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Hello Anna,
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The song I sang as part of my sermon on Easter morning came alive for me in stages. Last Spring, our amazing music director Steve O’Connor gave me a copy this song by Presbyterian pastor Mary Louise Bringle in a packet of music suggested for Pride Sunday. We hummed a few bars together and admired the crafting of the words, and but we had already planned our liturgy, so I tucked it away.
This winter, when I was creating a booklet of prayers for my Episcopal women’s prayer group, I again came across these lyrics. I was again captivated by the glorious invitation to co-creation expressed in Bringle’s words, but her lyrics were set to a marchy tune ill-fit to the sweeping, blooming hopefulness of the text. So I set the song aside again.
Fast-forward to the week before Holy Week. As I was searching for the music for the Eucharistic prayer for Easter Sunday, I came across Steve’s packet of songs from last Spring. The inspiriting words and melodious tune leapt off the page, and the Spirit whispered, “Now is the time for this song!”
The power of Bringle’s lyrics is that they express the desire of our hearts: we long to be a part of birthing renewal and embrace in a world where destruction and exclusion seem to be winning the day. But they won’t win. Life wins. Love wins. Even – and especially – in the midst of death, love wins.
This week, when it was announced that Pope Francis had died, I celebrated his life and prayed for next good things in the Roman Catholic church by re-watching the movie Conclave. I highly recommend it! In it, one of the Cardinals says, “The Church is not tradition. The Church is not the past. The Church is what we do next.” Indeed, the reason Pope Francis was so beloved is that he strived to do the next right thing: care for the poor, soothe the suffering, raise up the oppressed, etc.
Dear people of God, may the coming weeks, months, and years find us daring to share in this risky, joyful, challenging, glorious work and thus join Pope Francis and all the saints – past, present and future – in singing a new world into being. Amen. Alleluia!
Blessings,
Janet+
Here are the lyrics to Bringle’s lovely song:
Sing a new world into being. Sound a bold and hopeful theme.
Find a tune for silent yearnings. Lend your voice and dare to dream:
Dream a church where all who worship find their lives and loves belong.
Sing a new world into being. Sing as Christ inspires your song!
Sing a new world into being where each gender, class and race
Brings its rainbow gifts and colors to God's limitless embrace:
Where the lines that once divided form instead the ties that bind.
Sing a new world into being: risk transforming heart and mind.
Sing a new world into being where the homeless find a home,
Where no children ever hunger but are filled in God's Shalom:
Where all people work for justice, where all hate and vengeance cease.
Sing a new world into being: raise the harmonies of peace.
Sing a new world into being, join the ancient prophets' cry
For a time of health and plenty, when all tears have been wiped dry:
When compassion flows like waters, pouring balm for all who grieve,
Sing a new world into being: live the promise you believe!
Spanish Version
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