On this Fourth of July weekend so let’s recall Emma Lazarus’ poem inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty who extends a welcome, a haven, a refuge for the burdened and battered… How many of us are the grandchildren and great grandchildren of ancestors who wept for joy when they sailed into New York harbor and saw Lady Liberty? In the video here, Irving Berlin provides a powerful musical setting for these beautiful words… (My Pause for Prayer follows below..)
If a video doesn’t appear below, click here!
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Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Let’s pause and pray…
Lord, open wide my heart
to welcome any and all
who’ve been turned out,
turned aside and turned away:
in my family, in my neighborhood
where I work and ’round the world…
May the light of my words and deeds
lift high a lamp of welcome
and my heart provide a home
for the weary, heavy burdened…
Let my heart open wide for others, Lord,
as your heart opens wide for me…
Amen.
