I, from time to time, have been known to do some really dumb things.

I was asked a while back to assist a friend and her Mom with a chapel service at the Grace Hospital in Toronto. I was asked to sing, as was my friend.

I inquired about what would be most appropriate to sing and was told that the service was for the patients on the palliative care floor (or at least it appeared to me to be the palliative care floor- very very elderly patients) and she suggested just some familiar hymns of the church that would bring back memories and comfort.

I chose two hymns (largely ... well ... purely because I had accompaniment tracks for them) and was pleased that I had a repertoire that contained some old hymns of the church appropriate for an occasion such as this. I felt very professional. Since I was familiar with the hymns, and the music seemed rather straightforward, I didn't rehearse them before the service.

Off I went to sing on that morning ...

The service began and my friend sang a beautiful hymn. Her Mom read some scripture. And then it was my turn.

Now ... I'm used to singing in front of elderly and sick patients. I was provided with many opportunities - growing up in the Salvation Army - to sing in hospitals and nursing homes and retirement homes at Christmas, etc. So I was prepared (or so I thought) to stand up and sing a hymn to a small room of patients.

My music started and I began to sing ...

"Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,

Calling for you and for me;

See, on the portals, He's waiting and watching,

Watching for you and for me"

It was going well ... but I had a nagging thought in the back of my mind that something was coming that was kind of like a train headed for a public school that I couldn't shake ... but I pressed on ...

"Come home, come home;

Ye who are weary come home;"

Yup. There it was. I was singing "ye who are weary, come home" to a room full of palliative care patients.

How in the heck was I going to make it through? I didn't know if I should laugh. Or cry. Or die. Dying seemed a little inappropriate, so I continued.

"Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling

Calling O sinner come home!"

Yup. I just called them sinners.

It was a disaster beyond anything I could have possibly imagined (in order to then avoid, of course).

The absolute worst part though ... was the third verse. I couldn't skip it because I was using a track - not a live musician I could turn to and plead with my eyes silently to stop playing - a track that was not slowing down or stopping or helping me in any way.

I imagined the tape being chewed in that instant by the sound system. But instead the tape played on, strong and loud. I just looked straight ahead and continued:

"Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,

Passing from you and from me;

(I can't make up words fast enough ... maybe I should just hum ... that would be too obvious ... I have to just keep singing ... it's a hymn, right? Maybe they aren't even listening ...)

"Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming,

Coming for you and for me"

(Oh dear Lord, I'm pretty sure someone just died in the back of the room. I have to live with this on my conscience for the rest of my life.)

It was, perhaps, one of the more boneheaded things I've ever done in my life.

My other hymn was Amazing Grace. When I sang "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see" I kind of hoped that they all took it as my personal explanation and apology.