These informal recordings (or "scratch tracks") include the piano accompaniment only, without voice. They are provided for your convenience, so you may hear how the songs go. Visit the Sheet Music page to get the lead sheets (or, in some cases, full scores), most as free downloads.
Available titles (click to read lyrics):
Based on a quote from the poet Rumi: "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there." Composed for my good friend David Hansen's last Sunday of ministry at the Brookings United Church of Christ, Brookings, SD (May 22, 2011).
There is a still place beyond ideas of right and wrong
Where love is all there is, where all there is belongs;
There is a still place, so near our face can feel its sun,
Where peace is all there is, where all there is, is one.
And in that still place we lay down all our fears in wild grass--
We stand beneath the sky and watch the clouds go drifting past.
There is a still place beyond the grief of what is lost
Where life is all there is, where nothing true is gone;
There is a still place, so near our breath can take it in,
Where now is all there is, where all there is begins.
And in that still place, where hidden seeds are ripening toward the grain,
We stand beneath the sky and smell the scent of coming rain.
There is a still place beyond the reach of what is known
Where trust is all there is, and all there is, is home;
There is a still place, so near our feet rest on its ground,
Where heart is all there is, and all the heart allows.
And in that still place visions rise up within our flesh and skin--
We stand beneath the sky and turn our face into the wind. Top
Refrain:
When cries of deep anguish trouble the air
and scenes of destruction swallow the ground,
we reach toward the suff'ring, expressing our care:
Love stands when all else falls down.
Sometimes all the world's pain can seem too much;
hope seems so empty, our power so small.
But miracles are formed from dreams and dust:
Love finds a way to love on.
(Refrain)
Earth groans for her children who have no home,
no one to turn to, no refuge from harm.
May all that we do make them less alone.
Love, find a way to love on!
(Refrain) Top
The hour is come!
Now we shall rise, all blessed by Spirit's power;
with arms open wide we will gather in the world and ev'ry life empower.
We will defend the dignity, the sacred worth of humanity,
and gently tend earth's bounty as she lends to us her glory.
The hour is come!
Now we shall rise, all joined to one another;
at last we will see in rival and in foe our sister and our brother.
We will honor their gifts and dreams, uphold their rights, respect their needs,
and build the beloved community here in this place of glory.
The hour is come!
Now we shall rise, all living in the Spirit,
led by true visions of peace and good for all toward heav'n on earth--behold it!
We are the people, this is the time; where there is suff'ring, our light will shine.
Let all be loved, both yours and mine! Through us be revealed the glory. Top
There is a hope that shines so bright
it blinds if seen straight on;
it hides within our darkest fears
until they've gone.
(Refrain:)
And then that hope is hope no more,
but simply what is known.
And hope now hides its light inside
the unknown, the unknown.
Where does the hope of your life dwell,
the light within the pain?
If there you let your vision rest,
then all turns plain.
(Refrain)
I hold the hope that all the world
will learn someday to see
the inner light that's shared by all
humanity.
Then ev'ry hope will not be hope,
but simply what is known;
then ev'ry hope will not be hope,
but what is known,
what is known. Top
What eye has not seen hatred,
what ear has not heard blame,
what heart has not felt sorrow and fear,
what soul has not lost its way?
What eye has not seen kindness,
what ear has not heard peace,
what heart has not felt gratitude and love,
what soul has not found release?
May ev'ry eye see kindness,
may ev'ry ear hear peace,
may ev'ry heart feel gratitude and love,
may ev'ry soul find release. Top
(1) What makes us human, what makes us human is love (repeat four times)....
(2) What makes us loving, what makes us loving is joy....
(3) What makes us joyful, what makes us joyful is peace....
(4) What makes us peaceful, what makes us peaceful is understanding....
(5) What makes us understand is compassion....
(6) What makes us compassionate is our spirit....
(7) What makes our spirit, what makes our spirit is mystery....
(8) What is the mystery, what is the mystery? It's here and now.... Top
Come, talk with me, and I will listen to your voice.
Even if you speak a language I don't know, somehow I'll understand.
Come, talk with me, and I will see your story
written in your eyes, written in the lines of your face and hands.
You are a person just like me:
Life cuts you, and you bleed;
life holds you, and you weep for joy.
We seem so different, you and I,
but listen to our sighs, and see the hope shining out from our eyes.
Come, talk with me, and listen to my voice.
Even if I speak a language you don't know, somehow you'll understand.
Come, talk with me, and you will see my story
written in my eyes, written in the lines of my face and hands.
I am a person just like you:
Sometimes scared and confused,
just tryin' to make it through.
We seem so different, you and I,
but we both come from the sky,
and to the sky we will fly when we die.
Come, walk with me, and we will join our voices.
Even if we speak a language no one knows, someone will understand.
Come, walk with me, and we will see the story
written in their eyes, everybody's eyes, all across the land, across the land, across the land. Top
Autumn leaves on the tree, turning gold, turning red,
hanging on through the night in the cold and wind,
hanging on to the place where they've always been,
hanging on, hanging on, to the end.
(Refrain) Tell me, what does it mean to be here and alive?
Are we meant to do more than cling?
Are we leaves on some branch holding on for our life,
or a bird on the branch come to sing?
Every day before dawn, if you listen close,
you will hear a small bird start to sing its song,
through summer and spring, through winter and fall,
ever there, ever there, on and on.
(Refrain)
Many days this old world seems a sad, bitter place
grown cold with fear, gone mad with rage.
But as all around things fall apart,
deepest love, deepest hope, still remains.
(Refrain) Top
This song was inspired by the work of Heifer International and has been used for group singing at Heifer fundraisers. It's for sale as downloadable sheet music on the Sheet Music Rack, with all proceeds going to Heifer International.
As a child wastes from hunger,
the parched fields all bare of grain;
as a mother's milk runs dry,
death keeps watch, but in vain.
(Refrain) For the gift keeps passing on;
hand to hand, it lives.
The gift keeps passing on;
heart to heart, life it gives.
Give a cow, and there is milk
for that child and family,
and its calf will soon be passed on
to a neighbor in need.
(Refrain)
May all children laugh in joy;
may their fathers harvest dreams;
may their mothers watch them thrive,
bodies strong, spirits deep.
(Refrain) Top
