A Church Venture of Note

One recent Sunday afternoon, Tom Cook’s musical cup ran over.

In fact, he and a hardy band of 200 churchgoers spent three hours singing nearly 100 hymns and verses at La Habra United Methodist Church.

“Our congregation and others like it aren’t singing as much as they did,” said Cook, 72, who pieced together a “Hymn-a-thon,” both for the fun of it and to raise money for the church, which had a $900 shortfall in its songbook budget.

Donations of a dollar or more were accepted from people requesting the hymn verses they wanted sung. The effort raised $1,100.

Said Cook: “I never did anything in church that was so joyful and as meaningful to me, and I had a great time. The people rallied around.

“I wanted it to be a happening and I think it turned out better than I dared hope,” Cook said. “Some of the people were very generous.”

Despite his effort and time to promote the hymn marathon, Cook said he doesn’t want all the credit. “It was rewarding and a real blessing,” he said.

While arranging the novel venture, Cook telephoned congregants, saying: “This is going to be crazy to you but I’m going to sing to you” and would entertain them with two or three hymn verses.

Then he asked which one they wanted sung at the Hymn-a-thon for their donation. “That took a lot of book work,” he said.

If anyone wanted a special verse, Cook was prepared. He has five hymnals, one that dates back to 1876. Each hymnal contains 500 to 600 hymns.

“There’s just about every kind of hymn you can imagine,” Cook said. “Years ago hymns were even written about farming, but nothing today has been written yet about the inner city.”

Cook said he was brought up in a rural Ohio community where his church emphasized hymn singing, but “we don’t have as much commitment about singing today,” he said.

“I don’t know if it’s good or bad,” he said. “Apparently I’m out of step with the congregation as to how much we should sing.”

In fact, he added, some congregants would like to have the hymns sung by a choir. “In my time, the congregation was the choir,” he said. “Frankly, I think a choir makes a congregation lazy.”

But surely not Cook, who has always liked singing and was part of a family that enjoyed singing, especially when everyone got together.

“I used to sing quite a bit to myself,” said Cook, who doesn’t particularly enjoy popular music. One of his favorite hymns, contained in one of the latest hymnal books, is “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.”

For those who might have missed the first Hymn-a-thon, which was tape-recorded by many who attended, the church is planning to do it again.

“The church is talking about having another one in August,” Cook said.

Yorba Linda resident Jeffrey Scott, 21, and 11 other mentally retarded athletes from Los Angeles and San Diego will leave Jan. 31 for Tanzania, where they will attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

After the climb, the group will move on to Kenya and participate in a safari.

On Friday, the athletes will receive physicals at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton, which will cover the $10,000 cost of examinations, medical equipment, supplies and medication for the trip.

“We have designed an extensive examination to ensure that each athlete is able to withstand the harsh conditions of the climb,” said Fullerton resident Dr. Sharon Kawai, medical director of the hospital’s rehabilitation services.

All the athletes have climbed several local mountains in preparation for the Kilimanjaro climb and have been building up their endurance and strength in special training sessions,.

Dr. Victor Lee of Fullerton, pathologist on the hospital staff, who has traveled extensively in Africa, will accompany the climbers.