SONGS


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Songs are listed alphabetically 

Arise!

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

Be Still

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.

This is published in the Community of Christ's new denominational hymnal, Community of Christ Sings. The recording here is by the Community of Christ's Center Place Singers.
Be still and know I am God.
                                                           Psalm 46:10

Believe Out Loud

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.


Check them out on Facebook. They get millions of hits per month!
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 declare a word of welcome,
bring everyone through the open 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

Christ Is the Host

This has been the central message of the Communion liturgy used by my home congregation almost since its founding. There is no earthly power that has the right to declare who is welcome at the Table. As scripture assures us, NOTHING can separate us from the love of God.
REFRAIN:
Christ is the host, 
Christ sets the table,
and Christ welcomes all,
Christ welcomes all.

Christ's invitation is open, 
extended to us, one and all. 
No exceptions, conditions, or limits;
come forth and answer the call.

Whether your heart's feeling burdened, 
or whether your heart's light and free,
you are welcome to come to the table 
Christ's love is here; taste and see.
                                         ©2008 Welcome Song Music

For All the Children

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

The Last, the Lost, the Least
Jesus lived among the outcasts,
with the last, the lost, the least.
And he offered them a welcome,
saying, "Come, and join the feast.
For the banquet hall is open,
see a place, set here, for you.
Enter in, lay down your burdens,
come and feast and be renewed."

And yet still today he's asking, 
"My dear friends, don't turn away.
Will you follow my example?
Love the outcasts now, I pray."
                                        ©2013 Welcome Song Music
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