Inspired by lyrics by Leddy Hammock to a song by Sue Riley, “Leave those Walls Behind” from the double CD set with “Twelve Women of the Chalice” (2008):
Sounds of the city, the life I knew, fade in the background and drift away. As I turn to face the window, to the open blue, new life is calling to me. It says, “Come with me, Beloved, leave those walls behind, for a land of milk and honey— a promised land, leave those walls behind.”
Oh, I’ve taken care of others, of ev’ryone but me. Closed in these walls, no room to breathe, I can only save them by choosing to be free.
New life is calling to me. It says, “Come with me, Beloved, leave those walls behind, for a land of milk and honey– a promised land. Leave those walls behind.” No more looking out with longing, hiding here within. Now I fin’ly have the courage to step outside. I’ve shaken off my sorrow, no more waiting to begin.
New life is calling to me. It says, “Come with me, Beloved, leave those walls behind,
For a land of milk and honey, a promised land, leave those walls behind.”
Responsive Reading for July 31
“The LORD preceded them, in the daytime by means of a column of cloud to show them the way, and at night by means of a column of fire to give them light. Thus they could travel both day and night” (Exodus 13:21).
The life I knew fades in the background and drifts away.
As I turn to face the window, to the open blue, new life is calling to me.
“The LORD said to Abram: Go forth from your land, your relatives … to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you…. From there he moved on to the hill country …. He built an altar there to the LORD and invoked the LORD by name. Then Abram journeyed on by stages …” (Gen.12:1-9).
I can only save others by choosing to be free. New life is calling to me.
“The LORD said to Abram: Look about you, and from where you are, gaze to the north and south, east and west; all the land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever…. Get up and walk through the land, across its length and breadth, for I give it to you. Abram moved his tents and went on to settle near the oak of Mamre, which is at Hebron. There he built an altar to the LORD” (Genesis 13:14-18).
I finally have the courage to step outside.
I’ve shaken off my sorrow, no more waiting to begin.
Joseph’s brothers pleaded with him: “Please forgive the crime that we, the servants of the God of your father, committed.” “When they said this to him, Joseph broke into tears. Then his brothers also proceeded to fling themselves down before him and said, ‘We are your slaves!’ But Joseph replied to them: ‘Do not fear. Can I take the place of God? Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve this present end, the survival of many people’” (Genesis 50:17-20).
New life is calling to me, saying, “Come with me, Beloved. Leave those walls behind, for a land of milk and honey–a promised land! Leave those walls behind.”