My wife, children and I lived in middle Tennessee for three years in a small town called Livingston. My youngest daughter was born while we lived there. We attended the First Methodist Church in the middle of town. Early in our time there, I joined their choir. I quickly became of their go to people for solos and small ensembles. During our time there, I was regularly tapped for solos and duets during Christmas and Easter cantatas. In addition to having a music program filled with talented musicians, the church was at a point in its life where it had gone through a time spiritual awakening. It was special time in the life of that church. I had some specific spiritual needs at the time and the people of that congregation ministered to me in a way that I needed to be treated. It was a special place and a special time for that place. The people in that community still hold a special place in my heart.
We had been at this church for a couple of years when the choir director decided to retire. He wanted to do one last cantata before he left. This musical program was called Statement of Faith. I was honored that the director felt I was worthy of singing the solo in the title song of the program. This was not the typical cantata in that it wasn’t specifically a Christmas or Easter program. We were performing this at a time unrelated to any specific time in Christian calendar. It was more related to when our director was retiring and seemed like the perfect piece of music for that purpose.
We did a special performance of the cantata on a Sunday night. A couple of weeks later was the last Sunday morning that our director would be there and he wanted to have us do the song Statement of Faith again. I was honored again that he would ask me to have this very visible role in his last Sunday at our church.
That Sunday morning, I stepped up to the podium to sing the solo. I was confident enough that I didn’t have my music with me. As the song started, I suddenly went blank. I couldn’t remember any of the words to the song. Members of the choir quickly realized what was going on and they started singing my solo part. Soon I recovered and was able to remember lyrics until I got to the middle section of the song. It has a spoken part before the last chorus that included a creed or actual statement of faith. I looked up the lyrics to the song and found the following:
“I believe there is one true God, and Jesus Christ is His holy Son, that He is the living Word, and that by Him and through Him all things were made.
I believe He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind and brought the dead back to life.
I believe in the cross, that Jesus, God’s sacrificial Lamb, shedding His blood was crucified as an atonement for the sins of all the world, and whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
I believe in the resurrection, that on the third day He rose from the tomb, conquering death, hell and the grave;
And I believe that today He sits at the right hand of the Father, and because He lives, we shall live also.
I believe in the church, a harbor for souls, where God is glorified, saints are edified, grace is multiplied and mercy is magnified.
I believe in the Holy Spirit Who lives within all who are saved by grace through faith; He is our comforter, our friend and our guide.
I believe one day Jesus will come again to claim His own and prove once and for all that He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
I could not remember any of these words. While my mind searched for these words, the only thing that I could think of were the words of a Steve Martin routine. In his bit called What I Believe, he does a talk like the spoken part in Statement of Faith. The only line in his routine with any religious overtones was the main one that stuck in my mind where he says, “And I believe in eight of the ten commandments.” Of course I couldn’t say that, but it was the first thing I told our pastor after the performance was done.
I hate that I blew it for such a special performance. I learned my lesson. Take the lyrics with you.