Several thousand people who had gathered in the Extension of The Mother Church on the afternoon of June 7, 2009, will never forget a Hymn Sing led by Désirée Goyette.
After some routine announcements from the platform, the auditorium fell silent. Then from the back rows came a lyric soprano voice singing words the singer happened to have written herself 20 years previously: “I am the Lord, there is none else; / There is no God beside Me” (Christian Science Hymnal Supplement, No. 444, based on Isaiah 45:5, 6).
It was the event coordinator, Désirée Goyette, who had traveled from California to take part. Soon she came into view. She walked slowly down the west aisle and sprang lightly up onto the platform, by which time everyone had joined her in singing lines that are now firm favorites: “Governed by Love, you’re safe and secure; / I am forever beside thee.”
Désirée has made similar entrances during Church Summits in Pasadena, California, and in Hanover, Germany, and she continues to sing from time to time as a guest soloist in The Mother Church.
