The other day at the home of composer Lee Hoiby I mentioned how much I love hymns but more and more find that I cannot sing them. I start off with one of my favorites and stop realizing that my beliefs now do not match the lyrics. Sometimes when I have my quiet prayer time, I sit and go through 20 or more songs before I hit on one with which I agree.
Lee promised to share a song he wrote as a salutation “from the God in me to the God in you.” Sounds like a Quaker power anthem! Really it is a lovely song called As the Work is Done.
Here is Lee performing it. He hasn’t played it for years and apologized afterwards for stopping a few times, but like Joe G. with his podcasts, I think I perfer this version to a polished one. (And yet again the audio and the video got out of sync when uploading. Any suggestions on how to avoid that???)
I find it to be quite moving. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dp_JhuYmzo]
And with his permission, here are the lyrics:
As the Work is Done
From the god in me to the god in you, salutations!
On the path to our destinations, we share this air and sun
As the work is done.
And the less we hide what’s inside us,
The more we trust in our truth to guide us,
The more we all are one, as the work is done.
And the work is done by you and me,
And the work is done to make us free.
And the more we see everything we do as creation,
The more we know there’s no separation,
That all is really one as the work is done.
And the work is done by you and me,
And the work is done when we are free.
please post the lyrics to this hymn if you can get them.
Freedom Friends is collecting new hymns to go with our old.
“The other day at the home of composer Lee Hoiby”
Wait. Back up. You know Lee Hoiby?!
Peggy, I will ask Mr. Hoiby if he will allow his song to be reprinted in your publication.
abby,
yes, he is coolness in flesh.
Firstly, Peterson, you need to buy yourself an iRiver so that you can make a mp3 version, which will have a better sound quality, of this and then send it to me and ask me to play it on my podcast. {ahem}
Secondly, this has “Quaker” written all over it, which means I won’t be able to hear it again when I’m in the “Violence in Action” group home for ex-Quakers.
Thirdly, you’re right – I like my podcasts to be “rough around the edges”. I liked how the sound and image didn’t sync together. This way, when he paused he was heard still singing (he pauses on the image) or seen still singing (when he pauses on the sound track). Perfect!