From the Rising of the Sun

You may have been wondering when I would turn to the prophetic voice of Amanda Gorman. The celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. which falls tomorrow here in the USA, is a perfect moment to move from one prophetic voice to another. Amanda became known to so many with her words and her performance of those words “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of President Joe Biden. “We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ055ilIiN4

Since those words, her voice has become one of hope and joy amidst our hopelessness and sadness. Her words below usher in not just a New Year but a new day, a new dawn, a new possibility. Ponder the rhythm of her words and offer a prayer for this new day.

“New Day’s Lyric”
May this be the day
We come together.
Mourning, we come to mend,
Withered, we come to weather,
Torn, we come to tend,
Battered, we come to better.
Tethered by this year of yearning,
We are learning
That though we weren’t ready for this,
We have been readied by it.
We steadily vow that no matter
How we are weighed down,
We must always pave a way forward.

This hope is our door, our portal.
Even if we never get back to normal,
Someday we can venture beyond it,
To leave the known and take the first steps.
So let us not return to what was normal,
But reach toward what is next.

What was cursed, we will cure.
What was plagued, we will prove pure.
Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree,
Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee,
Where we weren’t aware, we’re now awake;
Those moments we missed
Are now these moments we make,
The moments we meet,
And our hearts, once all together beaten,
Now all together beat.

Come, look up with kindness yet,
For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.
We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,
But to take on tomorrow.

We heed this old spirit,
In a new day’s lyric,
In our hearts, we hear it:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
Be bold, sang Time this year,
Be bold, sang Time,
For when you honor yesterday,
Tomorrow ye will find.
Know what we’ve fought
Need not be forgot nor for none.
It defines us, binds us as one,
Come over, join this day just begun.
For wherever we come together,
We will forever overcome.

Prayer:
Holy God,
there is so much that is broken,
there is so much that needs repaired.
Help us rise to the challenge.
Give us the energy to build,
give us the desire to welcome
the new day.
From the rising of the sun
to the going down of the same
might we never tire of doing right.
From the rising of the sun
to the going down of the same
might the name of the Lord be praised.
Might your kingdom come
your will be done
today and everyday. Amen.