This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
Who will witness?
Who will witness?
Who will witness to Christ's resurrection?
Who will join the apostles' band?
Who will guide those in need of direction?
Who will spread the Good News in our land?
Lord, you alone know everyone's heart:
you call your servants and set them apart.
Here I am, Lord: send me.
Here I am, Lord: send me.
Who has pondered the teachings of Jesus?
Who can teach them to foll'wers new?
Who has walked with the Master who sees us?
Who brings others to walk with him too?
Lord, you alone ...
Who will preach where the church has been faithless,
re-establish the bonds of love?
Who will strive until doubting proves baseless,
help the church be transformed from above?
Lord, you alone ...
Lord, when church seems oppressed by the hostile;
Lord, when leaders grow tired or fall;
Lord, we hear: we believe in your gospel.
Lord, we serve: we will heed when you call.
Lord, you alone ...
Words and tune copyright © John Hartley 2007.
Based on Acts 1:21-26 and Isaiah 6:8.
Story behind the song
This hymn is inspired by the account of the calling of Matthias to serve in the place of Judas in Acts chapter 1 (naturally, "St Matthias' Day" ought to come between Ascension Day and Pentecost in the life of the church). Acts 1:21-23 gives a short statement of what they were looking for as they chose him. For eight years I was minister of St Matthias' Church in Hanford (Stoke-on-Trent, UK) and used to preach annually on this occasion - and the message was always a variant of this:
- There will always be key leaders of the church who have to give up ministry, some because they move away, some because they die or become ill, and some because their faith crashes and they leave the Christian church,
- when these things happen, others need to be appointed to fill the gaps,
- the church is looking for people who know Jesus and can be a witness of his resurrection,
- the church is looking for people who have taken on board the meaning of Jesus' teaching so they can pass it on to others,
- there ought to be many such people in our churches,
- the key thing about both Matthias and Joseph Barsabbas (Justus) is they were willing to serve if called on to do so,
- and each of us needs to be willing too.
So here's a hymn of challenge to go with the subject.
A word about the third verse. Those who know Samuel Stone's hymn "The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord" (which can be found here) will be familiar with the fact that the verse about "schisms rent asunder" is often omitted from the hymn - but what I didn't know is that the original actually had two verses about this, and one is *always* omitted and the other one is often omitted as well! So the hymn-book editors obviously feel this area is dangerous territory for good hymns! Nevertheless part of God's call to me to minister in that church was Jesus' compassion on the "sheep without a shepherd" and Paul's calling to "proclaim Christ where he has not previously been proclaimed", and this is part of the job of those who join the apostles - so that's why this verse is in there.
John Hartley.
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.