Presbyterian hymn writer the Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette pens a hymn on living with integrity
‘Give Us Integrity, God, In the Ways We Are Living’ is available for use during worship
LOUISVILLE — “Give Us Integrity, God, In the Ways We Are Living” is a new hymn by the Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette that speaks to the need for churches to lift up moral and ethical values including loving our neighbors, welcoming strangers and opposing warfare that targets the innocent and the vulnerable.
“Sometimes as a pastor, I hear people argue, ‘That’s political! We shouldn’t be talking about anything that’s happening in the nation or world in church,’” she said. But during the Office of Public Witness’ recent webinar on “Faithful Resistance to ICE,” a panelist “talked about how Christians need to speak out and take action if we want to have any integrity as followers of Jesus,” she said. “The word ‘integrity’ is a good one for us to consider as we sing and pray.”
She noted that Jesus once asked, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?” Those who follow Jesus “need to love our neighbors, feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, work as peacemakers, show compassion to all (not just to people like us) and seek justice for the oppressed,” she said. “If we close our eyes and our hearts to people in need, if we ignore the cries of our neighbors (including those we are being told to hate and be afraid of), how are we living with integrity as followers of Jesus’ Way?”
Her most recent hymn “is a prayer that we will live our faith through visible acts of compassion, neighborliness, kindness, justice and advocacy.”
Scriptural references for the hymn include Proverbs 14:32; Matthew 21:28-32; Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 6:37-38; John 15:18; Mark 10:13-16; Matthew 5:9; Luke 1:52-53; Luke 12:13-21; Luke 10:25-37; and 1 John 4:16-21.
Give Us Integrity, God, In the Ways We Are Living
LOBE DEN HERREN (“Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty”)
Give us integrity, God, in the ways we are living.
Christ taught us well — to be welcoming, kind and forgiving!
Yet all around, powers of hatred abound.
May we seek Christ and obey him.
Jesus reached out with a blessing and welcomed the children.
Yet all around us are forces of death that would kill them.
When there is war, we see Christ stand with the poor;
may your church also stand with them.
Jesus condemned and admonished the proud and the greedy.
He said to open our hearts to the cries of the needy.
May we who say we follow Jesus today
kneel with him, serving the hungry.
Sometimes we hear, "That's political!" That's not our problem.
Yet if we live with integrity, we'll pay attention.
May people find Christians are moral and kind
and that, with Jesus, we love them.
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