Sing a New Song

Last Sunday someone requested #267 Lead Me On from the Old School Hymnal. I have been unable to find a recording of it online to put on our song page to help us learn it. That said, it's a pretty easy tune and I hope to be able to teach it come Sunday morning.

Incidentally, one of the ways we can avoid song service ruts is to learn new songs. I've often commented on how people avoid studying the bible with the "I just don't know where to start" excuse. This is why I frequently give "homework assignments" from the pulpit that involve reading a relatively short passage during the week; it is to take that lame excuse completely off the table. I do so with tongue planted in cheek, but only partly so, for those who employ that technique to justify spiritual laziness.

Sometimes, song service ruts are the result of a similar objection: "I don't know any of these other songs." That is easy enough to overcome. I recommend that when a song is requested during the service that we do not know well enough to lead, that we take note of that song and that our song leaders set the goal of being able to lead it the following week. I suspect that if we took this step and were purposeful about revisiting the songs we did not previously know, that we'd add at least a half-dozen songs to our repertoire over the course of a year, if not twice that many.

- Elder Daniel Samons