Jim Wellemeyer
February 15, 1953
At the beginning of the Service titled Cone Response, and prior to Uranda's spoken words,
With power and tenderness, Jim Wellemeyer sang this hymn titled The Lost Chord,
with Lillian at the piano, in the Chapel on Sunrise Ranch
The Lost Chord by Arthur Sullivan
Seated one day at the organ,
I was weary and ill at ease,
And my fingers wandered idly
Over the noisy keys.
I know not what I was playing,
Or what I was dreaming then;
But I struck one chord of music,
Like the sound of a great Amen.
It flooded the crimson twilight,
Like the close of an angel's psalm,
And it lay on my fevered spirit
With a touch of infinite calm.
It quieted pain and sorrow,
Like love overcoming strife;
It seemed the harmonious echo
From our discordant life.
It linked all perplexèd meanings
Into one perfect peace,
And trembled away into silence
As if it were loth to cease.
I have sought, but I seek it vainly,
That one lost chord divine,
Which came from the soul of the organ,
And entered into mine.
It may be that life's bright angel
Will speak in that chord again,
It may be that only in Heav'n
Seated one day at the organ,
I know not what I was playing,
It flooded the crimson twilight,
It quieted pain and sorrow,
It linked all perplexèd meanings
I have sought, but I seek it vainly,
It may be that life's bright angel