He Knows My Name

I go to a church in the suburbs that's pretty much your typical "mega-church" -- at least mega by Maryland's standards (in California or Texas, it would probably be more akin to a housechurch). The worship music is modern, the pastor is energetic and the messages stay fairly simple. The thing I notice about the music is that we tend to go through phases with songs. Like a modern radio station, we're unlikely to sing a song that was really popular five years ago, even if it's a great song. Of course we'll always throw in an old hymn or two every now and then, but certain songs are simply passe. I find this very sad, but not that surprising.

I don't know if it was this morning or last night, but I was thinking to myself about the song, "He Knows My Name." It's a pretty old-school song, not the most profound of lyrics, not the most haunting melody. I don't recall ever hearing it at my church, but I've heard it a couple of times at other churches and, most memorably, at a dinner celebration one of my organization's church partners held to conclude a Cambodia conference. The song touched me deeply that night in September -- I think because it struck me how God knew (and knows) the names of all the Cambodians who died in the genocide in the late 1970s, how he knows the names of all those who suffer in that country today, how he cares about them and is present to them. The song came back to me this weekend (as it does from time to time).

It often happens that I'll think of a song or be singing a song during the week and then we wind up singing it that weekend in church. I feel like it's a whisper from God, a personal touch of His hand. This morning I went to church and some members of Sandtown's New Song Community Church -- an "inner-city" church -- were leading worship. The third and final song they led was "He Knows My Name." It was so beautiful, so personal, so confirming and sweet. I am so thankful just for that song.

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call