Walk With me on Our Journey

When you sing gospel you have a feeling there is a cure for what's wrong.

Here voice and that of Pete Seeger nourished and empowered generations and even this one to speak truth to power and for the least of these. Songs from the social justice movement give us the tools and food to be the Beloved Community and be members of the Jesus Movement and if you aren't Christian a Member of the Great Human Family made in the image and likeness of God. Tonight ! let us spend our time being empowered by God and the living water of life while at the same time hearing quotes from Mahalia and Pete interspersed throughout. Because I'm using Blogger I can't post the hymn tunes throughout. If you want to hear them please go to YouTube and do a search.

So let us begin!

I sing God's music because it makes me feel free. It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues.

Let us come to the water and spend time in silence and engage in the "Peace be stills"

Peace be still.

Peace be.

Peace.

Peace be still.

Peace be.

Peace.

Peace be still.

Peace be.

Peace.

Songs are funny things. They can slip across borders. Proliferate in prisons. Penetrate hard shells. I always believed that the right song at the right moment could change history.

Let us light our candles and sing a song from our hearts that will give light to the world.

The Light of the World - Godspell by Stephen Schwartz

[BUCKMINSTER FULLER AND CHORUS]

You are the light of the world!

But if that light is under a bushel,

Brrr, it's lost something kind of crucial

You got to stay bright to be the light of the world

You are the salt of the earth

But if that salt has lost its flavor

It ain't got much in its favor

You can't have that fault and be the salt of the earth!

So let your light so shine before men

Let your light so shine

So that they might know some kindness again

We all need help to feel fine (let's have some wine!)

You are the city of God

But if that city's on a hill

It's kinda hard to hide it well

You've got to stay pretty in the city of God

So let your light so shine before men

Let your light so shine

So that they might know some kindness again

We all need help to feel fine (let's have some wine!)

You are the light of the world

But the tallest candlestick

Ain't much good without a wick

You've got to live right to be the light of the world

I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other.

Pete Seeger

O Gracious Light Phos hilaron

O gracious light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of Life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.

51 Miserere mei, Deus

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; *
in your great compassion blot out my offenses.

2 Wash me through and through from my wickedness *
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions, *
and my sin is ever before me.
.
4 Against you only have I sinned *
and done what is evil in your sight.

5 And so you are justified when you speak *
and upright in your judgment.

6 Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, *
a sinner from my mother's womb.

7 For behold, you look for truth deep within me, *
and will make me understand wisdom secretly.

8 Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; *
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.

9 Make me hear of joy and gladness, *
that the body you have broken may rejoice.

10 Hide your face from my sins *
and blot out all my iniquities.

And there's a wonderful parable in the New Testament: The sower scatters seeds. Some seeds fall in the pathway and get stamped on, and they don't grow. Some fall on the rocks, and they don't grow. But some seeds fall on fallow ground, and they grow and multiply a thousandfold. Who knows where some good little thing that you've done may bring results years later that you never dreamed of?

Hebrews 10:11-25

11 And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. ¹²But when Christ^* had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, ‘he sat down at the right hand of God’, ¹³and since then has been waiting ‘until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.’ ¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. ¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
¹⁶ ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds’,
¹⁷he also adds,
‘I will remember^* their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’
¹⁸Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

19 Therefore, my friends,^* since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Put your mind on the gospel. And remember - there's one God for all.

If I had a Hammer

If I had a hammer,

I'd hammer in the morning,

I'd hammer in the evening,

All over this land,

I'd hammer out danger,

I'd hammer out a warning,

I'd hammer out love between,

My brothers and my sisters,

All over this land.

If I had a bell,

I'd ring it in the morning,

I'd ring it in the evening,

All over this land,

I'd ring out danger,

I'd ring out a warning,

I'd ring out love between,

My brothers and my sisters,

All over this land.

Pete Seeger and Lee Hays

Song, songs kept them going and going; They didn't realize the millions of seeds they were sowing. They were singing in marches, even singing in jail. Songs gave them the courage to believe they would not fail.

John 6:1-15

6After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.^* ²A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. ⁵When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ ⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. ⁷Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages^* would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ ⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ ¹⁰Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they^* sat down, about five thousand in all.¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹²When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ ¹³So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. ¹⁴When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’

15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

A Familiar Stranger

I saw a stranger today.

I put food for him

in the eating-place

And drink

in the drinking-place

And music

in the listening-place.

In the Holy name

of the Trinity

He blessed myself

and my family.

And the lark said in her warble

Often, often, often

Goes Christ

in the stranger's guise.

O, oft and oft and oft,

Goes Christ

in the stranger's guise.

(Celtic Rune of Hospitality)

According to my definition of God, I'm not an atheist. Because I think God is everything. Whenever I open my eyes, I'm looking at God. Whenever I'm listening to something, I'm listening to God. - Pete Seeger

15 The Song of Mary Magnificat
Luke 1:46-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
    the Almighty has done great things for me,
    and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
    in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
    he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
    and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
    and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
    for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
    to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

God help us as we pray to remember these words from Pete Seeger as our prayerful response :

When we see injustice being wrongfully committed in your Name O God help us to remember:

When we se the least of these being harmed in any way let us have courage and be empowered by the Holy Spirit to keep these words in mind:

God help us to be peace makers and to do justly, love, mercy and walk humbly with you and do the following;

When we are afraid and unsteady help us to lean on your courage and remember:

God empower us to serve you in this the Beloved Community that you have brought together and when situations arise and we see times of dis-ease let us remember :