This Lovely Food
1. This lovely food. These lovely people.
This lovely city. This lovely earth.
There is no space left in our hearts for all our gratitude.
It just keeps spilling down the edges of our life together.
This waking sky. This ancient morning.
This simple garden. This fragrant soil.
The Mississippi of God’s love runs through our stories here.
And just keeps spilling down the edges of our lives.
It just keeps spilling down the edges of our life together.
2. This font of stone
Is something you could play in.
This floor of maple
Begs for a dance.
And when the singing sometimes catches us a certain way
Sweet tears come spilling down the edges of our life together.
These wide front doors
Are level with the the sidewalk.
This wall of windows
Welcomes the street.
Then the announcements send us forth to join God’s wider “we.”
As love keeps spilling down the edges of our lives.
It just keeps spilling down the edges of our life together.
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; Guitar: Tim Gustafson; Percussion: Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
Vocals: Cathy Pino, Rebekah Moir, Martha Schwen-Bardwell, Nate Crary, Paul Andress, Ray Makeever, Chris Tripolino, Bret Hesla
Song Notes:
I wrote this as part of a commission for the church I attend, Our Saviour’s Lutheran of Minneapolis. One thing they asked for is if I could write a song for singing after communion. Here’s a shot at that; gratitude, joy, community all wrapped up in a little two-step.
Gratitude Ritual idea (outdoors): Ask folks to bring a jar of water from home, and to table their jar with things they’re grateful for. Then, when gathered, place a pitcher in the center of the space. Label the pitcher “All our hearts.” Then invite folks to come forward, speak one or two things from their list, and pour their water into the pitcher. Sing/play this song throughout. Hopefully you’ll have lots and lots more water that space in the pitcher, and the overflow of gratitude will be super wet and fun. Probably and outdoor ritual, but creative folks could figure out how to do it indoors and capture the wetness.
Verse 2 celebrates particulars of that community’s life and gathering space. The church’s old building burned down in 1995, and the new building has a much more modern, open design, including an entire wall of floor to ceiling windows in the sanctuary. The windows face Chicago Avenue, with all its pedestrians, buses, traffic, and city flavor. It’s fun to sing a song that’s very specific to your community. Feel free to adapt these v2 images to fit your people and location.