City On A Hill

The Christian band Casting Crowns is a popular one in my home. Any song by them is known by heart, but there's one particular song that caught my attention one night during a drive home. It speaks about a city on a hill. A city that was said to have "once shined bright," but because of differences among the people, "they all started turning on each other." The song continues with the following lyrics:

"You see the poets thought the dancers were shallow
And the soldiers thought the poets were weak
And the elders saw the young ones as foolish
And the rich man never heard the poor man speak
But one by one, they ran away
With their made up minds to leave it all behind
And the light began to fade
In the City on the Hill, the City on the Hill"

My mind then went towards the churches. We find these roles from the songs in them. The poets being the members who bring the message, the dancers being the praise members or those whom bring us into worship, the soldiers I saw as the congregation itself, and I’ve seen all age ranges in our Corps in varying economic statuses.

Growing up as a PK (a pastor's kid in the Salvation Army) I have seen this scenario various times. The church increases by the number of members, and one small, close-knit group grows up and somehow along the way becomes divided. Within these separate groups, we judge one another and become prideful in a way to who we are and what group in our church we belong to. We believe that our role in the church is more important than the others. We believe that no one does more for the church than we do, so we leave the church thinking we can do better on our own or in another church, but the light we all burned together fades and is no longer as bright. The fire that was shared amongst the members of the city is lost because they don’t work together and appreciate one another.

"It is the rhythm of the dancers
That gives the poets life
It is the spirit of the poets
That gives the soldiers strength to fight
It is fire of the young ones
It is the wisdom of the old
It is the story of the poor man
That's needing to be told"

All our roles fall in together like a perfect masterpiece, and I thought to myself how beautiful this is. That God makes us "different by design," and that although we are all different, we are all created in the image of God. But the song is very true in its words - "Instead of standing strong together," we allow our "differences" to divide us. And just like the people of the city on the hill, we all need each other in our churches.

We need the poets to give us the word of God in a beautiful way. We need the dancers and the musicians to lead us in worship so that we are able to fight the daily fight and stay strong. We need the youth and their fire to continue the fight and grow a new generation of soldiers. We need the old who were once in our shoes and can tell us about how hard the battle really is. We need them for their wisdom and experience, because they know what we don't, and they prepare us for it. We need the poor to teach us what we have forgotten in our worldly world. We are so easy to forget what is really important in life, and we become so ungrateful and prideful and far from what God wants from us.

We see ourselves as rich or poor by the relationship we have with God, and we judge one another based on our relationships. We forget that we are all the same; we are all far from perfect, and we need the new members and the lost sheep to remind us what we fight for and why we fight for it. We forget that our purpose is to spread the love and word of God, not for our own praise and pride. We forget the words of the poet, the rhythm of the dancers, the strength of the soldiers and the fire of the young. We all run away from God and our churches, leaving the fire behind, but God is looking for us, and he is calling to us, "Come home (to the city on a hill)," and together maintain the burning flame.

Written by Elizabeth Ramirez

Newark Ironbound Corps