Unbroken Chain

This song comes from a story my father shared with me. It stems from a request I received from a dear friend at church to write something about Family history work. Sorry I dodged you Ernie, for so long, but you cornered me on the right day and the Lord put this experience in my mind as a way to emphasize such an important work.

For those reading that are not of my faith, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints believes in eternal families and our temples are not typical houses of worship. They are built to make additional covenants with God that solidify our purpose in this life, and also to seal families together for time and all eternity. This means that we also perform, in proxy, baptisms for those that have passed along with other ordinances that we believe seal a family together for eternity, if we are able to live (in the flesh or in spirit) according to God's laws. We do family history work to find names of loved ones that may not have been given the chance to accept Christ.

You can read about baptisms for the dead too in the New Testament. Interpret how you want, but we take that literally and modern day Prophets have been given clarity on how that works and what it means.

Here we go.

My father had a dream where a name was spoken clearly. Hilda Baker. He did not know why it mattered. He tried to dismiss it. Then the name came again with more detail. She has two sons.

The next morning, he went to a family history center at his local church building and began searching. Hilda Baker was real. She was in our family line. As he looked closer, he discovered something important. Two of her sons had not been sealed to her.

This experience reaffirmed something I already believed but had never felt so personally. Family does not end at death. God's sealing power is real. Souls are reaching out. Work continues beyond this life.

The lyrics follow that story. The idea that none of us stand alone. That we are part of something stretching backward and forward through generations. That broken links matter and can be healed.

This song is meant to strengthen faith in eternal family. To remind people why this work matters. Why love carries past the grave.