Justice

We Didn’t Come This Far to Give Up

No Kings Rally, Minneapolis Minnesota, October 2025. [photo by Betty Tisel]

Chorus:
We didn’t come this far to give up now
We didn’t come this far to give up now
Friends let’s hold the line.
We didn’t come this far to give up!

[Verses: same pattern, down beat bolded]

We’ve got no king and we never will (2x) | Friends

We’re keeping public land in public hands (2x) | Friends

Everybody’s equal under the law (2x) | Friends …..

Medicare Medicaid Social Security (2x) | Friends …..

It’s our bodies, so we decide (2x) | Friends …..

It’s on the shoulders of giants we stand today (2x) | …

We won’t give the rich what belongs to all

Fascist enablers, call them out (2x) | Friends …..

Keep the National Guard off the city streets (2x) | Friends …..

Fight the good fight, finish the race (2x) | Friends …..

[And one more verse, in the wake of the joyful, powerful 18 Oct 2025 No Kings rally, which was the largest peaceful protest in US History:]

We’re 7 million strong with immaculate vibes!

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2025 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

I wrote this in the summer of 2025, right about the time of the nationwide No-Kings rallies in June.

Then, in October, seven million people turned out. Joy, defiance and power! It was the largest peaceful protest in US history. All standing up against authoritarianism, white christian nationalism, and the general humanitarian travesty spewing out from the Oval Office and its enablers in Congress.

From the moment I walked up to join the crowd here in Minneapolis, I was overwhelmed with beauty and encouragement. The sunshine, the signs, the voices, the kids, the old folks, all of us. Completely nonviolent, deeply determined, wildly creative! One organizer called the vibes “immaculate.” I’m sure it was the same for you, too!

Performance: The demo recording just uses a few of the many possible verses. Feel free to create new verses for the moment. I like to do each one twice, so that listeners can more easily jump in full voice. Guitar works well, but use what you have. A capella has a lot of power, too.

Rise Up, Get Going

Easter Sunday 2025; Our Saviour’s Mpls

Chorus:
Rise up now, get going.
Hope got out of that tomb!
Rise up now, get going.
Hope got out of that tomb!
Rise up now, get going.
Hope got out of that tomb!
Love’s on the move. Rise up, get going.

1. That stone of greed’s been rolled away. Hope got out of that tomb!
Corruption cuffed and hauled away. Hope got out of that tomb!
Abundance for us all today. Hope got out of that tomb!
Love’s on the move. Rise up, get going.

Photo by LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR on Unsplash

2. Don’t wallow in a powerless thrall. Hope …
Lift up your head the Gardener calls . Hope …
No dawdling or justice stalls. Hope …
Love’s on the move. Rise up, get going.

3. Don’t look for Jesus ‘mongst the dead. Hope …
Go look where hungry folks are fed. Hope …
And bring 5000 loaves of bread. Hope …
Love’s on the move. Rise up, get going.

4. Go forth and follow Jesus’s feet. Hope …
There’s footprints on the path of peace. Hope …
They’re headed for the burdened street. Hope …
Love’s on the move. Rise up, get going.

5. The stone sings Hallelujah. Hope …
The tree sings Hallelujah. Hope …
The star sings Hallelujah. Hope …
(So) How ’bout if we all sing Hallelujah? (to v6)

6. Sing Halle, Hallelujah. Hope …
Sing Halle, Hallelujah. Hope …
Sing Halle, Hallelujah. Hope …
Love’s on the move. Rise up, get going.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2025 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Recording credits: Bret Hesla vocals and ukulele, Tim Gustafson guitar, Paul Andress piano

Thanks to Paul Andress and Tim Gustafson for playing on the recording! And thanks to Cooper Sherry for the great downloadable piano score. And how about those musicians on the live recording: Tom Witt on piano, Paul D’Amico Carper on fiddle, Elizabeth D’Amico Carper on vocals!

God Save This Breaking Land

Good Friday 2025, Our Saviour’s Mpls

1. God save this breaking land before we’re past repair.
We’ve let false profits ravage the gift all creatures share.
Frayed rules like loos’ning bands, that once bound greedy hands,
No longer guard the future now. God save this breaking land.

2. Tall fences painted white, like sentries, stand their ground
On lakes where great abundance has private shoreline ’round.
While “Mine but never yours” fouls every aquifer.
A plague of thirst and struggle looms. God save this breaking land.

3. Deep buried tribal hate released like rabid dogs
Is roaming every valley stalking the common good
As speakers crafting lies blare loudly through the skies
To drown the sparrow songs of hope. God save this breaking land.

4. You made the universe from voids of empty space.
Why not repair between us for wid’ning wounds of race?
From boardrooms everywhere, out to the crowded square,
Roll away the stone of priv’lege now. God save this breaking land.

5. God save this breaking land. Come resurrect us all.
Let new transforming skin grow where all is cracked and raw.
Empower these feet to move, clad with persistent shoes,
From shattered hopes to firm resolve. God save this breaking land.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2024 Bret Hesla.
All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

I’m guessing your spirit is in a similar place as mine, dividing its time between lament and resistance. This song is a lament. The lyrics are harsh, like the time we’re living in. I suspect it will take some courage on the part of your leaders to include this song in your service or event.

I find a certain release in the singing of it; the melody has a traditional hymn-like shape to it. You could do it as a solo, or as a choir piece. My vote, as usual, would be to let the whole group sing it.

Alt lyrics: After I initially sent this song around, I got a quick reply from a woman in Kansas, saying “Sorta seems to me that WE need to save this breaking land.” So I wrote this set of alternative lyrics, with more explicit call for some human agency, for her UU choir.

Rise For This Breaking Land

1. Rise for this breaking land from couches of despairWe’ve let false profits ravage the gift all creatures share. Frayed rules like loos’ning bands, that once bound greedy hands,No longer guard the future now. Rise for this breaking land.

2. Tall fences painted white, like sentries, stand their ground On lakes where great abundance has private shoreline ’round. While “Mine but never yours” fouls every aquifer.The common good has been laid low. Rise for this breaking land.

3. Deep buried tribal hate, released like rabid hounds [dogs]Is stalking every valley, backing wide welcome downAs speakers crafting lies blare loudly through the skiesTo drown the sparrow songs of hope. (To spew their toxic bilge of blame)Rise for this breaking land.

4. Who’ll bring unflinching eyes to look in sorrow’s face?Who’ll seek repair between us for wid’ning wounds of race?From boardrooms everywhere, out to the crowded square,Roll away the stone of priv’lege now. Rise for this breaking land.

5. Rise for this breaking land. Be resurrected now. Let new transforming skin grow where all is cracked and raw.Let feet of thousands move, clad with persistent shoes, From shattered hopes to firm resolve. Rise for this breaking land.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2025 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Pray for the Rain

1. Pray for the sunlight.
Pray for the rising
Of all living things.
Pray for the courage
To grow where you can.
And pray for the rain. Pray for the rain upon the land.

2. Pray for the beauty
Yet to be seen.
Pray for conversion
From pavement to green.
Pray for the courage
To follow your plans.
And pray for the rain. Pray for the rain upon the land.

3. Pray for the power
To come to the poor.
Pray for the hungry
Who knock on your door
Pray for the courage
To open your hand.
And pray for the rain. Pray for the rain upon the land.

4. Pray for the healing
That cannot be sold.
Pray for the riches
That banks cannot hold.
Pray for the courage
To take a new stand.
And pray for the rain. Pray for the rain upon the land.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1990 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Things That Can’t Be Done

1. May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers
May God bless you with discomfort
At well-designed half-truths
May God bless you with discomfort
At thin commitments
So that you may live from deep within your heart.

2. May God bless you with fires of anger
At exploitations
May God bless you with fires of anger
When money’s like a wrecking ball
May God bless you with fires of anger
At privilege grinning
So that you may join the trouble to heal this land (Ch)

Chorus:
May God bless you to be so foolish | to think you matter
May God bless you to be so foolish | to think you’ll change this world
May God bless you to be so foolish | to keep on trying
So that you may do the things that can’t be done.

3. May God bless you with tears like rainfall | for breath extinguished
May God bless you with tears like rainfall | for families torn apart
May God bless you with tears like rainfall | for trampled futures
So that you may stand with those whose lot is pain.

Text based on a prayer by Sr. Ruth Fox. Adapted and additional text Bret Hesla. Music Bret Hesla.
© 2021 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Recording:
Vocals — Bret Hesla and Rebekah Fergus.
Instruments — Bret Hesla.

Based on a prayer by Sister Ruth Fox, which I first heard when our Pastor Martha Schwehn-Bardwell used it in a sermon in the spring of 2021. Here’ the original.

A Non-traditional Blessing,
by Sr. Ruth Fox, OSB
May God bless you with discontent with easy answers, half truths, superficial relationships,
so that you live from deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, abuse, and exploitation of people,
so that you will work for justice, equity and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, staarvation and war,
so that you will reach out your hand to comfort them and to change their pain to joy.
May God bless you with the foolishness to think you can make a difference in this world,
so you will do the things which others tell you cannot be done.

Sr. Ruth Fox is a Benedictine Sister of Sacred Heart Monastery, Dickinson, ND (formerly Richardton, ND). She has been a leader in Benedictine life at home, on the national and international stage. She has also authored books and articles as well as provided many retreat across the country.

And thanks to Rebekah Fergus for the fantastic vocals on the recording.

If You Lessen Your Anger

If you lessen, lessen your anger
If you lessen, lessen your anger
Anger at the structures of power
Anger at the structures of power
Then you low, lower your love
for the victims of that power
You low-, low-, low-, lower your love.

(optional other verses)

2. If you soften, soften your outrage
If you soften, soften your outrage
Outrage at the vict’ry of greed
Outrage at the vict’ry of greed
Then you low………..greed

3. If you dampen, dampen your fire
If you dampen, dampen your fire
Burning ’cause the deck has been stacked
burning ’cause the deck has been stacked
then you low……………scam

4. Never lessen, lessen your anger
Never lessen, lessen your anger
Anger at the structures of power
Anger at the structures of power
Never low…..power

Lyrics: v1 William Sloane Coffin, adap. BH, v2-4 BH. Music by Bret Hesla.
© 2009 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

“If you lessen your anger at the structures of power, you lower your love for the victims of power.” William Sloane Coffin

Our Saviour’s Rouser

Our Saviour’s Rouser
© 2019 Bret Hesla.

We are called, nurtured and sent
to celebrate the beauties of life.
Called, nurtured and sent
to serve, and share what God has provided.
We are called, nurtured and sent
to go do justice in this land.
We are L U T H E R A N S
making P E A C E.
All together! Halleluya! Amen!

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
© 2019 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Recording:
Piano: Tom Witt; Flute: Ray Makeever;
Vocals: Rebekah Moir, Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Cathy Pino, Nate Crary, Paul Andress, Ray Makeever, Chris Tripolino, Bret Hesla

Notes: Our Saviour’s Rouser

This song was commissioned for the 150th Anniversary of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When I first met with the anniversary committee, I asked what they had in mind for the song they wanted. The first thing they said was, “our mission statement.” Now you might think, hmmm, mission statement, kind of dry. But not this one: “we are called nurtured and sent to celebrate, serve and do justice.” I got to thinking, what is a mission statement. It’s something we all rally around and whole-heartedly buy in to. Which made me think back to my high school fight song, except here we’re committed to nonviolence, so let’s call it a rouser. I think every group needs it’s own rouser. Schools already have them. Why not churches? Here’s ours.

By the way, if you want to sing this in your community, you don’t have to spell it “L-u-t-h-e-r-a-n-s”. We are M-E-T-H-O-D-I-S-Ts, or C-A-T-H-O-L-I-C-S, or M-E-N-N-O-N-I-T-Es, or U-N-I-T-A-R-I-A-Ns, or U-N-D-E-C-I-D-E-Ds, or P-R-E-S-B-Y-Ter-E-Ns, or C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-Ns, etc. No matter how you spell it, the sky’s the limit on peacemaking, justice and joy. Let’s all get on board.

ps. I managed to get another song out of this same mission statement, Loves Wide Embrace. Different flavor altogether–more of a straight-up hymn.

Dandelion Prayer

Dandelion Prayer
© 2019 Bret Hesla.

Help us to be your breeze of love.
To blow your kindness all around
Till justice pops up like
dandelions, dandelions,
Pops up like dandelions.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
© 2019 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

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

Notes: Dandelion Prayer. This song was written on commission for my home congregation, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis. I’ve heard it said that the challenge of writing lyrics for hymns is like taking PhD concepts and putting them in language a 5-year-old can understand. So I listen to our pastor’s children’s sermons, and the simple repeat-after-me prayers that they lead to close each time. The core of this song springs from one of those.

I’ve added a little line dance in the recording, that would work for a group arranged in rows, although if you had space, a little cupid shuffle macarena type choreography would be perfect. The spoken instructions are:
Blow right right right right
Blow left, left left left
Dandelion right, dandelion left
Turn the world around
We could turn the world around

Love’s Wide Embrace (songbook)

(2019 Songbook). Loves Wide Embrace: Hymns to celebrate community while working for justice
by Bret Hesla.

Ten songs written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota on the occasion of their 150th anniversary (1869-2019). The themes were gathered in conversation with members of the church, and reflect the mission and key themes of this urban congregation. (Songbook price includes shipping. Browse contents below.)

Songbook Contents: click/listen/download individual songs
Our Saviour’s Rouser
Love’s Wide Embrace
This Lovely Food
Come Rest in the Arms of Love
God Has Given Us Each Other
I Say Peace
This Is Home
Dandelion Prayer
Bread of Heaven
Who Can Help But Celebrate?

Order hardcopies below (songbooks/piano scores): (email me for bulk orders)

For Justice, Love and Peace

For justice, love and peace,
Give us courage in our struggle

[Blessing: “Take Courage” by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan and Bret Hesla]

Friends, may God be in our arms as we work for justice,
In our hearts as we practice habits of kindness,
In our heads as we learn to take risks to make this planet a place of peace.
People of God, take courage!

Singers: Conie Borchart, Robin Nelson, Liza Johnson, Kathy Pino, Ray Makeever, Paul Andress, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Bret Hesla
Guitar: Richard Bruxvoort Colligan

Words and music by Richard Bruxvort Colligan. ©2017 Worldmaking.net (ASCAP) All rights reserved. Use with permission please. Licensed via CCLI, OneLicense.net and Worldmaking.net. Contact: Richard@worldmaking.net

Not Without Peace

Not Without Peace

Not without peace
Can we stop polar ice disappearing.
Not without welcome for us all
Will our forests be strong
We can’t treat the land
With respect we don’t show for each other.
So we pray to be kind
As we work to rewild the world.
Let us pray to be kind
As we work to rewild the world.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2017 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

This lively song connects the healing the planet with our other efforts for justice. The song is part of a 2017 collection addressing ecology and climate justice, Singing Prayers for the Earth, by composers Bret Hesla and Richard Bruxvoort Colligan.

I like to use this song interspersed with readings, depending on the current context and situation.

“Peace, justice and the preservation of creation are three absolutely interconnected themes, which cannot be separated and treated individually.”

[Pope Francis, Laudato Si 2015]

“Four grave problems tempt us to despair in this world: climate change, massive inequality, militarism and money in politics. The good news is that the four are connected: when we act to repair any one of these problems, we create conditions that help resolve the others.”

[Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Authentic Hope. Orbis Books, MaryKnoll, NY, 2012 ]

Let Not the Needy Be Forgotten

Let Not The Needy Be Forgotten
© 2017 Bret Hesla.

Ref: Let not the needy be forgotten.
And let not the hope of the poor be stripped away.

1. The victims of war
The refugees pouring in
The kidnapped and trafficked girls
The families torn apart

2. Pray what is the task
For people of faith when those
Who flee for their lives
Arrive to permanent second class?

3. How great is the breach,
The fault line through every town
A wound not allowed to heal
Corroding the ties that bind.

4. Communities thrive
When those who are safe take risks
For those under threat and fear.
To make sanctuaries bloom.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2017 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com

I got the idea for this lament on human suffering from an adult forum I led in 2016 on the question, “What hymns do we need that are currently missing as we consider climate change?” Many folks were connecting the crisis of the broken earth and the crisis of human oppression. One suggested this text, from Psalm 9:18: “Let not the needy be forgotten; nor the hope of the poor be taken away.” That comment led to this song. I added verses with themes of specific human need that I see in 2017, the oppression of recent immigrants here in the U.S, the desparate need for sanctuary. Some of us need sanctuary, some of us can provide it. Here’s hoping we can join together and all be healed.

The long vocal dance on the word “away” is the heart of this lament, and gives your congregation a relatively rare opportunity to sing like that. Guitar and/or piano are appropriate for accompanying. The entire song can be sung by a congregation, but another option would be to have only the refrain sung by the congregation and the verses sung by soloists or a choir. You could also use the refrain only (without verses), alternating a sung refrain by the congregation with short spoken segments, or prayers, specific to your current situation.

Lords Prayer–adapted

LORD’S PRAYER
(adaptation by Bret Hesla)

Gracious Spirit,
Who loves us like a mother.
Whose realm is blooming among us now. And within.
We pray that your compassion guide us in every action.
Give us what we need for each day,
And help us to be satisfied with the miracle of that alone.
Forgiver, whose embrace brings us to wholeness without our asking,
May we reconcile ourselves to one another in humility.
And may we cancel the crushing debts that imprison our neighbors
So that communities of joy and health may flourish.
May we neither profit from nor ignore evil.
But ever work to thwart it with nonviolence
As we co-create the realm of peace in this world.
Now and each day.
Amen.

Based on the Lord’s Prayer. Adapted by Bret Hesla. © 2004. From Worship In The Spirit of Jesus: Theology Liturgy and Songs Without Violence © 2004 by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Bret Hesla. Wipf and Stock.

Let’s Leave Our Fears and Comforts Now

Let’s Leave Our Fears And Comforts Now

8686D + chorus

1. Let’s leave our fears and comforts now and heed a higher call:
To dedicate our lives to building dignity for all.
The whims of fate are cruel to some by accident of birth.
It’s only fair for all to share the riches of the earth.
The riches of the earth, oh people
The riches of the earth.
It’s only fair for all to share the riches of the earth.

2. We’ll break apart the ancient walls of status, fear and wealth;
And build ourselves instead a house of welcome, joy and health.
As partners, friends and family join with strangers of good heart.
And as the vision’s lifted up, division falls apart.
Division falls apart, oh people.
Division falls apart.
And as the vision’s lifted up, division falls apart.

3. Among the many miracles that poets long have praised,
Another stands beside them now — the way this house was raised.
Each day may we decide anew for justice over greed.
That some receive and some let go, and all get what they need.
And all get what they need, oh people.
And all get what they need.
That some receive and some let go, and all get what they need.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1998 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Written for Habitat for Humanity’s 1998 West Regional Conference, held at Asilomar, Pacific Grove, CA.

This is a super fun, rousing vibe to the tune, a structure similar to an old carol. The lyrics have a basic structure of 8686D. So if you omit the tags at the end of each verse, it may be sung to many familiar tunes. My favorite: “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”

No Matter Who (songbook)

(2012 Songbook and separate book of Piano Scores) No Matter Who: Hymns and Songs for Peacemakers and Other Neighborhood Builders to Sign Together. These forty-one songs, compiled from my writing between the late 80s and 2012, are a good place to start for singable songs and hymns on progressive themes. (Songbooks below. Or click and listen to individual songs.)

Contents:

Be With Us Now
Bread for the Journey
Dazzing Bouquet
Do, Do Justice
Eat Food Carol
Embolden My Heart
Everything That We Have
Flower of Compassion
Give Us Our Daily Bread
Hearts On Fire
Here In This Ordinary Place
Holy River Never Failing
Image of God
Invitation
Juntos creamos espiritu
Justice Like a Base of Stone
Listen
Little By Little
Longing We Gather
Make Us Mindful
Mercy We Abide
No Matter Who
Open Invitation
Pave the Way With Branches
Peace, Peace
Pour Out Your Heart
Provoking Each Other
River of Gladness
Shower Your Spirit
Sing the Day
This Remains
To Sing With You Is Home
Turn My Heart to Peace
Vision Of Hope
Wash Me One More Time
We Share the Peace
We, Too
Web of Beauty
What We Do
Where Love and Justice Combine
Where There Is Hatred

(discounts available on multiple copies of People’s Songbook edition.)

Shout Unto God

Shout unto God! Shout unto God!
Let the trumpets welcome in the day of justice.
Shout unto God! Shout unto God!
Let the trumpets welcome in the reign of God.

1. Sing unto God a new song,
Whose deeds are full of wonder.
Whose right hand is raised
And the victory begun.
And now this victory is revealed
As justice in all nations,
As mercy to the people
In every corner of the planet. (Lift up your voice and)

2. Let the earth… Shout! ; Let the trumpet… Blast!
Let the harp… Sing! ; Let the bells… Ring!
Let the creatures of the sea roar.
Let the hills in the springtime
Let the mighty rivers rise up.
And let the people of the nations (Lift up your voice and)

3. Look and see God is moving. (3x)
To lift the broken and the lowly.
Look and see God is moving.
Within the people stirring
To heal what is wounded.
And inspire true compassion.
(Lift up your voice and)

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2001 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.
Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Based on Psalm 98. The recording is from the 2006 album Justice Like a Base of Stone, by the group, Bread for the Journey.

Stand In Awe

Stand in Awe
Bret Hesla © 2000

Refrain:

Stand in awe of the one who hears the cry of the poor
Stand in awe of the one who will provide
Stand in awe of the one who hears the cry of the poor
For they shall eat and be satisfied.

1. Praise god, the Spirit moving over the earth.
Let ev’ery heart give honor to the Servant of Peace.
Let the great assembly praise the Friend of the Poor.
Let us declare the saving deeds God has done.

2. How sweet to gaze upon the rich and the fair.
And how seductive is the mighty voice of the strong.
But the wretched and disfigured now are empowered.
Let us declare the saving deeds God has done.

3. Who’ll not despise the poverty of the poor
Who comes to meet the_oppressed.
Whose back will never be turned.
This is now the one who moves in every land
Let us declare the saving deeds God has done.

4. Let all the ends of earth be watered in joy.
Let all the fam’lies of the nations meet at the well.
where the thirsty shall drink deep and be satisfied
Let us declare the saving deeds God has done.

Words and music by Bret Hesla
© 2000 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Admin. Augsburg Fortress. OneLicense.net

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.

Build Up a New Foundation

Build Up

How shall we pursue the dream?
On the rock, build on the rock of justice.
Building true equality,
Till we build up a new foundation.
Using our united power…
On the rock, build on the rock of justice.
Duty bound we seize the hour….
Till we build up a new foundation.

Ch: Build up, build up build up a new foundation.
Build up, build up, oh build up a new foundation.

2. Compassion’s empty without deed…
Action’s what the afflicted need…
Level every playing field…
Work until the breach is healed….

3. Doubting the official word…
Letting every voice be heard….
Challenging the club of power…
Giving common good the floor….

4. Crossing borders of the heart…
Build the right way from the start….
Listen to the spirit’s call…
Crumble the dividing wall….

5. Hope, but never sit and wait…
Learn to use the tools of change….
Listen to the spirit’s call…
Life’s abundance meant for all….

Other Verse ideas:

a. Learning from each other’s songs….
Knowing that we all belong…
Many from among us lead…
Sharing power, we are freed…. Ch: …

b. Standing at the bolted door…
Questioning the status quo….
We who come from many lands…
Welcome all with open hands…

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2006 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.
Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

When Justice Comes

When Justice Comes

1. Oh, the clouds will build up black when justice comes.
There will be no turning back when justice comes.
The thunder will shatter the sky when justice comes.
And you’ll have to believe your eyes when justice comes.

Ch: When justice comes,
Let it roll like a downpouring rain.
Let it flow like a flood in the spring.
Let there be no place left to run
When justice comes.

2. It’s gonna blow in heavy and hard when justice comes.
And the experts will be caught off their guard when justice comes.
The first drops will startle your skin when justice comes.
Then we’ll all be drenched to the bone when justice comes.

3. There’ll be nowhere to buy a boat when justice comes.
And money is not gonna float when justice comes.
Nothing will be high and dry when justice comes.
But the thirsty will be satisfied when justice comes.

4. The storm will give way to the sun when justice comes.
The creeks and the ditches will run when justice comes.
The breeze will be cool and clean when justice comes.
And the prairie will answer with green when justice comes.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1990 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Amos 5:24. But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

The recording is from the CD A New Perspective, with Bret Hesla and Larry Dittberner

Where Love and Justice Combine

Verse 1 demo

Where Love and Justice Combine

1. Where love and justice combine
Where love and justice combine
God has welcomed us home.
O beloved of mine, may we dwell there
Where love and justice combine,
Where love and justice combine
God has welcomed us home.
May we never be moved.

2. Deep in the business of life
Deep in the business of life
God has welcomed us home.
O beloved of mine, may we dwell there
Deep in the business of life
Deep in the business of life
God has welcomed us home.
May we never be moved.

3. Sharing the fruit and the land …

4. ‘Mid every sorrow and joy …

5. Spreading the table with peace …

6. Held in community’s arms …

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Written on commission for Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis Minnesota, on their 50th anniversary.
© 2011 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

“Love one another” seems simple enough. Clearly it isn’t. But what a wonderful and badly needed vision and calling, to build a world through lives of compassion and love. Verse 1 is very loosely based on a few lines from the Latin text, Ubi caritas et amor, attributed to Paulinus of Aquileia around 800 CE, and often chanted or sung on Maundy Thursday during foot washing.

Blest Are Those

Blest Are Those
Bret Hesla. © 2011 bret.hesla@gmail.com

1. Blest are those who put trust in God.
They shall be like a tree.
Like a tree planted by the water
They shall never be moved.

2. In a world that’s splintered apart
Keeping many outside
Give us hearts welcome and including
Hearts to heal the divide

3. Homeless, wealthy, stranger, and friend
Fill the city, our home
May we now share of our abundance
Finding plenty for all

4. When we fear the peace that we seek
simply cannot come true,
We abide in our work for justice
Rooted deep in the stream

5. Here beside the river of faith
We now gather in joy.
Like a tree planted by the water
We shall never be moved.

————-

This was the theme verse for the 50^th anniversary celebration of Faith Mennonite Church in Minneapolis, and this song was written on commission for that event.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.

When Healthcare Reaches All

When Health Care Reaches All

I’ve got a longing for that day
When health care reaches all
I’ve got a longing for that day
I’ve got a longing for that day
(Oh day how glorious)
When health care reaches all
When health care reaches all
When health care reaches all

No child truly left behind
When health care reaches all … (etc.)
(With dental coverage)

Where will insurance tycoons be
When health care reaches all? …
(without their bonuses)

They’ll all be seeking real jobs
When health care reaches all …
(when they get out of jail)

We’ll sing a single-payer praise
When health care reaches all …
(if Congress gets a spine)

Join we to hasten that great day
When health care reaches all …
(with lower premiums)

Lyrics Bret Hesla © 2009, Tune: Trad English, “On Ilkly Moor Bar Tat”
© 2009 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Vision of Hope

Minnesota Community Sings benefit for Minnesotans United at Calvary Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis, Saturday evening February 18, 2012.

Vision of Hope

1. Why, you ask me, do we sing together
In the sweetness of a thousand voices
Butter melts, like a gladness, into the soul …
Why, you ask me, do we sing together.
In the glory of a thousand voices
there we find what we knew not had ever been lost

Ch: We sing a vision of hope
We sing a vision of peace
We sing a vision of joy
This irresistible life
This irresistible dream
This irresistible jewel
Oh, this vision of hope

2. Why, you ask me, do we sing together.
On the mountain of a thousand voices
We can say what alone we never could say…
Why, you ask me, do we sing together
In the rising of a thousand voices
Even those with their ears plugged must hear us now.

3. Why, you ask me, do we sing together
In the refuge of a thousand voices
Is a place where the wounded gather to heal …
Why, you ask me, do we sing together.
In the cradle of a thousand voices,
We are rocking the promise of beauty to come

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2010 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

This song is about the power of singing together. Right after the Haiti earthquake of 2010, amid all the devastation, the news was reporting that people were gathering in the streets at night and singing. In Estonia in the late 80s, hundreds of thousands gathered in public to sing in defiance of Soviet occupiers. In South Africa, the freedom songs helped fire the anti-apartheid movement. In this country, singing was a source of power and strength in the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s.

This song is about that singing. It’s also about our work to build a better world. I hope you can find a way to sing it with your communities. I think you’ll find, like me, a certain power that wells up inside you, just in the act of singing it. We sure need that power at this moment. Let’s rise up and make a different way forward!

Big Town Values

1. I’ve been ’round the country / Rambled and I’ve roamed.
I’m back in the city / That’s where I call home.
I’ll stay in the city / because of what I’ve found:
Those big town values all around.

Refrain:
I love those big town values, like vibrant public schools.
Give more if you’ve got more.
We’re basking in the golden rule.
Dance with who you want to.
Let your joy resound.
There’s big town values all around.

2. When I was a shaver / on my mama’s knee,
Kindness was the anthem / mama sang to me.
Always do for others / papa would expound.
It was big town values all around.

3. Ev’rybody’s language / Spoken in our schools.
Ev’rybody’s story / Told and listened to.
Celebrate what’s diff’rent / It’s not that profound.
Just big town values all around

4. All those tiny food trucks / parked on busy streets.
Sprouting from the sidewalks / coffee shops like weeds.
Special lanes for bikers / Potlucks that abound.
And big town values all around.

5. Decent living wages / Health care for us all
Neighborhood investment / ‘stead of endless war
If there is a heaven / I’ll know when I’ve found,
these big town values all around.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2013 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Where There Is Hatred

Where There Is Hatred

1. Where there is hatred,
Where there is hatred,
Where there is hatred,
let me sow love.

O God, let me sow love.
O God, let me sow love.
O God, let me sow love.

Where there is hatred,
let me sow love.

2. Where there is sorrow, let me sow joy.

3. Where there’s oppression, let me sow freedom.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1999 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Based on the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.

Pave the Way with Branches

Pave the Way With Branches

1. Jesus is coming.
Pave the way with branches.
Jesus is coming. Hosannah.

Ch: Hosannah. Jesus is coming.
Hosannah to the Prince of Peace.

2. Hope for the downtrod …

3. Land for the landless …

4. Debts are forgiven …

5. Release for the captives …

Spanish:
Cristo ya viene con mantos y palmas.
Cristo ya viene hossana.

Ref: Hossana cristo ya viene.
Hossana yo lo quiero ver.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Spanish lyrics Jose Antonio Machado
© 1999 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress Publishers.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.
Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Origin: I wrote this song on an April morning in 1999. I was walking down a gravel road near my home in southern Minnesota, trying to come up with a song for Palm Sunday. I didn’t have a pencil or paper to keep track of my ideas. So I just kept walking till a song came out that was easy to remember. When I got home I wrote it down.

About: This energetic Palm Sunday song urges us to move out into the street singing and proclaiming the transformation that Jesus spoke of and lived out in his life. Challenging powers to release to the incarcerated. Bringing good news to the powerless. Welcoming the immigrant. Compassion and love of enemies. Perhaps even allowing the coming realm of God to be how Jesus described: pervasive but a bit unnoticed, small, ordinary, like a mustard seed.

How to: It’s perfect for a paperless traveling procession by the whole congregation. Leader sings once, all repeat. Then have a supportive choir, pre-primed to jump in on SATB; pass out simple percussion (hand drum, shakers) and find a good song leader who can call out the verses. Wind your way through the church, or the neighborhood. Imagine the transformation.

Adapt as needed: Some groups have adapted this as, “Justice is coming.” Great idea. I think the rest of the adaptation would replace Pave the way with branches to “Pave the way with action.” Replace Hosannah with “Be strong now” and replace To the Prince of Peace with “In the way of peace”.

Also, of course, there’s lots of other room here to make up new lyrics. In case you need a nudge, here’s your official nudge. C’mon. Sing what makes sense to you in your deepest heart. This is our one go-around on this earth.

———-Attention Good Friday: Because He Stood: a song to help remove atonement from Good Friday, and focus on Jesus life and the threat he posed to the powers of the day—-

Here’s how Edina Community Lutheran Church used the song during the time of social distancing

And here’s a children’s choir from Tacoma WA singing Pave the Way with Branches recorded remotely during the pandemic. From St. Mark’s Lutheran, by director Cooper Sherry.

Justice Like a Base of Stone (Songbook)

(CD/Songbook–2006) Justice Like a Base of Stone: Hymns of Hope and Transformation. Songs and hymns of justice, inclusion, hope and nonviolence by Bret Hesla. Recorded by the group Bread for the Journey. Published by Augsburg Fortress. (CD: $10. Songbook $12. Price includes shipping. Browse contents below.) 17 songs. 56 pp.

This 2006 songbook (and recording by the group Bread for the Journey) features original songs of Bret Hesla. Key themes: justice for all people, building inclusive community, peacemaking & healing. Many of the CD arrangements emphasize SATB singing. The songbook includes keyboard accompaniment, background notes and tips for using with a group. (published and distributed by Augsburg Fortress) .

Little By Little

Little By Little

Refrain:
Little by little by little.
Little by little by little.
Little by little by little, I know
The tiniest seeds will grow.

1. Growing in cracks and crevices (3x)
we are everywhere

2. Habits of peace and justice (3x)
tools to change the world

3. Never resorting to violence (3x)
we will find a way

4. Working with all of each other (3x)
we are not alone (Ch.)

5. The Spirit is present among us (3x)
we are filled with power

6. Rooted in the Water of Mercy (3x)
we will surely flower. (Ch.)

This song lifts up the fact that small steps lead to deep change. It is inspired by a book called: By Little and By Little: The selected writings of Dorothy Day., 1983. In the book she discusses active nonviolence, focusing on the small, ordinary acts and the ‘holy sublimity of the everyday’. This song was written as part of a collaboration with Jack Nelson Pallmeyer, who has written widely about the nonviolent vision of Jesus, who insisted that kingdom of god would be something ordinary and easily missed (yeast, small seeds), not dominating and all powerful. [see e.g.: Worship in the Spirit of Jesus: Theology Liturgy and Songs Without Violence, 2004.]

Song background and teaching tips

It feels good to sing about how we are the tiny weed-seeds that grow in the cracks and can’t be repressed. The weeds of peace and promise.

Churches have used this for a sending song. It’s also a favorite among very young children at several schools I know of. Kids really respond to this idea that daily habits of peace and justice can change the world. Depending on the verses, it works in faith-based or secular setting.

Justice Like a Base of Stone (song)

Justice Like a Base of Stone

1. How shall we pursue the dream: Building true equality?
Put down, put down in the deepest ground Justice, like a base of stone.
Using our united power. Lifting all together now
Put down, put down in the deepest ground Justice, like a base of stone.

2. We who come from many lands welcome all with open hand.
Put down, put down in the deepest ground Justice, like a base of stone.
Many from among us lead. Sharing power we are freed.
Put down, put down in the deepest ground Justice, like a base of stone.

Chorus:
And we will lay a new foundation bearing on the justice stone.
And raise abundance over all bearing on the justice stone.

3. Standing at the bolted door. Questioning the status quo….
Fairness overcoming fear. Everyone will have a share….
Ch.

4. Listen to the Spirit’s call: Crumble the dividing wall….
Hope, but never sit and wait. Learn to use the tools of change….
Ch.

Other verses:

5. Compassion’s empty without deed. Action’s what the afflicted need….
Level every playing field. Work until the breach is healed….

6. Doubting the official word. Letting every voice be heard….
Challenging the club of power. Giving common good the floor….

7. Learning from each other’s songs. Knowing that we all belong….
Many from among us lead. Sharing power, we are freed….

8. Listen to the Spirit’s call: Earth’s abundance meant for all ….

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Piano Accpt. Tom Witt.
© 2006 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.
Recording by Bread for the Journey, with Linda Breitag on lead vocals.

I wrote this song as a commission for ISAIAH Minnesota, a group that organizes church congregations to work politically on legislation for social justice. [the Christian left]. The song uses images from the book of Isaiah, Chapter 58, as suggested by Sue, a friend who was working for them at the time. Recording from Justice Like a Base of Stone, by Bread for the Journey (Augsburg Fortress Publishers).

Juntos creamos espiritu

Juntos creamos espiritu

1. Juntos creamos espiritu.
Juntos creamos espiritu.
Bailando, llorando,
Bailando, llorando.
Duradero, duradero, duradero.

2. We’re building spirit together.
We’re building spirit together.
With dancing and crying.
With dancing and crying.
Never turning,
Never turning,
Never turning back.

3. We bind our hearts to each other
And weave our spirits together.
With threads of joy and sorrow,
We spin hope for tomorrow.
Never turning,
Never turning,
Never turning back.

Words: Al Hage, Jorge Flores, Bret Hesla & Bill Dexheimer-Pharris, Music by Bret Hesla.
© 1995 Bret Hesla. Admin GIA Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Jorge Flores and Al Hage met at the St. Paul Cathedral in 1989, during a hunger strike protesting the US support of the repressive government in El Salvador. Although they came from completely different backgrounds — a Third World campesino living under brutal dictatorship and a first world activist in a culture of greed, militarism and abundance — they quickly discovered that they shared a very similar understanding of the power of people working together to counter oppression, create change and build a better world. At one point, Al (a strike supporter) asked Jorge (a striker), “In Spanish, how do you say ‘We’re building the spirit together’?” They painted Jorge’s answer on a banner to lift over the strikers. Al called me that night to see if a song might emerge as well.

May we all keep working with each other as we make it through, and make it better.

Here In This Ordinary Place

Here In This Ordinary Place

May we awake, awaken
To the presence of God
The presence of God
The presence of God
May we awake, awaken
To the presence of God
Here in this ordinary place.

(ch)
Here, here in this ordinary place.
Here, here in this ordinary place.

May we awake, awaken
To the power of love …
(ch) Here, hear in this ordinary crowd….

And may we build a neighborhood
of justice for all …
(ch) Now, now in this ordinary time….

And may we daily work
To build a culture of peace …
(ch) Now, now with these ordinary hands.

For a different musical setting to these lyrics, see the song “May We Awaken.”

Hearts On Fire (D)

1. When you heard the silence broken in the square
Tell me was your heart on fire?
When you heard the great dream ringing in the air
Tell me was your heart on fire?
Was your heart on fire like mine?
Was your heart on fire like mine?
We gather in the morning to clear the path of peace
We with hearts on fire (2x)

2. When the common fabric was torn before your eyes
Tell me was your tongue on fire?
When you watched the plain truth papered over with lies
Tell me was your tongue on fire?
Was your tongue on fire like mine?
Was your tongue on fire like mine?
We gather in the sunshine and speak the truth to power
We with tongues on fire. (2x)

3. When you joined with thousands standing side by side
Tell me was your soul on fire?
When you knew you’d win what so long was denied
Tell me was your soul on fire?
Was your soul on fire like mine?
Was your soul on fire like mine?
We gather the table and pass a cup of joy
We with souls on fire. (2x)

4. When you dreamed a feast where everyone was fed
Tell me was your heart on fire?
When you dreamed a city where all had a bed
Tell me was your heart on fire?
Was your heart on fire like mine?
Was your heart on fire like mine?
We gather in the evening and longing is our prayer
We with hearts on fire. (2x)

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Accpt. by Tom Witt.
Spanish translation: Jose Antonio Machado.
© 2008 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Hymn of solidarity in the struggle we share to build a just world. I wrote this for a Lutherans Concerned gathering in San Francisco summer of 2008. It’s a group promoting equality for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Sadly, Proposition 8 passed shortly thereafter. This is the group singing version. See also the solo version, in the key of Am.

Embolden My Heart

Written for the national gathering of the Baptist Peace Fellowship in 2012.

1. Without risk you can’t be open.
Without that you won’t build trust.
Without trust there’s no community uniting them and us.
Without unity what legacy will we be passing on
But a lonely type of safety some call “home”?

{ch}
O dear Desire of Peace, come embolden my heart.
Embolden my heart, to bloom into community.
O dear Desire of Peace, come embolden my heart;
embolden my heart to bloom.

2. Without risk there is no justice
Without justice there’s no peace
Without peace there is no hope and without hope there is no dream
Without dreams there’s no tomorrow. No tomorrow? What’s today
But a empty way to burn some time at home?

Hearts on Fire (Am)

Hearts on Fire

1. When you heard the silence broken in the square
Was your heart. was your heart on fire?
When you heard the great dream ringing in the air
Was your heart. was your heart on fire?
Was your heart on fire like mine?
Was your heart on fire like mine?
We gather in the morning to clear the path of peace
We with our hearts on fire (2x)

2. When the common fabric was torn before your eyes
Was your tongue, was your tongue on fire?
When you watched the truth papered over with lies
Was your tongue, was your tongue on fire?
Was your tongue on fire like mine?
Was your tongue on fire like mine?
We gather in the sunshine and speak the truth to power
We with our tongues on fire. (2x)

3. Uniendote con mils de pie y con dignidad
Sientes fuego en tu alma como yo
Ganando y reclamando con solidaridad
Sientes fuego en tu alma como yo
Sientes fuego en tu alma como yo
Sientes fuego en tu alma como yo
Reunidos en la mesa gozando la amisatad
Con fuego en tu alma como yo
Con fuego en tu alma como yo

3. When you joined with thousands standing side by side
Was your soul, was your soul on fire?
When you knew you’d win what so long was denied
Was your soul, was your soul on fire?
Was your soul on fire like mine?
Was your soul on fire like mine?
We gather at the table and pass a cup of joy
We with our souls on fire.

4. When you dreamed a feast where everyone was fed
Was your heart, was your heart on fire?
When you dreamed a city where all had a bed
Was your heart, was your heart on fire?
Was your heart on fire like mine?
Sientes fuego en tu corazon
We gather in the evening and longing is our prayer
We with our hearts on fire.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Accpt. by Tom Witt.
Spanish translation: Jose Antonio Machado.
© 2008 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

I wrote this for a Lutherans Concerned gathering in San Francisco summer of 2008. It’s a group promoting equality for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Sadly, Proposition 8 passed shortly thereafter.

Nothing Worth Doing

Nothing Worth Doing

1. Nothing worth doing can we complete in our lifetime.
Can we complete in the span, the span of our days.
And so we are saved by hope.
We must be saved by hope,
The fuel of the heart.

2. Nothing of beauty is wholly seen at its birthing.
Is wholly seen at the dawn, the dawn of its day.
And so we are saved by trust
We must be saved by trust
The jewel of the soul.

3. Nothing we do can we achieve on our own.
Can we achieve on our own, no struggle won alone.
And so we are saved by love.
We must be saved by love,
The weaver of the whole.

4. Acting with virtue, we are not seen quite so pure.
We are not seen quite so pure by foe nor friend.
And so we must be saved by forgiveness.
In forgiveness we are saved
And shown the way of peace.

—————————————————————

Lyrics adapted from a passage (page 63) in The Irony of American History, by Reinhold Niebuhr (1952). Reprinted and adapted with the permission of the Estate of Reinhold Niebuhr.
Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2005 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Recorded with Linda Breitag (fiddle, vocal) and Tom Witt (piano), on What We Do (CD 2008)

Most of us would like to think that, on our better days, we and our organizations might embody one small piece of the long arc of history bending toward justice. But it’s sure easy to despair in the length of that arc. These words of Reinhold Neibuhr have helped me:
“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.”

What We Do (CD)

(CD-2008.) What We Do: Good time songs for peace and change.
This recording, from the duo Bret Hesla and Linda Breitag, is a blend of politics and acoustic folk. It’s twelve original songs will wake your head, break your heart, shake your hips: fiddle guitar accordion hambone piano congas feet a cappella and MORE. A party in a 100% post-consumer package. The songs are a snapshot of life & themes in the vibrant Minnesota peace culture at the turn of the century (this one). (Price includes CD shipping. Or browse individual songs below.)

¡Basta!
What We Do
Close To Home
Be The Color
Hearts On Fire
Mothers’ Anthem
Shoulder Next To Shoulder
Good Good Thing
Standing on the Bridge
Nothing Worth Doing
Time To Share
American Dream: Limit Exceeded

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.

Justice

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2025 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2025 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.Recording credits: Bret Hesla vocals and ukulele, Tim Gustafson guitar, Paul Andress piano

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2024 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2025 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 1990 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Text based on a prayer by Sr. Ruth Fox. Adapted and additional text Bret Hesla. Music Bret Hesla.© 2021 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Recording:Vocals — Bret Hesla and Rebekah Fergus.Instruments — Bret Hesla.

Lyrics: v1 William Sloane Coffin, adap. BH, v2-4 BH. Music by Bret Hesla.© 2009 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.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.© 2019 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Recording:Piano: Tom Witt; Flute: Ray Makeever;Vocals: Rebekah Moir, Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Cathy Pino, Nate Crary, Paul Andress, Ray Makeever, Chris Tripolino, Bret Hesla

Words and music by Bret Hesla.Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.© 2019 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

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

[Blessing: “Take Courage” by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan and Bret Hesla]

Singers: Conie Borchart, Robin Nelson, Liza Johnson, Kathy Pino, Ray Makeever, Paul Andress, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Bret HeslaGuitar: Richard Bruxvoort Colligan

Words and music by Richard Bruxvort Colligan. ©2017 Worldmaking.net (ASCAP) All rights reserved. Use with permission please. Licensed via CCLI, OneLicense.net and Worldmaking.net. Contact: Richard@worldmaking.net

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2017 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

[Pope Francis, Laudato Si 2015]

[Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Authentic Hope. Orbis Books, MaryKnoll, NY, 2012 ]

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2017 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com

Based on the Lord’s Prayer. Adapted by Bret Hesla. © 2004. From Worship In The Spirit of Jesus: Theology Liturgy and Songs Without Violence © 2004 by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Bret Hesla. Wipf and Stock.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2001 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Based on Psalm 98. The recording is from the 2006 album Justice Like a Base of Stone, by the group, Bread for the Journey.

Words and music by Bret Hesla© 2000 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.Admin. Augsburg Fortress. OneLicense.net

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2006 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress. Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 1990 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Written on commission for Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis Minnesota, on their 50th anniversary.© 2011 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

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

Lyrics Bret Hesla © 2009, Tune: Trad English, “On Ilkly Moor Bar Tat”© 2009 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2010 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2013 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 1999 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Spanish lyrics Jose Antonio Machado© 1999 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress Publishers.Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2003 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Piano Accpt. Tom Witt.© 2006 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Also licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.Recording by Bread for the Journey, with Linda Breitag on lead vocals.

Words: Al Hage, Jorge Flores, Bret Hesla & Bill Dexheimer-Pharris, Music by Bret Hesla.© 1995 Bret Hesla. Admin GIA Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 1999 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Accpt. by Tom Witt.Spanish translation: Jose Antonio Machado.© 2008 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2012 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Accpt. by Tom Witt.Spanish translation: Jose Antonio Machado.© 2008 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Recorded with Linda Breitag (fiddle, vocal) and Tom Witt (piano), on What We Do (CD 2008)

Words and music by Bret Hesla.© 2010 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2025 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2025 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Recording credits: Bret Hesla vocals and ukulele, Tim Gustafson guitar, Paul Andress piano

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2024 Bret Hesla.
All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1990 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Text based on a prayer by Sr. Ruth Fox. Adapted and additional text Bret Hesla. Music Bret Hesla.
© 2021 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Recording:
Vocals — Bret Hesla and Rebekah Fergus.
Instruments — Bret Hesla.

Lyrics: v1 William Sloane Coffin, adap. BH, v2-4 BH. Music by Bret Hesla.
© 2009 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
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.
© 2019 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Recording:
Piano: Tom Witt; Flute: Ray Makeever;
Vocals: Rebekah Moir, Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Cathy Pino, Nate Crary, Paul Andress, Ray Makeever, Chris Tripolino, Bret Hesla

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
Written on commission for Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
© 2019 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

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

Singers: Conie Borchart, Robin Nelson, Liza Johnson, Kathy Pino, Ray Makeever, Paul Andress, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Bret Hesla
Guitar: 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.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2017 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2001 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.
Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla
© 2000 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Admin. Augsburg Fortress. OneLicense.net

Words and music by Bret Hesla. © 2006 Bret Hesla. Admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.
Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1990 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Written on commission for Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis Minnesota, on their 50th anniversary.
© 2011 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

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

Lyrics Bret Hesla © 2009, Tune: Trad English, “On Ilkly Moor Bar Tat”
© 2009 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2010 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2013 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 1999 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Spanish lyrics Jose Antonio Machado
© 1999 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress Publishers.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. All rights reserved.
Use with permission, please. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2003 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Piano Accpt. Tom Witt.
© 2006 Bret Hesla. Admin Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Also licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.
Recording by Bread for the Journey, with Linda Breitag on lead vocals.

Words: Al Hage, Jorge Flores, Bret Hesla & Bill Dexheimer-Pharris, Music by Bret Hesla.
© 1995 Bret Hesla. Admin GIA Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please. Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Accpt. by Tom Witt.
Spanish translation: Jose Antonio Machado.
© 2008 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2012 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla. Accpt. by Tom Witt.
Spanish translation: Jose Antonio Machado.
© 2008 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2010 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Use with permission, please.
Licensed via OneLicense.net. Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.