An excerpt from this week’s column, where Galileo meets an old Baptist hymn:
As Galileo may have said about these faith-centered folks, their world revolves around the Son rather than the Sun. Thank heavens for Galileo.
Some ideas orbit our brains for many cycles of seasons. Words and images from our past can linger long in our head space. I recall the lyrics from the old hymn we sang in our Baptist youth group: “I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop, in that bright land where we’ll never grow old; and someday yonder, we’ll never more wander, but walk on streets that are purest gold.” As young believers, we couldn’t wait for that “bright land” of perpetual youth—we were fully prepared to meet our Savior in the clouds and live in his nebulous neighborhood for eternity. The first verse of the mansion song speaks of satisfaction with a simple cottage in this world, “But in that city where the ransomed will shine, I want a gold one that’s silver lined.” What does this tell us about the hopes and dreams of some believers?
from “How do the heavens go, with homes below?”
Friendly Freethinker 
Oh goodness, those old hymns and Sunday school songs drilled into our brains. Sometimes I can’t go to sleep because one of them has reared its ugly head in my brain. “The B-I-B-L-E, that’s the book for me!” “Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph o’er his foes!” Ack. Decades of indoctrination. I don’t remember anything about gold streets and mansions. Maybe Methodists and Quakers have more modest expectations. 🙂
These old hymns creep back in surprising ways. Now, we can reflect with reason and common sense.