We’re grateful to share this new song from Andrew Peterson today, and grateful he wrote it. Link to the video and full lyrics are included in this post.
I was walking down on Broadway In a multitude of marchers on parade There was anger, there was passion, There was mercy, there was peace yet to be made And the masks that we were wearing Kept the virus in control, or so they say And there was sickness in the air, and to be fair, It was the grief and all the grievances that plague The many years, and cause the tears on every face
There are things I’ve done that need to be forgiven But I’m still learning how to ask Because the virus in my veins has been contained By this inherited mask And I’d rather be exposed to what is killing Than to hide from what’s to blame So let me lift my voice on Broadway, Let me lift my brother’s cross, Let me mourn for what it cost, And feel the magnitude of loss In every name
George, Breonna, Ahmaud All beloved of God
And there’s more, so many more, But there’s just no way to say every single name And there’s anguish, so much anguish to be sure Inside the killers of the slain ‘Cause if you’ve done somebody wrong It’s like a song you can’t just banish from your head It’ll eat you when you’re sleeping, like a wolf that you’ve been keeping by your bed
And those names are gonna haunt you Till you lie down in the grave and say goodbye And on the resurrection morn you’ll see the form Of Jesus blazing in the sky And then you’ll know how much he loved The ones who suffered Whose blood was crying from the ground And you’ll reckon with the truth That even they and even you Were so much dearer than you knew, So tell me what then will you do When the ones you never knew come back around:
George, Breonna, Ahmaud All beloved of God
And I shouldn’t be surprised that when the lies Come out of hiding there’s a fire ‘Cause when every hope was dashed Into the ashes of that funeral pyre There was a spark of truth unsmothered Till the mighty wind uncovered and relit So let us lay down on the altar every sin That we pretend we don’t commit
Till this world has been refined, Oh, let us share the bread and wine And pass the peace Till every soul has been remembered Every stony heart is tendered Every all has been surrendered Every noble cause is rendered obsolete
And I believe that there’s a reckoning in store And all the poor and the oppressed Will be the first who were the last And all the lost and all the cursed will be the blessed So let this kingdom of the least Spread the table for the feast and light the flame Let us send the invitation, Every tribe and every nation, There’s no corner of creation That is safe from this salvation It is rolling down the mountain Like the water from a fountain It is breaking on the beaches From the deep and distant reaches Of the seas, and all the gleaners Are the proclamation bringers And the dancers are the answers To the questions of the singers
And we’ll shout that we were wrong We had it coming all along And then the mercies of the Lord Will be the chords to every song And all the glories of the king Will be the melodies we sing And all these marchers on parade Are making ready for that day
And it begins as I repent And bow my head as I lament this broken world ‘Cause every victim, every villain Was a precious little boy or little girl This is me and this is you This is the truth, if you believe it or not You have always been beloved They have always been beloved
George, Breonna, Ahmaud All beloved of God
Words and music by Andrew Peterson. Audio by Asher Peterson. Video by Dawson Freeman.