http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ERnT1X9HPw
Blackbird – Lennon-McCartney, White Album
Now is the moment to arise and be free….
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8: 31-32 TNIV
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love. – Gal. 5:13 TNIV
When Paul McCartney wrote this song in 1968, he wrote it for Black women in the U.S. and their personal struggle with racism. Listening to the words of Blackbird I am keenly aware of the people who struggle throughout our world today. Those with “broken wings” are those with broken hopes, the broken hopes of the struggle towards true equality for all people. Those with “sunken eyes” are the tired and weary who have been waiting and fighting for LGBT-Q rights, waiting and fighting for an end to poverty, hunger, and homelessness, waiting and fighting for peace. People who have been waiting and fighting for so long that their souls have sunken to a place where they doubt…
When I read the words of John and Galatians above I am reminded of the truth that we are called to be set free, and that freedom is often felt when we “serve one another in love.” This freedom is when we serve the hopeless and heal their broken wings. This freedom is when we wearied from the fight see and realize our moment to be free and arise is now. There is a charge of electricity in the air, a charge of change, a charge that tells me that I can no longer watch injustices, but must arise, must fly freely, and act.
While we may feel we are in the dead of night, we can anticipate the light of day coming when hunger is no more, peace is a reality, and inequality is a thing of the past.
We’ve been waiting for this moment to arise, and the moment is now. Sing with me, sing like the blackbird, sing bravely, sing without doubt, sing with joy, hope, anticipation, sing with a new found freedom, and then FLY “into the light of the dark black night.”
Prayer: Creator of Hope, give us a spirit that is eager to fight for an end to all the injustices we see in the world. Give us a spirit of perseverance, compassion, courage and wisdom that never denies your love for all, but makes your never-ceasing love for all a tangible reality. AMEN.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free.
Blackbird fly Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.
Blackbird fly Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
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