ADB – Bret Hesla

Download Tag: ADB

Come Stand Beside This Fire

1. Your hands: are they feeling cold?
Are they just like mine?
Are they feeling cold?
Come stand. Stand beside this Fire.
All of us will stand.
Stand beside this Fire.

2. Your heart. Is it weary too?
Is it just like like mine?
Is it weary, too?
Come stand. Stand beside this Fire.
All of us will stand.
Stand beside this Fire.

3. Your voice, longing to be heard.
Is it just like mine?
Longing to be heard?
Come stand. Stand beside this Fire.
All of us will stand.
Stand beside this Fire.

4. Your hope, is it flick’ring still?
Is it just like mine?
is it flick’ring still?
Come stand. Stand beside this Fire.
All of us will stand.
Stand beside this Fire.

Words and music by Bret Hesla and Paul Andress
© 2022 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

In 2019, musician Paul Andress and I set out to write some short refrains. He wanted some new material to use at various spots in the services for his church, a Edina Community Lutheran in Minnesota. This is a community with a long history of embracing LGBTQIA+ inclusion, racial justice, and eco faith. To get ideas rolling, we sat down with Catherine Malotky, a friend, retired pastor, writer, thinker and member of Paul’s congregation. We talked through their typical service structure. What happens here? What needs to be said here. To help define the purpose of the beginning, gathering time, Catherine’s comment was, “Be clear about with whom we are gathering together, and whose vision is our common ground. Like an outdoor fire at night or when it’s cold, what is attracting us here and will propel us into the impact of the service? What is our source of heat and light?”

This song gives you some space to do that. It also has a feel of comfort, healing, and inclusion. You could sing it around an actual fire, or around a centering candle, or just lift up the Fire in the imagination of the group.

Do All The Good You Can

Refrain:

Do all the good you can.
By all the means you know.
For ev’ry-one you come a-cross.
And ev’ry place you go.

1. I feel foundations shift
I fear the rising storm
I grieve this breaking land
Yearning to sing this song. (Ref.)

2. Walk ‘mid the growing earth
Take in the scented breeze
I hold this prayer for you
You lift it high for me. (Ref.)

3. Come dance the hopes we know
Spinning despite the cold
The chrys’lis waits, then one day cracks
Letting wet wings unfold. (Ref.)

piano version audio, below.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2022 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Thanks to Rebekah Fergus and Paul Andress for singing on the guitar version! Thanks also to Cooper Sherry for the lovely piano score, and singing with it!

**************************

The text for the refrain of this song was based on the acceptance speech of Paida Chikate, a 2022 recipient of the Hawkinson Fund Scholarship for Peace and Justice. It paraphrases the advice she got from her great grandmother when she left home. See below for the full story. As for the verses, they were also partly inspired by the words of the other justice workers being honored at that same event.

—–Below, Paida shares excerpted text from her acceptance speech.. Thanks Paida!—————-

Hello everyone, my name is Paida Chikate, I am a PhD student at the University of Minnesota and I am so proud to be one of the recipients of the Hawkinson scholarship this year. First and foremost, thank you so much to all the donors who continue to support the Hawkinson Foundation- you are making such a lasting impact on us the recipients.

I wanted to briefly share a story with you all that may inspire you to do more for your own communities. I am from Zimbabwe, a small country in Southern Africa. It is a rich country but it is plagued by corruption and looting of resources. Thirteen years ago, when I left my home, I went to see my great grandmother who was 102 at the time to seek her blessing to leave the country and come to America. She was, as usual, excited for me and wanted to know everything. After I described the journey, she looked at me puzzled and said, “So you are going to fly in a metal box over an ocean, to live very far away and go to a school with people you have never met?” I nervously said I was. She then said, “Well, I am giving you my blessing on one condition and that is to do all the good you can wherever you are for the people you live with. Remember,” she said, “you are an ambassador of this family, so do not embarrass us!” Her frankness was her best trait 🙂

I live by that advice as much as I can and to this day, it has served me well. So I leave you that same charge my great grandmother left me: Do all the good you can, wherever you are for the people you live with especially because right now, we all need as much good as we can get.

———————

p.s. Bret further writes: I’ve also since found that that same refrain text appears to be connected to an older quote from John Wesley (1703 – 1791).

Come Rest In the Arms of Love

Come Rest In The Arms Of Love

Come rest in the arms of Mercy.
Come rest in the arms of Love.

Come you for whom hope is fading.
Come rest in the arms of Love.

Take refuge from all distraction.
Come rest in the arms of Love.

Come feel what is still within you.
Come rest in the arms of Love.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
Text and music © 2019 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net.

Recording:
Piano: Tom Witt; Flute: Ray Makeever
Vocals: Ray Makeever (lead), Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Linda Breitag, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Bret Hesla

Notes: Come Rest in the Arms of Love. This song was written on commission for my home congregation, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis. It’s a repetitive, Taize-like structure, lending itself to prayers, meditative settings. If you do each verse twice, the first by a single voice songleader, and the repeat by the group, you can do it with no printed paper.

Also, of course, you can easily make up some new verses, so please do.

Bread of Heaven

Bread of heaven, cup of love.
Bread of heaven, cup of love.
You are the way we live.
You are the way we live.

Bread of sharing, cup that’s passed.
Bread of sharing, cup that’s passed.
Be in our letting go.
Be in our letting go.

Bread of mercy, cup of hope.
Bread of mercy, cup of hope.
Off’ring a way of peace.
Off’ring a way of peace.

Bread of witness, cup unbowed.
Bread of witness, cup unbowed.
Challenge of wrongful walls.
Challenge of wrongful walls.

Bread that rises, cup held high.
Bread that rises, cup held high.
All things shall be made new.
All things shall be made new.

——-other verse options ———-

Bread of kindness, cup of grace.
Bread of kindness, cup of grace.
Hosting a meal for all.
Hosting a meal for all.

Bread of refuge, cup of rest.
Bread of refuge, cup of rest.
Balm for a wounded world.
Balm for a wounded world.

Bread of beauty, cup that shines.
Bread of beauty, cup that shines.
Fill us with simple joys.
Fill us with simple joys.

Bread of courage, cup of fire.
Bread of courage, cup of fire.
Forge us for justice now.
Forge us for justice now.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
Words and music © 2019 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Recording:
Piano: Tom Witt; Flute: Ray Makeever; Guitar: Bret Hesla
Vocals: Bret Hesla (lead), Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Ray Makeever, Linda Breitag, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan

You Embrace the Smallest

You Embrace the Smallest

You embrace the smallest of creatures
You embrace the whole universe
Your tenderness knows no end
We, too, rest in your arms.
You embrace the widest of oceans
You embrace the thinnest of hopes
Your tenderness knows no end
We, too, rest in your loving arms.

The text is inspired by a prayer in Pope Francis’s 2015 Encyclical. I like knowing that we’re just a part of the whole, the beautiful wide endless details of the cosmos. It feels like a warm understanding of belonging. You can use this refrain by itself, or interspersed with readings or prayers. The recording is an example of the latter, using the text below.

This song can be found in my new songbook from Augsburg Fortress, A Dazzling Bouquet: Songs on the Path of Justice and Community (2026).

[Prayer: “Arms of Renewal” © 2017 Bret Hesla]

Arms of Renewal, you hold in your healing embrace the earth that sustains us, the green life that covers the seas and land, the microscopic cells whose gifts to us we are unaware of, the rocks and particles who by not being alive are seen merely as resources rather than siblings wrapped in the same sweet bear-hug. Help us to feel your arms of healing, and to be those arms for the places we live, as we learn to renew the healthy habitats of wholeness.

Arms of Refuge, you hold in your tender embrace all our families who flee their homes, all those among us who flee from poverty, all of our girls who seek to escape trafficking, the birds threatened by loss of their forest homes, the seas threatened with the runoffs of our growing appetites, the parklands shaved ever thinner from all sides. Help us to feel your refuge in our communities both human and wider, and help us to be the arms of refuge for one another:

Arms of Compassion, you hold in your tender embrace all of us who struggle with our health, all of us who daily live with mental illness, all of us who suffer from the moral and physical wounds of war. All of us who need healing. We carry all these names in our hearts, and we set their care upon the combined voices of this singing … [pause] … Help us to feel your compassionate arms around us all, and to be those arms for one another

Embracer of all things, may we live in gratitude for your gifts of love. Amen.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2017 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.
Vocals, Harmonica: Bret Hesla
Piano: Tom Witt
String Bass: Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
Reader: Larry Dittberner

Come and Make the People Whole

Come and Make the People Whole
© 2017 Bret Hesla.

Ch:
Whole. Come and make the people whole.
Come and make the people whole.
Come and make the people whole.

Heal now the twisted values that abandon
the fam’lies needing help to be whole.
Come and make the people whole.

Heal now the broken laws that favor rich folks,
and block the rising of the poor folks.
Come and make the people whole.

Heal now the deep infection of white priv’ledge,
the wound that festers in the incrowd.
Come and make the people whole.

Heal now the fear that keeps us all from seeing
that we are all a single body.
Come and make the people whole.

Help us to find a room for every person
To find a home for every people
Come and make the people whole.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Text and music © 2017 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Minnesota organizer Grant Stevenson once pointed out that all our various efforts for justice, for anti-racism, for immigrant welcome, for earth healing, for shared abundance – can be summed up in a single prayer, “Come and make the people whole.” That idea forms the core of this song, with his permission.

Usage: “This is our opening song every time we use our earth-friendly liturgy. It sets the stage for the rest of the service. It can be thought of as a confession.” Paul Andress, music leader at Edina Community Lutheran Church.

Bring Healing

Bring Healing

Ch:
Bring healing.
Bring healing to our lives we pray.
Bring healing to our lives we pray.
That we protect this earth,

1. Soften those who only look for gain
Gain derived by damaging the planet and the poor.
May we see beyond the bottom line
in these fair meadows,
in these fair woodlands.

2. May we live like we are not alone,
knowing how our choices ripple far outside our lives.
Other creatures also have a home
in these green pastures, by these still waters.

3. Wake us from dominion’s siren spell
Turn us from disrupting all the rhythms that restore.
May we stand in awe and be renewed
in silent nights. in holy nights.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Words and music © 2017 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Because He Stood

Because He Stood

1. Because he stood in the places where it mattered
There to expose and challenge the unjust
He was a threat to the guardians of power
And he was silenced with a cross
Because he called for the sharing of abundance
Where God invites the homeless to the feast
He was a threat to those wallowing in priv’lege
And he was silenced with a cross. (ch)

Chorus:
And we pray, “What now?”
Loving God, “What now?”
Oh, we pray, “What now?”
What for those now left
Standing at the cross
of silence?

2. Because he preached on the mountain, “Love your enemy.”
And said God’s rain treats friend and foe the same
He was a threat to the campaign of division
And he was silenced with a cross
Because he would not adjust his proclamations
Though he was threatened with a dire cost
His form of love was a danger to the empire
And he was silenced with a cross. (ch)

3. Oh, but the silence of death would not be final
His voice of truth still echoes through the land.
And we, who’ve heard what a cross could never silence,
Are called to places we must stand.
Let us awake at the ripping of the curtain
And leave behind our worship at the tomb
Not wait in hope someone else picks up the mantle
But follow Jesus out to the world

Last Chorus:
Now we pray, Empow’r us.
Loving God, Empow’r us
Oh, we pray, Empow’r us
Strengthen us to stand
Where it matters now
like Jesus.

Words by Bret Hesla and Paul Batalden. Music by Bret Hesla.
Text and music © 2016 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Getting away from atonement, getting away from sacrificial death, getting away from the glorious cross as God’s plan, and just looking at a simple view: Jesus was killed for what he was doing in his life, publicly challenging injustice. The cross as a method by which the powerful can silence dissent. And … then what?

A hymn for any season. But if you use it at the close of Palm/Passion Sunday, or on Good Friday, I’m thinking you might sing only verses 1 and 2 at that point. Then maybe add the third verse and final chorus on Easter, or Easter vigil, or weeks after Easter.

Bringing Our Questions

Bringing our questions and bringing our doubts
Here with each other we open our hearts
These and our longings we offer to you
O Mender of All That Unravels

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Piano score by Cooper Sherry.
Words and music © 2015, 2021 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net

Two audio demos: above with guitar, below with piano

I wrote this song a few years back for my home church, Our Saviour’s Lutheran of Minneapolis. We have a program called Living Questions, in which nonmembers and members can gather regularly to chat about their musings, the big unknowns, the deep ambiguities of our lives separate and together, what it all means. I like the title, since it honors the experience most of us have had of being more full of questions and doubt than certainty. It’s not about answers; it’s about questions.

I’ll be curious if you can find a place for it in your life and the life of your community. Perhaps some service or prayer ritual or gathering for honest conversation. Let me know if you find a way to use it.

Thanks to Cooper Sherry of Tacoma, WA for the lovely piano score (and great voice to go with it!).

Come and Grow

Come and grow.
Come and grow our faith.
Spirit of the living god
Come and grow our faith
And water in us
Water in each of us
The deep desire
To be your faithful friend.

2. Deepen now, deepen now our hope ….

3. Strengthen how, strengthen how we love ….

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
v1. adapted from the words of Alan Story
Text and music © 2014 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Blessed Are You

1. Blessed are you, the meek and lowly
Blessed are you, the meek and lowly
Oh ……. Blessed are you
You shall inherit the earth.

2. Blessed are you who mourn in sorrow …
Comfort shall come to you.

3. Blessed are you defusing violence …
You are the face of Hope.

4. Blessed are you who offer mercy…
Mercy will always be yours.

5. Blessed are you who thirst and hunger …
You shall be satisfied.

6. Blessed are you the poor and downtrod…
Yours is the reign of God

SATB with keyboard accompaniment available in the songbook, Justice Like a Base of Stone.

Words by Bret Hesla. Music by Bret Hesla.
Words and Music © 2002 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net.

You Belong In This World

You Belong In This World

Stand up proud. Take your space. You belong.
Trust the tone of your voice. You belong.
Throw your shoulders back.
Hold your head up high.
You belong in this world!

Chorus:
Yes, You belong. Oh, You belong.
And you belonged long before the day that you were born.
Throw your shoulders back.
Hold your head up high.
You belong in this world!

Tell ‘em what’s on your mind. You belong
Only you know your lines. You belong
Smile to the mirror
Say it loud and clear
“You belong in this world.” (ch)

To the sky, sing it out: You belong
Let’s remove any doubt. You belong
If you see no place
There’s been some mistake
Squeeze in there. You belong (ch)

Feel it deep in your bones. You belong
Even now you’re at home. You belong
Every place you go.
Every crowd you know
You belong in this world (ch)

Notes: I wrote this for my 16-year-old daughter. She was telling me about some group project at school, where she kept deferring to the ideas of her teammates, and not injecting her own thoughts. I told her to get in there, your ideas count just as much. Then I made a little note that said, “You belong in this world” and taped it up on the kitchen cabinet. I noticed how wonderful it felt, even to me, to read that affirmation several times a day.

Since then, this song has been used in a lot of settings. So many people in this world are made to feel that they don’t belong. For their skin color, hair style, sexual orientation, gender. You name it. “You belong” seems to be an important message that we all need to hear, and to tell each other. Sure feels good when you sing it, too.

Dazzling Bouquet

Pride Parade in Minneapolis MN, ca. 2010.

Refrain:
Mine is the church where everybody’s welcome.
I know it’s true ’cause I got through the door.
We are a dazzling bouquet of every kind of flower.
Jump in the vase, ’cause we’ve got space for more.

1. Come here, all you six foot gladiolas.
Come all you purple lilacs shining bright.
Come let us all bloom together in one garden:
A carnival of fragrance and delight. (Refrain)

2. We don’t simply tolerate each other.
We ask and tell, we don’t just turn away.
We give attention to every bud and blossom.
Let every face come grace the grand bouquet. (Refrain)

3. Our demons keep trying to divide us;
They document their lies to make them true.
Today we’re freed from our judging and excluding.
Just look around enjoy the lovely view. (Refrain)

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 1995 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.
Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.
Recording by Bread for the Journey, 1995, on Global Songs 2.

Order new songbook from Augsburg Fortress:
A Dazzling Bouquet: Songs on the Path of Justice and Community.

I wrote the song Dazzling Bouquet in 1995 to give welcoming churches a way to celebrate members and leaders who are gay lesbian bisexual and transgender. At the time, not many congregations were welcoming. The US military’s policy of muffled inclusion was, “don’t ask don’t tell”. I was part of a congregation that was welcoming but I thought we were mostly pretty subdued about it in the services.
Well, a lot of us wanted to ask and tell. I thought it would be nice to have the trumpets and full party welcome. A good dance groove seemed the best way to capture the wonderful joy we all feel when the inclusion gets wider. I hope you enjoy singing it together. And why not a little two-step in the center aisle?

ps. Attention Pride parade planners: that first line looks good on banners and T-shirts, too.

pps. We’ve used this refrain with our disability rights work, also. Just change the first line from “Mine is the church…” to “This is the place …”.

Bread For the Journey

2000 live recording (with the band Bread for the Journey)

1990 Studio Recording

Give us bread for the journey. Give us bread.
Give us bread for the journey. Give us bread.
When our legs are getting heavy
And we’re hanging down our heads,
Give us bread for the journey. Give us bread.

Guide our way as we travel. Guide our way.
Guide our way as we travel. Guide our way.
With so many roads before us,
where to go is hard to say.
Guide our way as we travel. Guide our way.

Make us one with each other. Make us one.
Make us one with each other. Make us one.
All the walls we’ve built around us
May we learn to tear them down.
Make us one with each other. Make us one.

Lead us home to the garden. Lead us home.
Lead us home to the garden. Lead us home.
Where we’ll live with all creation,
Find our place and never roam.
Lead us home to the garden. Lead us home.

I wrote this prayer for an ecumenical gathering in Minneapolis in 1990. The event was part of a series of services to foster solidarity among people of faith working for justice.

The repetition of lyrics makes this song pretty easy to sing and lead without printed songsheets. The non-sectarian language helps it fit in a variety of settings: worship services at communion, sending song, prayers; hospital chaplain/hospice work for healing prayers, campfires.

You can also download either the 2000 live recording, or the solo studio recording from 1990. Fun flashback to same guy, younger voice, newer song.

Be With Us Now

1. God of earth and ev-‘ry crea-ture,
God of wind and God of sky,
God of old and new creation,
Be with us now. Be with us now.

2. God who moves across the water,
God who moves across all time,
God who moves within my walking,
Be with us now. Be with us now.

3. God who grieves the death of nature,
God who grieves this poisoned land,
God who grieves at our indifference,
Be with us now. Be with us now.

4. God who weaves each golden sunset,
God who weaves the web of life,
God who weaves us all together,
Be with us now. Be with us now.

5. God whose reign is ever budding,
God whose will is our delight,
God whose pow’r is invitation,
Be with us now. Be with us now.

6. God who calls us to be mindful,
God who calls us to make peace,
God who calls us to be healers,
Be with us now. Be with us now.

This song offers us some new imagery for the divine; not a white male sky god but rather a healer, a creator, an inviter, a presence within our own steps, a ever-budding beauty, a partner in our grieving. Feel free to add a new verse that helps you in your journey.

You can sing it in a driving upbeat style (this recording), or in a gentle rolling style along the lines of the old ballad, the Water is Wide.

The recording is from the 2006 album Justice Like a Base of Stone, by the group, Bread for the Journey

Do, Do Justice

1. Do, do justice, oh, my beloved.
Oh, do, do justice.
What more is there to say?
Do, do justice, Oh, my beloved.
Oh, do, do justice.
What more is there to say?
What more? What more?

2. Show, show kindness, Oh, my beloved.
Oh, show, show kindness.
What more is there to say?
Show, show kindness, Oh, my beloved.
Oh, show, show kindness.
What more is there to say?
What more? What more?

3. Walk in beauty, Oh, my beloved.
Oh, walk in beauty.
What more is there to say?
Walk in beauty, Oh, my beloved.
Oh, walk in beauty.
What more is there to say?
What more? What more?

____________________

[Summer 2017 note from Martha Schwehn Bardwell]. South Minneapolis Day Camp kids loved embodying this song with some simple actions. And, an intergenerational congregation enjoyed using the same simple actions during Sunday morning worship. Here are the actions, verse by verse:

Verse 1: “Do, Do Justice”: We recognize that doing justice is communal work–we need each other to do justice together! During this verse, people walk around the space, giving each other high fives to express encouragement and a commitment to communal work.

Verse 2: “Show, show kindness”: We show kindness by recognizing the inherent dignity and worth of each person, and by being willing to serve one another. During this verse, people walk around the space with palms together in a prayer posture in front of the heart, bowing to one another.

Verse 3: “Walk in beauty”: We walk in beauty when we walk together in unity with God and each other. During this verse, people link arms with a neighbor or two and walk around. You can encourage people to link arms with as many people as possible, forming a great human chain. You can also sing this verse two times through as people keep joining arms.

Download Tag: ADB

Come Stand Beside This Fire

Words and music by Bret Hesla and Paul Andress
© 2022 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Do All The Good You Can

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2022 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Come Rest In the Arms of Love

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
Text and music © 2019 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net.

Recording:
Piano: Tom Witt; Flute: Ray Makeever
Vocals: Ray Makeever (lead), Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Linda Breitag, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Bret Hesla

Bread of Heaven

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
Words and music © 2019 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Recording:
Piano: Tom Witt; Flute: Ray Makeever; Guitar: Bret Hesla
Vocals: Bret Hesla (lead), Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Ray Makeever, Linda Breitag, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan

You Embrace the Smallest

[Prayer: “Arms of Renewal” © 2017 Bret Hesla]

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2017 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.
Vocals, Harmonica: Bret Hesla
Piano: Tom Witt
String Bass: Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
Reader: Larry Dittberner

Come and Make the People Whole

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Text and music © 2017 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Bring Healing

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Words and music © 2017 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Because He Stood

Words by Bret Hesla and Paul Batalden. Music by Bret Hesla.
Text and music © 2016 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Bringing Our Questions

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Piano score by Cooper Sherry.
Words and music © 2015, 2021 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net

Come and Grow

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
v1. adapted from the words of Alan Story
Text and music © 2014 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Blessed Are You

You Belong In This World

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2011 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Dazzling Bouquet

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 1995 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.
Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.
Recording by Bread for the Journey, 1995, on Global Songs 2.

Bread For the Journey

Lyrics by Bret Hesla. Music by Bret Hesla.
Text and music © 1990 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress. .

Be With Us Now

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1990 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Do, Do Justice

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2010 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net.

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Download Tag: ADB

Words and music by Bret Hesla and Paul Andress© 2022 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2022 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.Text and music © 2019 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. Also licensed via OneLicense.net.

Recording:Piano: Tom Witt; Flute: Ray MakeeverVocals: Ray Makeever (lead), Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Linda Breitag, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Bret Hesla

Words and music by Bret Hesla.Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.Words and music © 2019 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Recording:Piano: Tom Witt; Flute: Ray Makeever; Guitar: Bret HeslaVocals: Bret Hesla (lead), Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Ray Makeever, Linda Breitag, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan

[Prayer: “Arms of Renewal” © 2017 Bret Hesla]

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2017 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.Vocals, Harmonica: Bret HeslaPiano: Tom WittString Bass: Richard Bruxvoort ColliganReader: Larry Dittberner

Words and music by Bret Hesla.Text and music © 2017 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.Words and music © 2017 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Words by Bret Hesla and Paul Batalden. Music by Bret Hesla.Text and music © 2016 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Piano score by Cooper Sherry.Words and music © 2015, 2021 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Also licensed via OneLicense.net

Words and music by Bret Hesla. v1. adapted from the words of Alan StoryText and music © 2014 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2011 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 1995 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.Recording by Bread for the Journey, 1995, on Global Songs 2.

Lyrics by Bret Hesla. Music by Bret Hesla.Text and music © 1990 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress. .

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 1990 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Also licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2010 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Also licensed via OneLicense.net.

Words and music by Bret Hesla and Paul Andress
© 2022 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2022 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
Text and music © 2019 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net.

Recording:
Piano: Tom Witt; Flute: Ray Makeever
Vocals: Ray Makeever (lead), Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Linda Breitag, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Bret Hesla

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
Words and music © 2019 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Recording:
Piano: Tom Witt; Flute: Ray Makeever; Guitar: Bret Hesla
Vocals: Bret Hesla (lead), Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Ray Makeever, Linda Breitag, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2017 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.
Vocals, Harmonica: Bret Hesla
Piano: Tom Witt
String Bass: Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
Reader: Larry Dittberner

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Text and music © 2017 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Words and music © 2017 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Words by Bret Hesla and Paul Batalden. Music by Bret Hesla.
Text and music © 2016 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Piano score by Cooper Sherry.
Words and music © 2015, 2021 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
v1. adapted from the words of Alan Story
Text and music © 2014 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2011 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 1995 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.
Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.
Recording by Bread for the Journey, 1995, on Global Songs 2.

Lyrics by Bret Hesla. Music by Bret Hesla.
Text and music © 1990 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress. .

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1990 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2010 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net.