This is a hymn that was sung in the Catholic church where I went to Mass as a small child. I have never heard it in a Catholic church since then. It doesn't appear in the hymn book at my current parish. And yet I have had it echoing in my mind since the arrival of Pope Francis, simply because Catholic Social Teaching suddenly became front and centre again, and Liberation Theology came out of the closet. The verse about work - working with each other, guarding each other's dignity and pride by doing so - rings strange to our ears and it shouldn't. The concept of the dignity of work and the right of a worker to a living wage is central to Catholic teaching - but it's been submerged for many years.
Also the refrain "and they'll know we are Christians by our love" - a salutary reminder perhaps to think once, twice and three times before putting up that blog post that I've composed in anger. Anger is too easy, and in the faceless Internet it is too easy to lash out blindly at the person who has hurt you by their posting. "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored,
And they'll know we are Christians
By our love, by our love.
Yes, they'll know we are Christians
By our love.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand.
And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land,
And they'll know we are Christians by our love
We will work with each other, we will work side by side.
We will work with each other, we will work side by side.
And we'll guard each man's dignity, and save each man's pride.
And they'll know we are Christians by our love.
All praise to the Father from whom all things come.
And all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son.
And all praise to the Spirit who makes us one.
And they'll know we are Christians by our love
Always enjoyed your commentary on Cranmer. Good luck with this blog!
ReplyDeleteHello Sister Tiberias
ReplyDeleteOooops sorry about the spelling.
Hope Dodo is banned here. I shall pop by from time to time.
Hannah and Dodo, you're very welcome and no you are not banned, Dodo. Why would you hope to be? :)
ReplyDeleteHeh, you know me and Hannah got a pretty stiff e-mail regarding us linking to 'Goy' blogs on our 'bog roll' (pun intended) from some ejiet who claimed our faith... although as I said on our blog
ReplyDelete"Because I can appreciate different religions, even as I disagree with their worldview. Especially if I feel that they are well written and have something pertinent or otherwise to say & I've encountered them on the blogsphere"
allons-y!
David, God bless you, I would take that as a compliment rather than the otherwise. If eventually I have both the ultra traditional and ultra liberal Catholics both throwing bricks at my blog, I'll know I've got the balance right.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the Holy Spirit could work a miracle and both groups could *agree* on my blog, in which case I'll probably drop dead from shock :)
Ah well, I guess you could say being argumentative & debating is a Jewish hobby, especially Sephardi, it is they way we study and learn Torah. But I doubt I'd get a Reform Jew to agree with me or the other way round. But then I'm either one of the black hatted menace or an ultra liberal heretic. U just can't win sometimes.
DeleteThe Catholic tradition of debate isn't a lot different - the theologians have argued about the Faith for two thousand years (interspersed with burning each other at the stake when one particular side thought they were losing the argument). :) At least these days the people who think I'm a heretic are limited to yelling at me on the internet rather than setting up a bonfire in the town square :)
ReplyDeleteAh Sister Tibs,
DeleteWell we just brand each other as 'heretics', stick our fingers into our ears and hum real loud, with the occasional media spat... the difference perhaps is that whilst we have our Sages, Rabbis and Gedolim, all Jews are told to read Torah and understand it. So we have a system of study (Bible study?) , which is a bit like Noah's ark, in that we study and debate 'two by two' to help us understand the faith and text better....