It is so wonderful to have a chance to use my singing gift to lead the church song service. The normal song service was so fun because I had two special children that would help me. When Covid-19 hit, all of a sudden, they weren’t allowed to help me anymore. That was OK, this Covid restriction wouldn’t last long. Well, it lasted and they finally had to move away and I was happy to see them move to a more rural location.
Well, the restrictions got worse. Pretty soon the congregation was singing in masks. Then, they weren’t allowed to sing along at all. Then it was decided that even the song leader singing from the front could be broadcasting Covid-19 out to the congregation. Now, what should we do? It was decided that all song service songs would be prerecorded. It could be done before the people arrived. That is how I found myself waiting on Sabbath morning September 5, 2020, for my turn to record the opening and closing hymn. I had to wait for the group that was recording a song for the special music. I was basically recording a song for special music too since no one could sing along. It really seems strange to be recorded and the pressure to be perfect rises.
After the special music was recorded, I was all set to do my “solo”, when Linda Haddad saw that I was alone and asked if I would like the whole group to join me. Since many of them were already leading song service on other Sabbaths, I declined for the group to sing and asked Linda to join me. I knew she was gifted to sing harmony and thought it would sound nice. She was amazing! Without practice, she sang as if she knew the song and maybe she did. It was a new song for me and I had to practice it to get the melody down.
I chose this song, “Lord of All Nations” in the SDA Hymnal p. 588, because of the words. The first verse asks for God’s grace to love all people from every race. Every race seems to be suffering from this virus attack. It calls for us to see a redeemed relative or family member in each person.
The second verse calls for breaking down any walls of division and seeking the good of our neighbors and being bound with the warmth of love.
The third verse is a prayer of forgiveness for thoughtless words or acts. How do we treat our own family? How do we treat the homeless drug addicts on the street? It acknowledges that these careless wrongs crucify Christ afresh.
Verse four is a prayer for the courage to speak up and intervene when someone is being bullied. Then if the bully turns on me, help me to forgive as Jesus would.
The final verse is asking that we be filled with the love of God to do the Holy Spirit’s will and that God will touch the lives of all that we touch.
What a beautiful prayer in song! We need this today. We need to be thinking about the question, “What would Jesus do?” in every situation.
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