A Concord Pastor Comments

7/4/26

America the Beautiful

I hope you'll take some time this weekend to enjoy this stunning arrangement of America the Beautiful by Matthew Guard and Benedict Sheehan performed here by the vocal ensemble Skylark.

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O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,

Whose stern impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine,

Till all success be nobleness,

And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

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Pause for Prayer: Fourth of July

Image source

On this Fourth of July weekend so let's recall Emma Lazarus' poem inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty who extends a welcome, a haven, a refuge for the burdened and battered... How many of us are the grandchildren and great grandchildren of ancestors who wept for joy when they sailed into New York harbor and saw Lady Liberty? In the video here, Irving Berlin provides a powerful musical setting for these beautiful words... (My Pause for Prayer follows below..)

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Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Let's pause and pray...

Lord, open wide my heart
   to welcome any and all
who've been turned out,
   turned aside and turned away:
in my family, in my neighborhood
   where I work and 'round the world...

May the light of my words and deeds
   lift high a lamp of welcome
and my heart provide a home
   for the weary, heavy burdened...

Let my heart open wide for others, Lord,
   as your heart opens wide for me...

Amen.

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7/3/26

Praying on the Night Before the Fourth

It's the night before the Fourth of July:

Independence Day, our nation's birthday...

Before we don our red, white and blue

and ooh! and ahh! the fireworks glory,

before the backyard grill is lit

and the potato salad spoils,

before the cooler's filled with cold beer

- and all too quickly emptied -

before all this let's stop and remember

what the Fourth is all about...

Help us keep in our minds and our hearts, Lord:

Independence was declared unanimously!

Yes, there'd been discord and yes, division

but these were let go for something far greater:

the cause of the union, the welfare of all...

Our rights as equals number three:

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

rights declared and understood

as self-evident, unalienable,

endowed on us all

by you, Lord, our Creator...

But now in our selfish and stubborn pride:

we argue and debate the self-evident,

we deny and restrict the unalienable,

we trade our God-given liberty for

for license, profit and gain,

redefining the terms of existence,

forgetting all we have received...

Stir up in our minds and hearts, Lord,

in those who make laws and govern,

stir up those simple, self-evident truths

that long ago laid the foundation

for the beauty, the strength and the promise

of this nation we call our home...

Protect us, Lord while we're awake

and watch over us while we sleep

that awake, we might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

Tonight's music for "the night before the Fourth" is a simple variation on a familiar patriotic song. Listen for how, in the second verse, the melody gives up the pain we know when we forget the source of our life, liberty and happiness - and in the third verse, how that joy is restored!

Improvisation on America the Beautiful

by Jeffrey Kahane

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7/1/26

Taking a break!

On Friday morning this week I'll be flying to Denver to spend a couple months with my sister and bro-in-law.

I have a LOT to do before I get to the airport so I won't be posting tonight or tomorrow.

See you on the eve of the Fourth of July!

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6/30/26

Pause for Prayer: 7/1

Especially, Lord,

when fears and worries

       cloud my days and shadow my heart,
   remind me of the peace I've known
       and kindle memories of moments past
   when I was oh-so-very-sure
       of your presence your peace and your love...

Amen.

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NIGHT PRAYER: Tuesday 6/30

The last sunset in June, Lord!

I'll wake in the morning (God willing!)

and open my eyes to the first of July!

Half of 2026 - now history -

and in just six months (God willing!)

I'll toast a new year

- in which I'll turn 80...

Looking back, Lord, I see six months of blessings:

your kindness, your mercy,

your patience, your peace,

your presence, your grace...

And I see six months of missed opportunities:

too many shortcuts and too many naps,

too much time wasted that might have been shared

too much for me, not enough for my neighbor...

But a whole new half-year now stretches before me:

six months to grow in my faith in you,

six months to reach out to others in need,

six months to find some time every day

to sit with you, to talk with you

and rest in your arms...

As the sun goes down tonight on June

so will it rise with the dawn's early light

on the rest of my summer, the rest of this year,

the rest of the time you've allotted for me..

Make me a more faithful steward, O Lord,

of the gift of time that is my life...

Help me give thanks, in wonder and awe,

as your seasons of grace,

like the moon and the tides

enlighten and pull me closer to you

as the earth turns 'round, and month by month,

I'm called and drawn to the mystery of life,

the mystery of your faithful love...

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep rest in your peace...

Amen.

Seasons of love from Rent
performed by Pentatonix

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Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets

In midnights, in cups of coffee

In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife

In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure, a year in the life?

How about love? How about love? How about love?

Measure in love Seasons of love Seasons of love

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

Five hundred twenty-five thousand journeys to plan

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?

In truths that she learned Or in times that he cried

In bridges he burned Or the way that she died

It's time now, to sing out The story never ends

Let's celebrate Remember a year in the life of friends

Remember the love

(Oh, you got to, you got to remember the love)

Remember the love

(You now that love is a gift from up above)

Remember the love

(Share love, give love, spread love)

Measure in love

(Measure, measure your life in love)

Seasons of love

(Measure your life, measure your life in love)

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Pause for Prayer: Tuesday 6/30

I know a lot folks whose plates are full, Lord - filled to overflowing!

They have so much on their minds: their hearts are burdened with worry and fear about situations and circumstances that are demanding, serious and very real...

These are folks who need a break, Lord, who need something good to happen, who need something to give them hope...

They need something good to happen as they wait and wait and wait for a turn of events in the right direction, for a piece of good news, a brighter day, a heaping helping of positive thoughts the strength to trust and a sign from you that all things
shall be well...

So many people, Lord, who just need something good to happen in their lives...

Since you, Lord, are the source of all good gifts... since every good gift that's ours comes from your hand and heart... since you more than anyone understand our plea for something good to happen... I pray for you to move - and move graciously and swiftly - with a generous and healing hand, offering heaping helpings of hope to those who wait - for something good to happen...

And while we wait, Lord - and I know that waiting is always a part of how things go - while we wait, Lord, help us know and see that you are with us in the waiting... and help us hope and help us to trust that all things shall be well, that all things shall be well, that all manner of things - shall be well...

Amen.

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6/29/26

NIGHT PRAYER: Monday 6/29

Folks are talking about "summer plans"

and that's got me to wondering, Lord:

what might be your plans for me

over the next couple of months...

I'm sure it's in your mind and heart

to be with me, bless and support me,

to comfort, refresh and console me,

to challenge, confront and nudge me,

to lift me up when I'm down and out

and to slow me down when I need rest...

Whether I take a vacation or not,

I know you'll want some time with me:

time to kick back in some shady spot

to share a beer or a lemonade;

time to watch the world rush by

while we take a rest and a second look

at what really matters

(and what just don't!);

time to let go my worries and fears,

trusting that while I'm close by your side

your peace and your strength

will keep me safe

and all shall be well and all shall be well

- in your good time, if not in mine -

all manner of things shall be well...

So your summer plans for me are filled

with time for rest, for peace and prayer;

time to remember you're always there,

that you never take a vacation, Lord,

from me and my heart,

from my worries and cares...

All this I know I can count on, Lord,

but you alone know all you have planned

for the rest of my summer's days and weeks

however they may unfold...

So, surprise me, Lord!

Surprise me, I pray, with your healing touch

and with unexpected gifts of joy!

Surprise me with growth in my faith in you,

in my hope and my trust

that all shall be well...

Surprise me, Lord, with serenity,

with deep and lasting peace and calm

in the shade of your quiet presence...

Surprise me in ways I might least expect

and open up wide heart and soul

to your amazing, invincible,

playful and generous love - for me -

in summer, fall, winter and spring,

night and day, around the clock

24/7/365...

Surprise me, Lord, with all you've planned,

for the time we'll share in the days ahead;

surprise me, I pray, with your Spirit's gifts

in a summer of grace spent by your side...

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep rest in your peace...

Amen.

God Surprised Me
by Carol Cymbala
performed by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

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God surprised me with His power,

God surprised me with his love

Just when I thought my case was hopeless,

He sent an answer from above

God surprised me with His mercy,

God surprised me with His grace

Just when I thought my case was hopeless,

He sent an answer from above

What He's done for me, He has promised for you

No matter your problem, or difficult hour

My God is able, a mighty strong tower

God always surprises, with His power

God surprised me with His power,

God surprised me with his love

Just when I thought my case was hopeless,

He sent an answer from above

God surprised me with His mercy,

God surprised me with His grace

Just when I thought my case was hopeless,

He sent an answer from above

What He's done for me, He has promised for you

No matter your problem, or difficult hour

My God is able, a mighty strong tower

God always surprises, with His power

With His power, with His power,

He is able to come through..

No matter your problem, or difficult hour

My God is able, a mighty strong tower

God always surprises, with His power

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6/28/26

My first "250th Anniversary" moment...

On Saturday night I heard Ensemble Altera's world premier of Piers Connor Kennedy's Declarations, a 75 minute choral setting of historic texts and poetry related to the founding of this nation and the Declaration of Independence.

(The full concert program is available online, with movement-by-movement commentary, complete texts, and the stories behind the many historic voices in the work.)

I have seldom been so moved and at such a depth as I was at this concert. One of the pieces set to music here is African-American Langston Hughes' poem Let America Be America - written in 1935. These words strike chords of truth with uncomfortable, contemporary accuracy.

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!

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