"John Proclaimed It: "Change Your Lives!""
John proclaimed it: “Change your lives!
Brood of snakes! Come, be baptized!
Who warned you to flee what’s near?
There is wrath that’s coming here.
God has called you! Have you heard?
God has said a mighty word!
Listen, people! Turn from wrong.
Turn around and sing God's song.
Seek God’s justice! Pave the way!
God is bringing this new day.”
People asked him, “How can we
Turn and serve God faithfully?”
John responded, “Be the good
In your home and neighborhood.”
God has called you! Have you heard?
God has said a mighty word!
Listen, people! Turn from wrong.
Turn around and sing God's song.
Seek God’s justice! Pave the way!
God is bringing this new day.”
“Have two coats? Now go and share
With the poor one shivering there.
Spread God’s joy and seek to bring
Justice where there’s suffering.
Don’t be greedy, wanting more.
Don’t use threats and hurt the poor.
Listen people! Turn from wrong.
Turn around and sing God's song.
Seek God’s justice! Pave the way!
God is bringing this new day.”
Holy Child, what can we bring?
What’s a gift to give a King?
As we ask you, children wait
Locked behind detention’s gate.
You wait with each migrant child,
And with every mother mild,
And with every father, too—
Asking us, “What will you do?"
May we seek to pave the way,
Bringing justice each new day.
Hymn Note for "John Proclaimed It: "Change Your Lives!""
As we await the birth of our Savior, as we wait to worship the newborn King, as we remember how his parents fled with him into Egypt, we pray for children today, including those separated from their families at the border between the United States and Mexico, the thousands of immigrant children and youth who are in detention centers in the U.S., and the little ones who must appear alone in court before an immigration judge.
Biblical References: Luke 3:7-18
Tune: Felix Mendelssohn, 1840 ("Hark! The Herald Angels Sing")
Text: Copyright © 2018 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Email: bcgillette@comcast.net New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com
Permission is given for free use of this hymn to supporters of Sojourners.
The hymn formatted with music as a downloadable PDF from The Presbyterian Outlook magazine.
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