”We lift our hands/to worship you/ as your word commands” to “We lift our hearts.” There is NO hand lifting allowed in the Southern Baptist church. Angles with flaming swords and Deacons in burgundy coats will descend on you to haul your Pentecostal butt right out of there. You just sit in your pew and sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” without the third verse like Jesus did. If it was good enough for Him, it’s good enough for you.

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