Here I Am, Lord

Septmeber 14, 2021 (Tuesday)

Several years ago, Catholic songwriter Dan Schutte was asked to write a song for an upcoming deacon ordination service. Catholic deacons are ordained ministers of the Catholic church; they are not priests (in the formal sense of the word). Since a deacon functions as a special servant of God, Dan turned to the Bible to read about the call from God to some men to become prophets, like Jeremiah and Isaiah. He discovered that genuine Biblical prophets answered the call to serve God with humility. Jeremiah’s response, for example, was, “I am but a child.” Hence, in the song, “Here I Am, Lord,” we answer God’s call with “Is it I, Lord?” and not, “It is I and here I stand.” Schutte had doubts about the song because it had been hurriedly written within only two days, but he saw right away that the song touched the hearts of parishioners. It is now a praise and worship song for non-Catholics as well as Catholic Deacons, for whom the song was originally written. It touches the hearts of dedicated Christians everywhere as they hear the call of God to serve Him as members of the Body of Christ, no matter what their religious tag may be.