Super Song

I watched the Super Bowl, but as much for the commercials as for the competition between the two teams (although after the roughing the kicker call I was firmly on the side of the Cardinals). And I was more interested in the half-time show this year after Bruce Springstein was featured on almost every music-centered channel the night before. Springstein has some of the same characteristics of a revival-tent evangelist and next month Faith on Tap is going to match scriptures alongside Springstein’s music as a new way to listen to popular music. The “Land of Hope and Dreams” seems like a spiritual, a song that could have been sung by slaves escaping through their minds if not their bodies. This song will preach.

Land of Hope and Dreams - Bruce Springstein

…I will provide for you
And I'll stand by your side
You'll need a good companion for
This part of the ride
Leave behind your sorrows
Let this day be the last
Tomorrow there'll be sunshine
And all this darkness past

Big wheels roll through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

This train -Carries saints and sinners
This train - Carries losers and winners
This Train - Carries whores and gamblers
This Train - Carries lost souls
This Train - Dreams will not be thwarted
This Train - Faith will be rewarded
This Train - Hear the steel wheels singin
'This Train - Bells of freedom ringin
'This Train - Carries broken-hearted
This Train - Thieves and sweet souls departed
This Train - Carries fools and kings
This Train - All aboard

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, you are impartially partial to your people. You bestow blessings on the great and the small, the fools and the kings, the saints and the sinners. We cannot always understand your judgment, but are grateful when the ruling is in our favor. Let us find new psalmists in our age that tell of your righteousness and grace. Let us increase our desire to live in a land of hope and dreams, riding the train of glory, and making room for all those who jump on board. Amen