"The Servant Song"

I found a new hymn today, and I LOVE it! I just had to share it with you…

Background information:  Our regular pianist is going to be out of town on March 25th…and so is the organist…which means the back-up pianist needs to play the organ…which leaves me at the piano. Yes, I AM the bottom of the barrel! J That is fine with me – I’m much more comfortable in the orchestra than on the piano bench.  Yesterday, the interim music director asked if I would consider playing the piano that day for the service. After a small panic attack, and an initial, “Can’t you used canned music that day?” I felt a small bit of conviction that serving the Lord isn’t about being the best or having the most ability; it’s about being willing to be used. I apologized to the director, and told him I would do it…

Okay, now that  my heart’s in the right place, what about the songs? I haven’t been practicing on a regular basis, so the last time I was playing hymns regularly for people to sing along was when I played for Christian school chapel. That was almost 6 years ago!  At this point, anything really complicated or fast is way outside my comfort zone.  The music director told me to go through the hymnal and see what I felt comfortable playing . I did that last night. I skipped the sections of Christmas songs, Resurrection songs, Lord’s Supper songs, Patriotic songs, etc. and came up with a list of about 30 or so hymns and choruses that I could sit down and play now if I had to.  The church secretary and I crossed out any that had been done recently, and this knocked a few off the list. Then I found out what the message was going to be about that day – we’re going through 1 John, and the message at this point is going to be from chapter 3 about hating/loving one another.  That complicates things a wee bit… because most songs are about our love for God or His love for us and not so much about our love for each other…There are a few, but really, you can’t sing “We Are One in the Bond of Love” for an entire service. So back, to the hymnal I went, and I stumbled across a song I had never heard of before and I almost skipped over it because the title was “The Servant Song.” But it is written in fairly easy timing with an easy key signature, so I thought I’d play through it… Tadaaa! It turns out it’s a melody I love.  It’s also the melody for “Come, All Christians, Be Committed” and some of the more recent versions of “Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy”  (It’s an old Shaker melody called Beech Spring used in Ken Burns Lewis and Clark documentary if you want to youtube it. J)

 But you HAVE to read the words! I can’t believe we don’t sing this song!

The Servant Song

We are trav’lers on a journey, fellow pilgrims on the road;

We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night-time of your fear;

I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.

Sister, let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you;

Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.

Brother, let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you;

Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.

I will weep when you are weeping, when you laugh, I’ll laugh with you;

I will share your joy and sorrow, til we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven, We shall find such harmony,

Born of all we’ve known together of Christ’s love and agony.

What a beautiful words and so meaningful to me!  A few weeks ago in my small group Bible study, I shared my “story” – a general overview of my life and testimony – and I made a comment that when I first came to the church that I am in now, I needed a sort of “spiritual rehab.” They all laughed over that comment, but it is so true. I couldn’t think of another way to say what I meant.  Like someone who has been in a traumatic accident and has been injured severely, spiritually, I needed people to come alongside me and teach me how to “walk” again. I look back now, and am so thankful for those “servants” who held their hand out to me, spoke the peace I longed to hear, for the ones who shared my sorrow, and helped me bear a load that I felt was impossible. I marvel now at their patience, because I am sure it felt quite unrewarding to them at the time, and yet they persisted. They truly have been “as Christ” to me.  I’m a little stronger now…and I want to be that person for others. I want to be the servant now. I know what a difference it made for me, and I want to make that difference in someone else’s life. 

I don’t know that we’ll sing this song on the Sunday that I play – it’s usually not a good idea to spring unfamiliar hymns on the congregation on a Sunday morning – especially when you’re being led by an interim director, a back-up organist, and a bottom-of-the-barrel pianist!  But it’s okay if we don’t sing it that day. I found it…and now you’ve read it too…and maybe soon we’ll learn it and start singing it…