America the Beautiful

Happy Independence Day, America! 

Have you ever heard Ray Charles' version of America the Beautiful? If not, click the link and take a listen.  It is a beautiful rendition.  He takes some artistic liberty to change the lyrics a bit, which changes the author, Katharine Lee Bates, intention when she wrote the poem in 1893, inspired by her journey to Pike's Peak in Colorado.  Read these lyrics: 

O beautiful for spacious skies 

For amber waves of grain

For purple mountain majesties 

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea! 

O beautiful for pilgrim feet 

Whose stern impassioned stress

A thoroughfare of freedom beat 

Across the wilderness! 

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw

Confirm thy soul in self-control

Thy liberty in law! 

O beautiful for heroes proved 

In liberating strife

Who more than self their country loved 

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine

Till all success be nobleness

And every gain divine! 

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam 

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy God with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea! 

O beautiful for halcyon skies 

For amber waves of grain

For purple mountain majesties

Above the enameled plain! 

America! America! 

God shed his grace on thee

Till souls wax fair as earth and air 

And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet 

Whose stem impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat 

Across the wilderness! 

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

Till paths be wrought through 

Wilds of thought

by pilgrim foot and knee! 

O beautiful for glory-tale

Of liberating strife

When once and twice

For man's avail

Men lavished precious life! 

America! America! 

God shed his grace on thee

Till selfish gain no longer stain

The banner of the free! 

O beautiful for patriot dream 

that sees beyond the years 

Thine alabaster cities gleam 

undimmed by human tears! 

America! America! 

God shed his grace on thee

Till nobler men keep once again 

Thy whiter jubilee! 

Now, the lyrics are dated and perhaps 125 years later there are things we should not care to understand about it.  But there is something within this song that I believe we have missed.  

I grew up singing this song as an acclamation of what G-d has done for America.  We sang it as a declaration of America's greatness. Ray Charles sings it as such; however, Bates wrote this song as a prayer, as a longing for G-d's intervention.  Doesn't that change it quite a bit? Re-read it. Read it as a cry to G-d for mercy.  

You see, I think Bates, a woman living a fairly bountiful life, yet still oppressed for her gender and her orientation, understood something. That day standing on Pike's Peak she realized that for as beautiful as this nation was, for all that had happened to get us to that day 125 years ago, where she could pen these infamous words; there was still so far to go.  

This poem was NOT etched as a declaration of superiority, but instead it was penned as a supplication for mercy, for humility and for freedom. It was a prayer for something more than what was.  It was a prayer for America to be the land of the free that it longed to be when it adopted these words on July 4, 1776:  

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." 

May this song become a prayer again! May we today stand, like Katharine Lee Bates, on the beauty of the world that G-d has created and cry out to G-d for something more, for our nation to be the nation of freedom for all; a nation of brotherhood; in which more than self we love others and seek mercy for all; a nation that dreams paths that are wrought in wilds of thoughts; a nation that selfish gain is no longer our stain, but instead we fly the banner of the free and continue become better beyond what our eyes can see!

Joy Overcomes Sorrow

Truth: I have cried a great deal over the last three days. I have felt hopelessness. I have felt sorrow, a deep sorrow. In the middle of this hopelessness and sorrow, I know that G-d was right there with me and I know that God’s heart broke with mine. Just as my tears flowed, I know that Jesus wept.

Today, I decided that I would seek joy, that I would embrace the very people that are being rejected, that I would stand alongside them, in the midst of them and just breathe; being present to people. So I did two things:

1) I went to Paisley Park. This is Prince’s recording studio/sanctuary/home in Chanhassen, MN. When I walked in the gentleman at the door said to me, “Oh, you are going to love this. This is going to mean the world to you. I can see it in your eyes.” He continued to tell me that what he saw in my eyes was something different than any person that walked through that door today.  It was an utter joy and he could see that I knew I was walking on holy ground. It was holy ground because if Prince was nothing else, he was someone who knew who he was and embraced it as best he could, living a meaningful faith that he shared with the world. I cried a bit in this place, but not tears of sorrow. 

2) While I was in Minneapolis for meetings, it also happened to be Pride weekend. Today, I went to The Pride Festival. I did this alone. I took time to listen to people I did not know about their businesses, their stories, and their lives. I had the privilege of listening and the honor speaking words of love and encouragement (a drastic difference from the hate-filled sign holders standing on the outside). I spoke with LGBTQ persons of faith who have been harmed deeply by others and yet have not given up hope in Jesus. And I spoke with some who have been harmed deeply by others and blame Jesus.  I am certain that I walked through this festival with that same look of awe in my eyes as I did walking through the doors of Paisley Park.

Today I sought out holy ground, the ground that Jesus would have sought out had he been there. And it was there that I saw Jesus and it was there that joy overcame sorrow and hope began to silence hopelessness.

I do not have all the answers to the questions of life, but I know the answers, whatever they are, must be rooted in love, if they are to be valid.  We are called to love G-d with all we got and to love people...all people.  I just want to do that. I want to love passionately, unconditionally.  I want the world to know me and my G-d for love. Lord, help me love more deeply, care more passionately, and listen more intensely.  Open me up to your world that you so desperately love.  

Disrupt me

Luke 8:26-39 

“They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes,[a]which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission.  When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet,dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured.  Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him”

What are we afraid of? 

That our power and privilege might go off a cliff, if we allow freedom and liberation to those living naked and bound in chains, to the outcast, to the unwanted...but Jesus frees the man and allows the livelihood of one group to be taken away so one man might have freedom!! And their response is "get out of my town before you turn any more of my world upside down" 

Lord, turn my world upside down! Move in our midst, dance in our assemblies, dance in our hearts, dance on the floors of our nightclubs and on the floor of our congress, may your spirit dance in our souls. 

Come Holy Spirit and disrupt me!!!