Honoring MLK Day with a new hymn text

May Your prophets find the courage
to heed Your call
as they strive to climb the mountain
burdened for all.
Help them dream a King-size vision
of a land without division
focused on a holy mission
where tyrants fall.

May Your prophets speak out boldly
hearing Your voice.
Help them stand up for those victims
denied a choice.
Much like Moses and like Martin,
use Your prophets as they pardon
those enslaved and thus disheartened
so they’ll rejoice.

May Your prophets stand on prophets’
shoulders of old,
high above reproach or scandal
grasping for gold.
Help them to make plain Your passion
even when it seems old-fashioned
for the poor who lack for rations
out in the cold.

*This poem can be sung to the Welsh tune often associated with the hymn “Go, My Children, with My Blessing” commonly called “All Through the Night.”