"Mommy, why can't we sing On Eagles' Wings at Grandma's funeral?

"Mommy, why can't we sing On Eagles' Wings at Grandma's funeral?"

"Well, honey, Mommy always likes to tell you the truth, right?"

"Right."

"And you wouldn't like it if one day, when you were upset, I promised you that you could have cake and ice cream for dinner every night if you would behave and cheer up, would you?"

"You would never let me have cake and ice cream for dinner!"

"Exactly. But that song makes promises from God--and they aren't the same promises that God makes in the Bible. They are made-up promises. When Jesus says that you will shine like the sun, he is promising that only to people who are good. Not just because you trust him, but because you act like you trust him. And the Bible never says God will 'bear you on the breath of dawn.'"

"Then why does the song say so?"

"Because, honey, when people are upset, like at a funeral, we would like to make them feel better. But let's cheer them up by singing about the promises that God makes in the Bible, not by singing about made-up promises."

"Okay... Mommy, why can't we sing Be Not Afraid at Grandma's funeral?"

Please note: In the above "conversation" I am not ascribing intentional falsehood to the author of the song or to those who have chosen to use it. Rather I would hope to call into question the widespread desire that we find comfort in religion at all costs--particularly, in our age, at the cost of truth. The promises of God are better than those we make for ourselves--but also very demanding. The demands, the constant motif in the Gospels that we must be changed, must be recovered in our liturgical music.