Songs in my Head

It is not uncommon for me to awaken with a song in my head. This morning, it was a song that I love when Music Week conferees at Ferry Beach sing it at least once during nightly sing alongs. My friend Dean Stevens sings it on his album, "Love Comes to the Simple Heart."

Passing Through
by Dick Blakeslee, as sung by Dean Stevens

I saw Adam leave the Garden with an apple in his hand,
I said "Now you're out, what are you going to do?"
"Plant some crops and pray for rain, maybe raise a little cane.
I'm an orphan now, and I'm only passing through."

"Passing through, passing through.
Sometimes happy, sometimes blue,
Glad that I ran into you.
Tell the people that you saw me passing through."

I saw Jesus on the cross on a hill called Calvary
"Do you hate mankind for what they done to you?"
He said, "Talk of love not hate, things to do, it's getting late.
I've so little time and I'm only passing through."

"Passing through, passing through.
Sometimes happy, sometimes blue,
Glad that I ran into you.
Tell the people that you saw me passing through."

And I shivered next to Washington down there at Valley Forge.
"Why do the soldiers freeze here, like they do?"
He said, "Men will suffer, fight, even die for what is right
Even though they know they're only passing through"

"Passing through, passing through . . ."

'Twas at Franklin Roosevelt's side just a while before he died.
He said, "One world must come out of World War Two,
"Yankee, Russian, white or tan, Lord, a man is just a man.
We're all brothers, sisters, only passing through."

"Passing through, passing through . . ."

Gandhi spoke of freedom one night, I said, "Man, we gotta fight!"
He said, "Yes, but love's the weapon we should use,
For with killing, no one wins, its with love that peace begins,
It takes courage when you're only passing through,

"Passing through, passing through
Just a stranger passing through, glad that I made friends with you
Tell the people that you saw me passing through,
Tell the people that you saw me passing through."

I'm not entirely sure why this is the song I'm reaching for this morning. We has a day of drama on Sunday at church, and I completely lost my "non-anxious presence" and slammed a door in high dudgeon. It has been deeply unsettling and I'm trying to chart a way forward.

And so it appears my heart has gone to (another kind of) church!

A favorite quotation about Dean and his music is on his website from a review in 2004, when I was still in Boston. "Seeing and hearing Dean Stevens live on stage is proof that sanity, literacy, love, hope, and the forces of good are still alive and well and at work in the universe.

"Losing your faith? Go to a Dean Stevens concert!"

(Geoff Bartley, February 12, 2004--the night before my 50th birthday!)

One of the things I've missed most in Flint is the folk music scene, which happens in Flint, of course, but not much at our church. (Back home, there's a coffeehouse in every town, often centered at, although autonomous from, the Unitarian Universalist church.) "Back in the day," I could count on going to a folk music concert on Saturday night, sit in the corner alone or among friends, and allow myself to be moved by the message. This has sustained me in ministry, this public sharing of sentiment among people, mostly folk who are out trying to make the world a better place. This has given me hope, and moved my soul.

I'm thinking of concerts by Dean, of course, but also Magpie and Cindy Kallet and emma's revolution. I'm thinking of Jon Fromer, and being "on the line" at Fort Benning. I'm thinking of my dear friend Suzy Giroux, and many memorial services. This tradition of social/political acoustic music, this makes me want to live in spite of challenge.

Gray outside . . . but it is still a little early.

Good morning.