This Week’s Music:
“Here I am, Lord”
by Dan Schutte, arranged by Craig Courtney
This week’s anthem is an arrangement of “Here I Am, Lord,” a hymn written by Catholic songwriter Dan Schutte in 1981. Its text comes from Isaiah 6:8 and 1 Samuel 3, and is itself a conversation between God the Father (speaking during verses) and us, His people (speaking in the chorus). A particularly powerful element of this text for me is how it contrasts the efforts of God with the effort of us, His people. In the verses, we sing how God’s hand will save, how He will make the darkness bright, will tend the poor and lame – yet we, in the Chorus, say only “Here I am, Lord.” We do not claim how we have made or will make a difference. We simply offer up the only thing we truly have to give – ourselves, as a trusting and willing vessel, ready to be sent.