I usually get a draft of the service order a few weeks ahead where I find out what the hymns and other musical parts of the service are going to be. I submit titles of my organ voluntaries for the prelude, introit and postlude on Mondays for the following Sundays. I then get a draft of the Sunday bulletin later in the week and print it out to bring with all my organ music on Sunday morning.

All of this is running pretty much like clockwork as the folks of Nuuanu Congregational Church hold in-person services, now for the third week in a row. When I got to the church this morning, I realized I had neglected to print out the draft of the Sunday bulletin to stick in my bag. No worries, I’ll just retrieve one from the back of the church.

When I quickly scanned the bulletin, I got to the musical response after the sermon, and there was a hymn I somehow had overlooked in my weekly preparation. It was listed as Hymn 621, Turn your eyes upon the Lord. I quickly turned to my copy of the New Century Hymnal (which is the only hymnal we have used since I first started playing here since last August). Oops, the New Century Hymnal only had hymns that went up to 617! Thinking there may have been an error in the printing, I quickly turned to the first line index in the back. No “Turn your eyes upon the Lord.” This was a day in which Russell Ishida, the music director, was not present, so I hurriedly looked at the music I had brought, thinking there might be something else I could play instead.

It was 8:47 am (13 minutes before the worship start time), when I spotted The Rev. Jeannie Thompson, pastor, coming down the main aisle. I raced to meet her, and said, “The hymnal only goes up to No. 617, so can you tell me what the hymn is after the sermon?”

“Oh,” she replied. That’s No. 621 from the Methodist hymnal!”

“No wonder I couldn’t find it!”

She went to get her copy from the church office while I waited patiently. When she brought her copy of the Methodist hymnal, I turned to No. 621. Nope, that’s not it! I did notice that she had stuck a paper napkin in No. 374, and there it was— a two line hymn., “Turn your eyes upon the Lord.” I had already decided I was going to play it twice through, because it seemed so short.

During the sermon, Pastor Jeannie mentioned that “Turn your eyes upon the Lord” was one of her favorite hymns. She apologized in advance that the church office had neglected to provide me with the music. However, it fit perfectly with her sermon which focused on the disciples in the fishing boat during a storm.

At one point, I may have told you that one of my biggest worries in playing a church service is losing track of which stanza the congregation is singing. This is particularly worrisome on a hymn like “Hail thee Festival Day,” where the odd and even verses are sung to different tunes. Even though I marked my hymnal with the registration for each verse, I somehow lost track of the stanzas on the opening hymn today, “You have come down to the lakeshore.” Luckily, all the texts of the hymns are projected on the wall, so I could easily find out what stanza the congregation was, even though we were given a gentle reminder in the opening announcements, that because we were still in “pandemic mode,” there was to be no singing, no matter how tempting. However, humming would be allowed until new guidelines are drawn up.

All was well and good until we got to the hymn, “Turn your eyes upon the Lord,” out of the Methodist hymnal. The tune was new to me, even though I have probably played more than a thousand hymn tunes. I played a little introduction, then started to play the hymn from the beginning. Then as I was finishing the second time through on a different registration, I happened to glance up on the wall. Another set of words appeared, and I thought, “uh oh, I’d better play another verse on another registration!” When that stanza was finished, there was yet another set of words! Apparently what was printed in the hymnal was only a refrain to a longer hymn! I had no idea what the music of those other stanzas might have been!

In all, I played the hymn with a little introduction, four verses, and a final coda.

Oh, I forgot to say that during the sermon, the moderator passed me a note asking if I could play “Happy Birthday” during the announcements. Sure, what key do you want it in? Playing “Happy Birthday” from memory, as well as the Doxology are “must do’s” for any church organist! Today we celebrated the 95th birthday of one of the parishioners, who at 95 looked like he was at least 15 years younger.

After the service, I returned the hymnal to Pastor Jeannie, and I told her, “Playing a church service is like catching fastballs! You have to be on your toes because you never know what’s coming!”