Everyone has faults

I have been a pastor for almost 40 years, and I attended church a lot as a child because my dad was a pastor.

Our congregation, like most, did not sing every song in the hymnal.

Occasionally, we would have a special service where there would be no sermon, but members could request their favorite hymns.

When that happened, my mischievous friend, Junior, would suggest, “Ain’t It a Shame.” Yes, that was the song’s title.

Even the title makes it clear that this is not one of the great hymns of the faith.

Here is the first verse, “Ain’t it a shame to work on Sunday, ain’t it a shame.” (repeat) “Ain’t it a shame to work on Sunday when you got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and you got Thursday, Friday, Saturday, ain’t it a shame.”

Taking one day each week to rest and focus on God is a good thing. Wouldn’t we all be better off if we practiced that discipline?

However, the first verse is the only one with any redeeming value. The other verses are … well … awful!

Another verse says, “Ain’t it a shame to lie on Sunday, ain’t it a shame. Ain’t it a shame to lie on Sunday when you got Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and you got Thursday, Friday Saturday, ain’t it a shame.”

And the song does not get better, “Ain’t it a shame to gossip on Sunday… when you got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and you got Thursday, Friday, Saturday, ain’t it a shame.”

What was T. H. Wiseman thinking when he wrote these lyrics?

What was the hymnal editor’s thought process?

Whatever they were thinking, it was a shame! How could a song so obviously out of sync with what the Bible teaches make it into a hymnal?

However, at least one Bible verse puts the song in a slightly different light.

Near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made this very perceptive statement, “…why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” (Matthew 7:3, NLT)

As amazing as it is that T. H. Wiseman wrote the song, it is more surprising that many of us can get more upset about lyrics, than we are about the truth that all of us sometimes lie and gossip.

What is really a shame is that we can tolerate our own personal hypocrisy instead of focusing on the reality that each of us regularly falls far short of being all God wants us to be.

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Tim Richards grew up in Fairdealing and previously served at Pilgrim’s Rest Church. He is with Concord Church in St. Louis.