Hear my cry Oh God, listen to my prayer.
From the end of the Earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Oh how we long for higher ground oh God. For safety and security, yes. But also for a different perspective. A clear view. A new vision. Call us higher.
Call us higher to that place where the bonds of our common humanity are recognized and honored and celebrated across the full spectrum of human being. Call us higher.
Call us higher to that place where the foundational ideals of liberty and justice for all are not perceived as existential threats to some who are privileged.
Call us to that place where we find courage to lay down the rod of the oppressor when we find that we are ourselves are holding it.
Call us to that place where repentance and forgiveness are signs of strength. Call us higher.
Call us higher to that place where our maturity will be judged, as the irrepressible Archbishop Desmond Tutu says, “by how well we agree to disagree, yet continue to love one another, continue to care for one another, cherish one another, and seek the greater good of the other. Call us higher.
Call us higher to that place of peace. Salam, Shalom, or in Norwegian, Fred… because, why not?
Call us higher in to human decency.
Call us higher in to the dream of God.
In to the healing embrace of a higher power.
Call us higher, and give us courage to heed that call for the life and love and good of our nation and our world.
By Reverend Brian Grantz