Valentine’s Day was last weekend. I just found some boxes of those little conversation heart candies that I had picked up in mid-January as an impulse purchase, stashed, and promptly forgot about. Too late to hand them out, might as well crack open a box. They weren’t what I remembered.

I remembered chunky bright multicolored candies with little sayings stamped on them. These were thin and pale with sayings printed on them — printed, as in dot-matrix and many of them misaligned. Objectively I get it. When TEXT ME is more relevant than CALL ME (or LOL instead of CUTIE PIE) it’s easier to change what gets printed than it is to fabricate new molds.

I’m having a cranky codger moment here. If you can make something cheaper and with less effort, who cares as long as it still serves the same purpose? How about anybody who appreciates a little bit of craftsmanship?

And why am I grousing about candy on a gospel choir blog? Because it reminds me that I appreciate things crafted with care. Because singing in this gospel choir has shown me how wonderful and well-crafted some of the old gospel music is.

One day I came to Him, I was so thirsty.
I asked for water, my throat was so dry.
He gave me water that I had never dreamed of;
But for this water my Lord had to die.
He said, “I thirst,” yet He made the rivers.
He said, “I thirst,” yet He made the sea.
“I thirst,” said the King of the Ages;
In His great thirst, He brought water to me.
(I Thirst, Bev Lowry)

I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin.
I wouldn’t let my dear Savior in.
Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night.
Praise the Lord, I saw the light!
(I Saw the Light, Hank Williams Sr.)

I’ll take one of these thoughtful codger songs any day over much of contemporary Christian praise music. There’s nothing wrong with praise music; it just doesn’t suit my taste, building up the committed followers while gospel music calls to those (myself included) finding their ways. Most praise songs strike me as lyrically shallow, repetitive, and vaguely manufactured. Kind of like speed-printing PTL on a chalky candy wafer rather than stamping AMEN into something tasty.