Andrew Peterson’s “A White Man’s Lament for the Death of God’s Beloved”
Lyrics:
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
