GOD THE INCLUSIVE
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Laurence G. BERNIER, 1974
Larry Bernier was the founding pastor of Boston's Metropolitan Community Church
First sung at MCC services held at Old West Methodist Church, Boston
Source : LBR
When Israel camped in Sinai, then Moses heard from God:
"This message tell
my people, and give them this, my word:
From Egypt I was with you, and
carried on my wing,
The whole of your great nation from slavery I did
bring.
Just like a mother eagle, who helps her young to fly,
I am a mother to
you, your needs will I supply;
And you are as my children, the ones who hear
my voice,
I am a mother to you, the people of my choice."
If God is like an eagle who helps her young to fly,
And God is also
Father, what then of you and I?
We have no fear of labels, we have no fear of
roles--
If God's own being blends them, we seek the selfsame goals.
Our God is not a woman, our God is not a man;
Our God is both and neither,
our God is I Who Am.
From all the roles that bind us our God has set us
free.
What freedom does God give us? The freedom just to be.
Tune : WEBB
Composed by George James WEBB, 1830? 1837?
MIDI TCH
Check out
“Lelands Webb Site”,
My page devoted to this melody and its texts
When I first put this on my website, I wrote
I don't know who wrote this. It's known and sung in the Metropolitan Community Churches, indeed it was being sung as I walked into my first MCC service, and it profoundly affected me, especially after that afternoon I saw an eagle, the first I had ever seen in my urban Seattle neighborhood. I translated it into Esperanto during the Northwest Regional Esperanto Conference, Olympia, Washington, Memorial Day weekend, 1998.For reasons that remain mysterious to me, after the texts had been sitting seemingly unnoticed on my website for over three years and in this hymnal for at least one, during the two weeks beginning on July 29, 2001, I received information on the authorship of the hymn from three different sources, and I wish to acknowledge here the assistance of James Hayes, Robert Alexander (citing the Rainbow SDA website), and Cindy Wilder in giving Rev. Bernier due credit as the author of this cathartic hymn text.