Another New Hymn

It is pretty true that necessity is the mother of invention. Or more to the point, in this case, dissatisfaction is the mother of inspiration.

I wrote another hymn today, again to the tune Austrian Hymn ("Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken"). I wrote it because I couldn't find anything else in the whole hymnal that I was satisfied with for the particular spot I was looking to fill. (And probably because I had seven gallons of work I should have been doing instead, but that's a different issue, now isn't it?) I used this same tune because I've been wanting to sing it (and I never actually used the Easter version).

To be honest, this hymn doesn't exactly give me what I wanted either, but I think I would have to have written a new tune for that, and those are skills I have not yet developed. But now there is a hymn commemorating one of my favorite, under-used stories from the Book of Acts, the tale of Peter and Cornelius. Since it's the earliest watershed moment of Gentiles getting invited into the Body of Christ, you'd think we'd make a bigger deal of it than we do.

I would like to institute a new church holiday called the Festival of the Clean Sheets that celebrates this story. I would put it around September First (which just happens to be my ordination anniversary) because that would put it smack dab in the middle of ordinary time, right where we need a holiday. The primary focus of the celebration would be a big crazy, ecumenical picnic with lots of crazy food. Anyway, go read Acts 10, and then come back and see what you think of this hymn.

"Visions of a Common Family"

Visions came to good Cornelius:
God had heard his faithful prayer.
“Send for Peter, at the seaside;
Though he now is unaware,
He will bring you words of wonder,
comfort, welcome and release.”
Doors are opening to the stranger;
Can God’s children live in peace?

Peter praying on the rooftop,
challenged by the Lord’s command,
first protested his own righteousness,
then saw Love in this demand.
All are welcomed; enter freely.
God’s own house is your domain!
What our God has named as holy,
we must never call profane.

As the words of Life were spoken,
friends and servants gathered round,
Gentiles each and every one of them;
by our barriers, all are bound.
Then God’s Spirit came upon them,
baptizing with Christ’s own power!
Visions of a common family
even now begin to flower.