When
we go to church in the "get up & go to church" kind of way, we
usually go just a few miles from home to Edmonds United Methodist Church. Pastor Sandy
Brown is in the midst of a sermon series on The Lord’s Prayer and the phrase of
focus today was here: “thy will be done.” Regardless of
your spiritual leanings, have you ever thought about that line? Really
thought about it? Have you ever said these words? Really said
them? Trusting that, even knowing what was highest and most honorable in
your longing in that moment, you too would be better served by at least
uttering such a phrase and probably by the fulfillment of it?
In
unfolding his thoughts on this line and the havoc wreaked in our societies and
connections as we live for our own self-interests, he referenced a beautifully
written obituary penned by the late Senator John McCain. Read it at the
link below. The words of a man, about a man, both of whom understood what
it was to hold fast to their convictions and in that to also honor holy
humanity before them. The service closed this morning with a hymn that
speaks the same dynamic. A third verse is added to the UMC hymnal but I
offer the traditional first two in the below recording.
Salute To A
Communist. John S. McCain
This Is My
Song
(recording
here, lyrics below)
This
is my song, O God of all the nations,
A
song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This
is my home, the country where my heart is,
Here
are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine.
But
other hearts in other lands are beating,
With
hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And
sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.
But
other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
And
skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
O
hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
A
song of peace for their land and for mine.
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