Hummingbird

When we took Karen Hendrickson's body from Cincinnati to the cemetery in Abbottsville, Ohio, near Dayton, where she was buried on August 26, 1999, I drove alone. As I did so, I began to compose a song in my mind, the melody and the first verse washing over me like a flood. I made a mental note to complete the song, which I was calling Hummingbird, and share it with Kathy Luccasen, then our pianist and an extraordinary musician. (Kathy and I had already composed several songs together, she writing the melodies and me the lyrics.)

Some days later, in a conversation I can only describe as a God-incident, Kathy said to me, "I think that we should write a song for Karen to present on All Saints Day." "That's what I've been thinking," I replied. "I think that we should call it Hummingbird." "That's what I've been thinking."

Kathy then revealed to me that she'd come up with the melody for a chorus. I told her that I had a melody for the verses. Kathy also had the melody for a bridge, which we'd not been able to use in any of the previous songs we'd written together. They all turned out to be in the same key. I was then able to write lyrics for the entire song.

We presented the song on the day before All Saints' Day, Reformation Day, October 31, 1999, during worship at Friendship. Here are the lyrics:

Hummingbird

Hummingbird, fluttering, flying,
Outside the window pane
Have you come helloing, goodbying,
Beauty in the middle of pain?
Have you come to show us that freedom
Will be ours in the end?
And joy will follow all of our mourning
That life and peace will blossom again?

Hummingbird, our smiles and our heartaches,
Mingled joy and fear,
Leave us wondering just what it takes
To make it through down here
Could you please show us the vista,
That city on a hill,
Where bright, the Savior reigns forever
And with His life we all will be filled?

Hummingbird fly away
On wings of grace
Soar to the endless day beyond
There is a God Who has shared His life
So one day we all may rise

Trying
Crying
Looking for the perfect path
Tearing
Wearing
We rarely live for things that last
But in your flight
We catch a glimpse of
Beauty that awaits all who believe

Hummingbird fly away
On wings of grace
Soar to the endless day beyond
There is a God Who has shared His life
So one day we all may rise

Hummingbird, your soulmate awaits you
Escort her to her home
Let her fly in hope and in freedom
To Him Whose grace she owns.
Like you, her too-fleeting presence
Has thrilled our earthbound eyes
We'll try now to look to the Savior
And point our lives to the skies.

Hummingbird, fly!

[The following was shared by way of background in the worship bulletin of October 31, 1999.]