Why did you choose me-what have I done

The 2nd composition by Stephanie Monaghan (formerly Mason) in this book is a personal confession of wonder and commitment which, she says ‘started my songwriting life … I was overwhelmed that God chose me to be his child’. She wrote it in 1983 as a poem for a church Christmas party, and a friend suggested setting it to music. Both believer and unbeliever exclaim ‘Why should this happen to me?’, the latter often referring to bad news or unpleasant events, the former to the unmerited mercies of God. If this should seem too private a poem to be sung congregationally, the same could be said of some of John Newton’s, which were published and are sung as hymns, or some of the other ‘1st-person’ Psalms and hymns found under ‘I’ in the index. This one was sung in the author’s own church ‘since day one’ and in others since 1986. Luke 15:24 is one of several Scriptures on which the text is built. In their own more contemporary way, these words make the same basic point as 690 and 691 together or even 772, and the music (WHY DID YOU CHOOSE ME) was composed with and for them in the 1980s. This is their first appearance in a hymn-book.

(formerly MASON), b Islington, N London 1953. Central Foundation Girls’ Grammar Sch, London EC1. Graduated BA in Theology and Religious Studies (1998); Diploma in Journalism and Combined Arts. A freelance journalist and piano teacher who also plays guitar, she is a member of the Vineyard Ch in Twickenham. Her ‘songwriting life’ began in 1983 with no.740; first publications are in Praise! but her songs have been used since the 1980s in various churches, at weddings and at the Carey Conference etc. Nos.712, 740.