March 3, 2018
Here I Am, Lord
“I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin my hand will save.
I, who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?”
Refrain: Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.
“I, the Lord of snow and rain, I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them. They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone, give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my word to them. Whom shall I send?” (Refrain)
“I, the Lord of wind and flame, I will tend the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them. My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide, till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them. Whom shall I send?” (Refrain)
Text: Daniel L. Schutte, 1946-.
This beautiful hymn was written in 1979 by Dan Schutte, a 31-year-old student at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California. He was asked by a friend to compose a hymn based on Isaiah 6 for a diaconate ordination just three days away. Despite having been ill with the flu for several days, Schutte managed to write the hymn in time for the ordination. The hymn was published in 1981 and has become a much beloved hymn in the Catholic Church and in many other denominations as well.
Coincidentally, it was in 2004 while I was studying at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary—also in Berkeley—that this hymn became very meaningful to me. Singing this hymn with some 25 second or third career adults who all felt the call to ministry was a profound experience. We even changed the words a bit—from “if you lead me” to “where you lead me”—since we understood that life in ministry could mean a call to unknown and unanticipated places.
Although there are a number of hymns that address the call of God to his people, this hymn so beautifully voices a call and response between God and God’s people. The verses are all in God’s voice proclaiming God’s sovereignty over all of creation and recounting God’s love for God’s people through provision of their needs, sacrifice on their behalf, discipline when they stray, and eternal salvation. The voice of God ends each verse with the question, “Whom shall I call?”
Perhaps the reason that this hymn is so beloved and meaningful to so many of us is that it gives each of us the opportunity to acknowledge God’s call, voice a response to God’s call, and make a promise to extend God’s love to all of God’s people. We sing “Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.”
Aren’t those words a perfect prayer for each of us to offer every day as we venture out into a world full of God’s hungry, fearful, angry, lonely, unloved, and hurting people? I will go, Lord.
Rev. Cheryl Hoops, retired
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