The Men from Mars

For roughly two decades, beginning in 1958, Old Union Presbyterian Church was home to a men’s gospel quartet known as The Men from Mars.  The group was very well-known in our region, and even today most people from that generation continue to speak of the group with fondness.  The Men from Mars performed on the radio and recorded two full-length albums and a 45 (for those of you under the age of 40, a 45 was a small record that only had a couple of songs on it).  The group received national attention and had the potential to become a professional group if its members had wanted to.  Speak with me if you would like a CD or mp3 recordings of their music.

As you listen to their music, it’s easy to pick out the high notes sung by first tenor Ross Karnes, who had been the church’s pastor when the group began.  You can also appreciate the deep bass voice of George “Jiggs” Fiel.  And of course you’ll enjoy the fine voice of lead singer and soloist, Lester Knox.  Otto Kalmeyer provides the piano or organ accompaniment to their songs.

One voice that is very hard (at least for me) to recognize in their rich harmonies is the one surviving member of the group who is still part of Old Union: baritone Ray “Zeke” Knox.  There are a couple of songs in which his voice comes out for a line or two, but otherwise he blends in with everyone else’s voices so well that I can’t pick him out.

One might be tempted to think “Well, if we can’t hear Ray in the songs, he must not have mattered much.  The group could have done without him and been a trio instead.”  Were you to think along these lines, you’d be gravely mistaken.  As I told Ray at his brother Lester’s funeral earlier this year, he had the most important part of all to play in the quartet.  Without Ray, nothing would have held together the voices of the other three members of the quartet.  He provided the glue or the backbone that held all the singers together in a way that enabled them to create such beautiful music.  Lester and Ross and Jiggs may have gotten praise for their individual voices, but that’s all they would have been without Ray.

Life in our church can be similar to the Men from Mars music.  There are certain prominent, easily-recognized roles that some people play: pastor, committee chairs, musicians, session members, deacons, and so on.  We are the “Lesters” of the church who get the attention and the notoriety.  But the most important roles in our church are the ones like Ray’s part in the quartet: rarely noticed or recognized, but critical for the group to keep together.  Like him, they are the glue or the backbone that allows all of us to be able to work together as a church family.  Without the contributions and presence of those who blend us all together into a marvelous harmony, the life of our church would be empty and fractured.

When you see Ray next, thank him for his gift of music, and for the model he provides for unnoticed but powerful ministry.

How Does God Guide You?

How does God guide you?  I suspect that we often don’t even seek his guidance.  We may not admit it, even to ourselves, but we function from what one author has called “functional atheism.”  In spite of our professed belief in God, we forget about him completely when it comes to the practical, ordinary events of life.  Instead, we trust our own intuition or ability to think through a situation.  Or, we may turn to a trusted expert (let’s check the forecast before scheduling the family picnic).  Other times, we’ll rely on superstition (wear those lucky socks for the Steeler game!) or blind chance.  Our first challenge, therefore, is to become more aware of God’s active presence in even the most minor aspects of our lives, so we can seek his guidance and instruction more fully.

But even when we have resolved to seek God’s guidance, we run into a second challenge.  How can we discern the Lord’s guidance so that we can follow faithfully?  Scripture, of course, is the “witness without parallel,” as the Presbyterian Confession of 1967 puts it.  The Bible, above all else, provides God’s authoritative instruction for life and faith.  Unfortunately, however, the Bible frequently does not include clear guidance for specific decisions you may be making.  It’s clear, for example, that you shouldn’t punch your neighbor in the nose when you’re angry with her.  But the Bible won’t help you decide how to manage the family budget or if you should trade in your car this year.

We are also able to discover God’s will for us through prayer.  And unlike Scripture, prayer is a means for God to provide us with tailor-made instructions.  Problem solved, right?  “Take it to the Lord in prayer,” as the old hymn puts it.  Well, not so fast.  God’s instructions through prayer may be specific, but our ability to recognize his instruction leaves a lot to be desired.  We easily confuse the Lord’s voice with what we think the answer “should” be, or with what we want the answer to be.  We often fail to recognize his voice in the midst of all the others that vie for our attention.  To complicate matters even more, God often guides in startling ways, challenging us to view our situation completely differently.  If we’re not prepared to be surprised, we may dismiss what God has to say.

In addition to the authoritative but general guidance of Scripture, and the specific but easy to miss guidance of prayer, God blesses us with a third means of guidance: the wisdom of other believers.  Even though we are all imperfect followers of the Lord, he often uses others to point us in the right direction.  Last winter I had two conversations that illustrated this point for me.  The first was with a member of our congregation who wished she could attend church, but is unable to because of her health.  As she put it, “I need the church to correct errors in my thinking.”  An hour or two later I spoke with another congregation member who was planning a dangerous course of action.  He told me, “I feel this is what God wants me to do, despite what others say.”  The first person appreciated how God “corrects our errors in thinking” through the wise advice of fellow Christians.  The second person refused to accept such guidance, and did so at his own peril (although I’m happy to report that he is safe).

Scripture, prayer, and the counsel of fellow believers.  With these tools at your disposal, may you be able to follow God more nearly this month!