In the Book of Judges, Jeptha made a rash vow that he would sacrifice the next thing to walk in the door if God gave him victory in battle.  The next thing he saw was his daughter.  Bound by his word, he would sacrifice his daughter.  Scripture tells us how his daughter went to the forest with her friends for a week or two to bemoan and lament her virginity.  Evidently, the vow would be carried out by forbidding his daughter to marry.

As noted, these "hymns" were the staple of the musical diet of a singles group of a local "seeker friendly" church.  The music program was lead by a divorced, obese, forty-something year old woman who had made no less than three sexually inappropriate comments to me within the first 24 hours of meeting me.  It was clear that she was more than a little bit sexually frustrated, and "on the prowl".   And I could not help but feel that the music that she "led" week after week, with their sensual, quasi-sexual nature,  was some form of public gestalt therapy where she publicly lamented the prospect of facing a lifetime of celibacy, much like Jeptha's daughter. 

I was not the only one to reach this conclusion.  An unbeliever who regularly visited the group remarked to me that our sexually frustrated song leader needed to take her issues to a psychiatrist, and not to the singles group.

I do not find fault with this group leader, or any other person, for lamenting their celibacy.  Celibacy is a terrible curse.  Even God declared "it is not good that man should be alone.  I will make him a suitable helpmate."  Had I been back packing in the forest, and come upon this woman lamenting her celibacy in song, like Jeptha's daughter, I would have certainly honored her privacy, and, as I walked deeper into the forest, perhaps even offered up a prayer for her, that she might find contentment in her plight.  But as Christian hymns, these songs have no place in a worship service.

In addition to amounting to some form of public "gestalt" therapy or some other form of psycho-therapy, it was more than a little obvious that she was "preening" for a mate, performing what were little more than sensual ballads.

That such a woman could insinuate herself into a "leadership" position for music reflects on the method of advancement in the church today.  "Leadership" is basically preening, posturing, positioning oneself, and politics, competing for the few positions in a church in which one can attain "visibility."  The fact that she was able to return for even a second week with such a selection of music, and repeat this abomination week after week, speaks volumes about the theological maturity of the church "leaders" who allowed this to continue week after week.