This celebratory setting of Isaiah 60 is available in two versions - for soloist or for congregational singing (the solo version contains a modulation and an extended ending, the congregational version does not).

REFRAIN:
God calls to us, "Arise!"
It's time for us to shine.
The day we feared would never be has come.
No longer in the night,
our dreamings filled with fright,
behold now and rejoice our light has come!
                                        ©2010 Welcome Song Music

This simple, four-measure SATB choral or congregational meditation is meant to be repeated again and again.  Begin layering with just the basses, slowly adding voices. Then begin dropping out voices, until only the basses remain.  I wrote this in 2003 for the choir at the National Gathering of the United Church of Christ Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns.

Be still and know I am God.
                                                         Psalm 46:10

I wrote this in 2010 for the launch of Believe Out Loud - an online network that empowers Christians to work for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) equality.

Jesus Christ called each of us to love one another.
At its core, this is what Believe Out Loud is about – helping churches and individuals live out this Christian principle to love and embrace all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender
identity.

It’s not enough for us to silently believe that all are equal in God’s eyes.  It is time for us to put our beliefs into action.

Break the silence. Join the movement. Believe Out Loud.

REFRAIN:
It's time to believe out loud,
no more staying silent!
It's time to proclaim aloud
the faith that we hold dear.
It's time to reach out to the rejected,
it's time to stand up and say, "No more!"
It's time to create a church in this day
where everyone's welcomed in the door.
It's time to believe out loud,
it's time to be strong and proud,
it's time to believe, believe out loud.
                                         ©2010 Welcome Song Music

Since it was written in 2007, this hymn has been sung by welcoming congregation and at conferences around the country, and was used in a music video by Catholics for Marriage Equality during the 2012 campaign in Minnesota to defeat a constitutional amendment.  I wrote this hymn in honor and celebration of the Reverend Ann B. Day and Donna Enberg for their twenty years as leaders of the Open and Affirming Program of the United Church of Christ Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns, and for their founding and ongoing spirit in the ecumenical Welcoming Church Movement.

REFRAIN:
O, may our hearts and minds be opened,
fling the church doors open wide.
May there be room enough for everyone inside.
For in God there is a welcome,
in God we all belong;
may that welcome be our song.
                                         ©2007 Welcome Song Music

This Gospel Acclamation is for the Second Sunday in Easter, and tells the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  I wrote this in 2008 for Hearts on Fire: The Biennial Convocation of Lutherans Concerned/North America. LC/NA works for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Lutherans in all aspects of the life of their Church and congregations, and it played a major role in working to remove the ordination ban within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2009. 

VERSE:
Our hearts burn with sorrow,
they burn hot with grief;
only days ago we saw you crucified.
And yet today the tomb was empty,
the stone was rolled away.
Is it true? Can it be?
Are you alive?
                                                      ©2008 Welcome Song Music

Holy One, move in our pain,
and bring healing to your people everywhere.
                                                 ©2001 Welcome Song Music

REFRAIN:
Open the eyes of my heart, I long to see you.
Open the eyes of my heart, I long to behold
how every moment you're beside me,
and how my life with care you hold.
Open the eyes of my heart, I long to see.
                                                      ©2008 Welcome Song Music

O God, remind us you are near;
may we open our hearts to you.
                                                ©2001 Welcome Song Music

O God, O God,
walk beside us as we journey.
                                                 ©2008 Welcome Song Music

REFRAIN:
We are pilgrims on a journey;
a wandering people, we.
The Promised Land is far from sight,
the end we cannot see;
yet we journey joyfully.
                                                      ©2009 Welcome Song Music

Writer and poet David R. Weiss and I collaborated on this hymn for Practice Spirit, Do Justice, a multi-faith gathering at the National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, hosted each year by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

REFRAIN:
And we are creating change,
making hope no longer strange.
And we are creating change,
systems we will rearrange.
And we are creating change,
and doing justice.
                                                       Text ©2010 David R. Weiss
                                           Music ©2009 Welcome Song Music