Thursday Theme Song: The Servant Song

By now, it is almost 24 hours when the terrible earthquake struck Christchurch. Within a short time, Australia had offered to help us.

I had planned to post this song before this earthquake. How appropriate this song is when UK, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and USA have offered to be our servants in our time of need.

Those of you who have been reading my posts on all my three blogs will know that twenty one years ago, I buried my baby son. At that time, I was worshiping at the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle, and the choir used to sing this hymn, and the Soloist was my good friend M.

During those horrible times, I literally let my friends be my servant when they helped me in so many ways. Sadly, a few months later, M lost her baby, and I quoted this song to her that I was going to be her servant.

I had been revisiting that time and I remembered the song and my friend M.

On Sunday, a new friend shared with me her trials and tribulations. I sang her this hymn and told her I was privileged she shared with me.





The Servant Song
Brother, sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.
We are pilgrims on a journey, and companions 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.
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.
Brother, sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.

Richard Gillard,http://sites.google.com/site/trikitiki/home the composer and lyricist of ‘The Servant Song’
described its origins in the following words. “It was in the first
half of 1976 that I wrote Verse 3 (‘I will hold the Christ-light
for you …’) but, initially, no more than that. It wasn’t until one
particularly summery Sunday afternoon in December 1976 or
January 1977, back in Auckland, that I took that scrap of paper
out of my guitar case and began to meditate on that single verse,
exploring the possibilities that it suggested. I remember that the
other verses came quickly – although not in the order in which
we now sing the Song.”
In 2001, the hymn was featured in a Remembrance Sunday
broadcast from York Minster by the British TV programme,
Songs of Praise. Richard Gillard adds that, although it “sounded
wonderful played on the Minster’s grand organ, I still prefer the
down-to-earth groundedness of a simple folk-song treatment
but I let it go long ago. And that is as it should be.” DLP
‘Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants
to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”’
The Gospel according to Mark, Chapter 9, Verse 35
About Richard Gillard:
I'm a grandfather among other things, a Christian who happens to be Anglican (give me a Eucharist ahead of 1 hour praise rave, any time), play guitar & write songs (brother, sister, let me serve you), 32 years married to a very special woman, dad to a married daughter and two unmarried adult sons. Inside I'm still young(ish) and my grey hairs are all in my beard. Proud citizen of Whangarei, Northland New Zealand
http://mangawhai-beach.blogspot.com/


As I googled search this song which sadly is not sang much these days, I was over the moon to find the composer Richard Gillardn actually wrote this wonderful song in this very city, Auckland.






hootin--anni has a new meme.
IT'S ALL ABOUT MY NEW MEME THAT I HOPE SOME WILL FEEL LIKE JOINING IN ON THE CHALLENGE AND THE FUN [at least I hope the weekly challenge will be fun!]. It's loosely based on song lyrics [recorded songs since the beginning of time to today] and associating them with photos of yours...as I've done in the past...If you click on the link above, it'll take you to the Meme's Homepage for rules and buttons. There will be a Mr. Linky Widget for each individual week also. Do consider joining me sometime. Hope to see it flourish in time.

http://hootin--anni.blogspot.com/