Last week I had the honor of leading worship for a Joni and Friends Family Retreat at Spruce Lake. If you’re unfamiliar with Joni and Friends, it is a ministry that serves those with disabilities and their families. It also enables churches to better understand and reach the disabled community.
A Joni and Friends Family Retreat is a week of camp centered around families affected by disability. It enlists the service of short term missionaries (STMs) that raise support (or simply pay themselves) for the opportunity to assist a disabled member of a family for the week, so that each member of the family gets to recharge a bit.
Each year all of the STM volunteers and staff meet at the camp a day early for orientation and training, which culminates in a commissioning service a few hours before the families arrive.
This was the third time I’ve been a part of a family retreat so I had a general idea of what to expect.
During the commissioning service, they usually have a hand-washing – the JAF staff washes the volunteers hands to symbolize servant hood and pray over the STMs.. It’s a pretty powerful visual in which I (conveniently) miss due to providing background music. “Noodling”, is what we call it. As I noodled, the hand-washing line diminished and the JAF Greater Philadelphia director, Jerry Borton began to commission the group.
I should mention too that the theme of the week was from Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is my strength”. We all had t-shirts with this verse written on the back.
As Jerry talked, my noodling gave way to a specific progression. Not complicated, but competent to carry the mantra, “The joy of the Lord/the joy of the Lord/the joy of the Lord is my strength”.
Jerry continued his benediction by having everyone look to their right and then to their left, to illustrate that they were all in this together.
As I repeated the lines “The joy of the Lord…” to myself, the first verse poured right from Jerry’s mouth through my guitar. I found out later from Jerry that what he was saying was off-script. He was just feeling led by the Spirit and speaking from that honest space.
Sometimes, as a songwriter, I labor over words and notes for years before a song is carved and refined into existence. Other times it feels like a picture has been snapped by a Polaroid and my role is to vigorously shake the photo until i realize, along with everyone else what it is I’m looking at.
This experience was the latter. Jerry took a picture of what the Spirit was doing in that room and I was blessed enough to see the photo and pass it around for the rest of the week.
This is “My Strength”
The joy of the Lord/The joy of the Lord/The joy of the Lord/Is my strength
There will be trials/There will be pain/When your strength is gone/His remains
Look to your left/Look to your right/You’re not alone/In this fight
The joy of the Lord/The joy of the Lord/The joy of the Lord/Is my strength
He’s gone before /He stands behind/Legions of angels/Are by you side
You have been sealed/You have been freed/You are adopted/Into the King’s family
The joy of the Lord/The joy of the Lord/The joy of the Lord/Is my strength
My Strength – this is a very rough demo that I recorded with my phone. I usually would not post something this rough, but there is something special to me about capturing this minutes after the commissioning service – you can even hear the STMs in the background preparing for their camper families to arrive.
Writer's Block 
Leave a comment