Something I wrote for singing_phoenix today

[thatcrazycajun]

THERE SHE GOES, LORD
Music: "Here I Am, Lord" by Daniel L. Schutte ©1981
New Lyrics: Matt G. Leger

One I love goes all alone, Far away to parts unknown; As You called us all to serve, So she goes now. People stricken with disease, Endless pain she hopes to ease; She is more than I deserve, Yet mine somehow. Chorus: There she goes, Lord In Your name, Lord To the dying in a far-off land; Keep her safe, Lord Give her peace, Lord Give her strength to be Your loving hand. Day by day her struggles grow; Just how much I hardly know, But each night, she calls on me— What can I say?

Give me grace to listen well To the sorrows she must tell; Help me share her burden, Lord— Show me the way. Repeat Chorus In Your church I never stay, Rarely bow my knee to pray... But for her sake, still I ask These things of Thee: Give us both the courage to Bear this time and see it through, And when she has done her task, Bring her home to me. Repeat Chorus

New lyrics ©2009 and beyond by Matt G. Leger. Recording, publication or performance for profit requires prior written consent and payment of royalties per ASCAP/BMI standards to all copyright holders. All other uses of these lyrics freely permitted so long as this notice is retained unaltered. No infringement on existing copyrights is intended or should be inferred.

Comments

[wolfette]

you made me cry!

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely. And yet again you make me suspect that you're a better Christian than you like to think you are.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Funny you should say that... My late mother, who was a practicing Catholic until her untimely death in 1995 at age 56 of cancer, told me once during a phone conversation that she often told people, "You know, I have a son who professes to be an agnostic...and yet he is a better Christian—in the best sense of that word—than many who claim that title." It's praise I know I don't always live up to...but from her it meant a lot, and it has never left my mind.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

And you're performing this when?

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

As soon as I can get through the silly thing without breaking down in tears.

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

I frequently perform the original with both my church's band and choir.

You made me cry, too.

When we get to the same con, let me know, and I can pull my varying sheetmusic editions and arrange to back you up instrumentally.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

That would be unbelievably wonderful, and thank you for the offer; I will be sure to let you know. My Songbird taught me the original; she used to lead the congregation in singing it as a cantor at her old church in Philadelphia, St. Vincent's of Germantown, and it was a thing to send shivers up the spine.

[baggette.livejournal.com]

I do love the original, but

your lyrics are very moving!

When does she come home for good?

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Not for awhile yet, alas; she has just accepted a transfer to the Global AIDS Project's office in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana, and will be there for at least another two years.

[filkferengi]

If you want to see some of the scenery, I'm taping "The Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency," which is set there.

Great song!