This is a link to a video of the 200 - 250 voice Karen choir that sang at the ABC Mission Summit last Saturday (June 22) to the accompaniment of a Karen drum and Karen style horns.  We wanted to point out how special this was for the Karen and how much of themselves went into this one song.  The large brass drum along with the water buffalo horns used in the beginning may not be melodic to western ears but they are the symbols of the Karen people.  The large drums are very rare now-a-days.  I was told the drum used last Saturday was recently found in Burma and shipped to the US at a cost of thousands of dollars.

The song they sang is a medley consisting of the Karen national anthem and a special song written just for the Judson 200th anniversary.  The drum, gong and horns were used to introduce the national anthem which was sung at the beginning and end.  In between was the newly written song thanking God for sending Judson and the Gospel to the Karen people 200 year ago.  They ended with the last verse of the Karen national anthem which was written in 1928, long before there was any idea the Karen would be settled around the world.  Yet this verse is quite prophetic.  A rough translation would be: O God our father, Our ancient hope, We worship you so we can be your disciples and take your Good News around the world.

With the special drum and special music, they were giving us and the Lord the best they have to offer and proclaiming their goal of taking the Gospel where ever they go.