Behind the Songs

Standing with the Family

Song: The Family of God
Scripture: 1 John 4:7-21
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

For nearly forty years, Bill and Gloria Gaither have influenced the singing of Christians around the world. One major tool has been the recording of dozens of albums, CDs and videos. Indications of their influence and acceptance have been numerous Dove and Grammy Awards. The Gospel Music Association named them “songwriter of the year” nine times. Gloria has written numerous books and Bill and Gloria have co-written at least ten major musicals. Their music publishing companies have circulated their music and books around the world for many years..

If you have not seen one of the Gaither Homecoming Concerts on television, or viewed a Homecoming Video, the sales of which number into the millions, then you are seemly out of touch with the Christian music world. Thousands flock to the live concerts, which are video taped in scores of cities across America. These activities are bring another generation of music fans into the Southern Gospel music fold.

God has given only a few people in this world an ability to compose song after song that combines beautiful lyrics and infectious, singable melodies.

Such are the Gaithers. They seem to be always open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in the writing of a song. The creative individuals who write our songs influence our lives more than we can ever imagine.

One of the Gaithers’ most meaningful and widely used songs was written in 1970. It was born out of hardship and trial, as are many of the most lasting of our beloved hymns and gospel songs.

The Gaithers are faithful members of a local church in Alexandria, Indiana, and the church body is very dear to them. A young family in their congregation, Ron and Darlene Garner and their three children, was used to inspire the writing of the Gaithers’ song “The Family of God,” according to Gloria Gaither in her book Because He Lives (Old Tappan, N.J, Revell, 1988 pp. 123-29):

“It was the Saturday after Good Friday that Ron went in for work at the garage where he was serving as a mechanic. He was working alone that day because he was making up time that he had taken off the previous Thursday to take his little daughter for some tests prior to some anticipated heart surgery. With the operation coming up, he knew they would need the money for hospital and doctor bills. While Ron was working with combustible material, there was an explosion. He managed to crash his way through the large double doors before the building blew apart and went up in flames, but he was severely burned over most of his body.

The news from the emergency ward in Muncie was indeed pessimistic: Ron was alive but was not expected to make it through the night. It was only minutes before a chain of telephone calls alerted the Family of God, and the whole church began to pray for Ron. All day long they prayed. Little groups, bigger groups, in homes, at the church, over the phone—all over town the people who were related to Ron and Darlene because of Jesus prayed. By evening the word came that, although the doctors gave no hope, Ron was still alive. They couldn’t understand how he was holding on, but they said that, now that he had lived eight hours, possibly, if he could make it until morning, there was a chance —just a chance.

The Family kept on praying. Old folks prayed alone in their rooms. Children prayed in simple faith. Women prayed as they went about the tasks of caring for their families. Men prayed together in basements and over store counters and in automobiles. The church building was kept open, and lights burned all through the night as a steady stream of folks who cared and loved came to talk to Jesus about this young father who was “bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh.”

The sun streamed in the windows that Easter morning on a sanctuary filled with the most weary, bleary-eyed congregation you ye ever seen. There were very few Easter bonnets or bright new outfits. We were just there, drawn together closer than we had ever been before by the reality we had been sharing—that when one part of the Body suffers, we all suffer with it.

Nobody felt like celebrating. There was hurt and there was pain in the Body, and that pain had drawn the attention of every other member.

About twenty minutes into the service, the pastor came in with a report from the hospital. Although he had gone without sleep to be with the Garner family through the long hours, there was sunshine in his eyes. ‘Ron has outlived the deadline. The doctors say he has a chance. They are going to begin treatment.’

For the Body of Christ, that news was better than eight hours of sleep and a good breakfast. New life was infused into us all. Tears of praise and joy began to flow, and our hope and gratitude poured itself into the glorious songs of Easter. “Jesus lives, and because He lives, we too shall live!”

Those songs that day were for us songs of commitment, too. We knew that the long, hard days for Ron and Darlene and the children had only just begun. With the words of victory we pledged ourselves to the reality of what would lie ahead: help with the children, many long trips to the hospital, pints of blood for transfusions, money for the astronomic hospital bills, meals to be taken to the family who would be too tired to cook, long months of support while the slow skin grafting and healing process went on. We knew what it would mean, and in our celebration we pledged ourselves to whatever it would take to make that injured part of the Body whole and well again.

On our way home from church that morning we [Bill and I] were so full of the beauty of it all that we could hardly speak. Finally, we said to each other what we had come to realize through all this: “They’d do that for us, too!” It was almost too grand to realize, but it was true! We aren’t very model church members. The function we fill in the Body of Christ takes us away from a lot of the activities of our congregation. We’re never available on Fridays and Saturdays. We get in early on Sunday mornings in time to get our children ready and to their Sunday school and church, but we can’t be counted on to teach a class with a schedule like that.

We always miss the fish fries, and I’m never there to make cakes and pies for the bake sales. But they’d do the same thing for us if we were the part of the Body that was suffering! Not because we were worthy or had earned special treatment or were indispensable—but just because we were a part of the Family of God!

As I started dinner, Bill sat down at the piano. [The children were quiet, knowing that a song was about to be born.] It wasn’t long before the magnetism of the chorus Bill was singing drew me from the kitchen to the piano, and we finished the song that was to feed us better than any other food could have fed us."

In the wonderful lyrics the Gaithers express their joy at just being a part of the "family of God." They very cleverly managed to get the message of salvation through the blood of Christ into the text, as well as a description of our relation to Christ as "joint heirs." They make it sound so wonderful to part of the "family of God."

Gloria continues, "Since that Easter Sunday there have been heartaches and victories in our own lives that have been shared by the Family of God. It’s been wonderful. Ron is a very healthy, robust basketball coach these days. His life is a strong witness in our community to the power and love of Christ.

Reflection:
Apart from our salvation, the most wonderful gifts God ever allowed us to receive are Christian brothers and sisters, who love us and who are loved by us in full measure as part of His family.