On special days when we would sing the Service Songs in our congregation at the Joint Forces Training Base, there was always only one person, (her husband had been in the Coast Guard) who stood up for the Coast Guard song. Since the mission of the Coast Guard included the rescue of persons in distress, we would sometimes try to sing a hymn that would blend in with that mission.
Remember: “Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave; Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen, Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying; Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.” Also, the one in distress might sing “Pass me not, O gentle Savior, Hear my humble cry; While on others thou are smiling. Do not pass me by.” Or another verse of another hymn that could remind us of the Coast Guard was:”Brightly beams our Father’s mercy From his lighthouse evermore; But to us he gives the keeping Of the lights along the shore. Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave! Some poor fainting, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save.” You may think of other hymns that will suggest to you some similarities between the mission of the Coast Guard and your religious faith as you understand it. “Semper Paratus”
