When you wake up in the morning,
declare an outbreak of peace.
However you say it,
Whatever it means to you -- declare it.
Outbreak of hope,
Outbreak of not going back to sleep
Of not falling into denial and cynicism.
Outbreak of enough food for all.
Outbreak of safety to be who you are.
Outbreak of changing white supremacy,
Outbreak of the earth cherished.
Make your own declaration.
What is it you wish for?
With your own very wish
you are already moving in that direction.
Outbreak of everyone rolling up their sleeves.
What we do matters.
We know we can’t do it alone,
but right now it is easy to believe
we are unimportant and powerless.
Yes, we are tiny. Yes, who can know
In what way our actions make a difference,
but that’s the wonder of this. They all do.
So if we see ourselves as one body,
if we stretch ourselves to imagine all the others,
then we have become a mighty force.
What is it you already do?
And if there is more you want to do
What’s a next step?
Outbreak of peace every day life long.
Call out to our ancestors whose steps we walk in:
Ella Baker, Fanny Lou Hamer, Wangari Maathai.
They are holding out their hands to us.
Take their hands, let them pull you forward.
Rev. Sarah Pirtle
(ChIME 2009)
is the minister of the Village Church, an Interfaith congregation in Cummington, MA. A prolific songwriter with ten national awards, she put 75 songs from her nine recordings free to listen or download at Sarah Hope Sings: https://sarahpirtle.com/hope-sings/tree-of-life.htm with spiritual and political intersections. She is a member of the Hands Across the Hills and Bridge4Unity dialogue groups and author of five books including An Outbreak of Peace, Olive Branch Award winner for outstanding book of the year on world peace.
