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Grace Notes

Lyrics for this week's musical selections.

Don’t miss the Halloween Organ Concert – Friday, October 30, 7 PM!

The pipe organ is known for its use in churches, but also has a spooky and terrifying alter ego that predates its use in the church! From accompanying gladiator battles in ancient Rome, to its frequent use in film scoring, to the predilection for villains to play it (think Phantom of the Opera and The Pink Panther), be sure to join us for a frightening evening. Available at www.countrysideucc.org/concerts

If you missed “Nasty Women,” It is available on demand at https://countrysideucc.org/concerts/nasty-women/

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage, Countryside Community Church is offering a virtual concert called “Nasty Women,” which will explore music written by female composers during the Women’s Suffrage movement. Dr. Joanna Goldstein, a specialist in this music, will guide us on this journey through unsung masterworks. She will be joined by Countryside’s Artist-in-Residence Dr. Christie Beard, as well as faculty from UNO, UNL, and the Omaha Conservatory of Music. the concert will feature works by Amy Beach, Rebecca Clarke, Florence Price, Ethel Smyth, and more.

A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke
Performed by Justin Payne

Sam Cooke was an influential artist who broke through barriers during his tragically short career. While “A Change is Gonna Come” is now thought of as one of the greatest songs of all time, writing it was a risky move – putting in jeopardy the crossover career he had built for himself transitioning from a gospel singer to secular genres. In fact, a portion of the song was censored. He wrote the song after being arrested when he and his band were turned away from a Holiday Inn in 1963.
I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I’ve been running ev’r since
It’s been a long time, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
It’s been too hard living, but I’m afraid to die
‘Cause I don’t know what’s up there, beyond the sky
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep tellin’ me don’t hang around
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knockin’ me
Back down on my knees, oh
There have been times that I thought I couldn’t last for long
But now I think I’m able to carry on
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

Romance for Violin and Piano – Amy Beach (Arranged by Christie Beard)
Christie Beard, Flute, Stacie Haneline, Piano

We Wait the Peaceful Kingdom

At first glance, this text might look like a message for Advent – based on its scriptural references to Isaiah – but it also conveys a strong message for troubled times. This hymn ties into each line of the Lord’s Prayer. From “Thy kingdom come Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” to “forgive us our trespasses” to “lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil,” it takes Isaiah’s prophetic message of the Kingdom of God that is to come, and ties it into a more contemporary theology of the Kingdom of God being here today, and how we must respond.

We wait the peaceful kingdom, when wolf and lamb shall lie
in gentleness and friendship without a fear or sigh,
when lion shall be grazing, when snake shall never strike;
a little child shall lead us both strong and weak alike.

Where is the peaceful kingdom? When will this new day start?
We long for peace and comfort to reign within each heart.
Yet not in our lives only, nor simply in our home:
we pray that all creation will one day find shalom.

When wars of desolation and hate come to an end,
when nation meets with nation and calls the other “friend,”
still peace in all its fullness will only have begun:
shalom for all creation begins with justice done.

That little child shall lead us to walk the chosen way,
to share the peaceful kingdom, to greet God’s newborn day.
The child born in a stable is sent to break our chains,
to bring through word and table the day when justice reigns.

God of Freedom God of Justice – Text by Shirley Elena Murray

God of freedom, God of justice, you whose love is strong as death,
you who saw the dark of prison, you who knew the price of faith —
touch our world of sad oppression with your Spirit’s healing breath.

Rid the earth of torture’s terror, you whose hands were nailed to wood;
hear the cries of pain and protest, you who shed the tears and blood —
move in us the power of pity restless for the common good.

Make in us a captive conscience quick to hear, to act, to plead;
make us truly sisters, brothers of whatever race or creed —
teach us to be fully human, open to each other’s needs.

For previous weeks, click the links below:

Jesus’ Eight Blessings for Uncertain Times
October 18th
October 11th
October 4th
September 27th
September 20th
September 13th
September 6th

Living Liberty
August 30th
August 23rd
August 16th
August 9th

Praying for Revolution
August 2nd
July 26th
July 19th
July 12th
July 5th

Sacred Activism
June 28th

Hope, a Pessimist’s Guide
June 14th – Father’s Day
June 7th 
May 31 – Pentecost
May 24
May 17
May 10 – Mothers’ Day
May 3
April 26 – Confirmation
April 19

April 12 – Easter
April 10 – Good Friday
April 9 – Maundy Thursday