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How Can I Keep from Singing?

“How Can I Keep from Singing? performed at Baylor IFL’s Symposium on Faith and Culture. With gratitude to the Schola of St. Peter’s Catholic Student Center and Dr. Janya Martin. Arranged by Carlos Colón, who also plays the piano in this recording.

  1. My life flows on in endless song;

Above earth’s lamentation

I hear the sweet thought far off hymn

That hails a new creation.

Chorus: No storm can shake my inmost calm

While to the rock I’m clinging;

Since Christ is Lord of Heav’n and earth,

How can I keep from singing?

  • Through all the tumult and the strife

I hear the music ringing:

It finds an echo in my soul,

How can I keep from singing? (chorus)

  • What though my joys and comfort die?

The Lord my Savior liveth:

What thought the darkness gather round!

Songs in the night He giveth. (chorus)

  • The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,

A fountain ever springing:

All things are mine since I am His

How can I keep from singing? (chorus)

Lament with Wings

I co-produced this documentary for Baylor Chapel a few years ago. https://vimeo.com/118193318

Here’s a summary by the film producer, Pilar Timpane:

Lamento con Alas (“Lament with Wings”) is a short documentary about good Samaritans Lavoyger Durham and Lori Baker who attempt to make a difference during the immigration surge in the summer of 2014. Durham breaks stereotypes as a Texan rancher who sets up water stations that keep immigrants alive even as they illegally cross his land. And Baker, an associate professor of anthropology at Baylor University, exhumes deceased immigrants from unmarked graves and works to return the dead to their families in Latin America. She founded the Reuniting Families Project to establish a system for DNA analysis and identification of these deceased migrants. Durham and Baker both work to bring dignity to migrants who cross our border in dangerous conditions.

Now, several ears later, the crisis at the border continues. This summer, immigration has surged again, with nearly 400,000 immigrants apprehended through August 2016. These numbers include families and unaccompanied children, most of whom are coming from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and are trafficked through Mexico on their way to the US border. And as the rhetoric of the political season has demonstrated, Americans are deeply divided over how to handle Latin American and Middle Eastern immigrants—some cry that we should build a wall whereas others hope for clearer paths to citizenship.

Prayers During this Continuing Pandemic

God is our refuge and strength; A very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

O Lord, as you lifted once a paralyzed man from his bed, we ask you to come and visit us, and raise our bodies and spirits.

Hear, our prayer O Lord.

Grant to us the gift of your Holy Spirit, that our bodies and souls may be protected from infirmity.

Lord, Have mercy.

And we pray for those who are now suffering from Covid and other illness: we beseech you, O Lord, to visit them, encourage them, and heal them according to your great lovingkindness.

Lord, Have mercy.

As you once listened to the cry of the Canaanite woman, we beseech you to hear our voice, for our friends and family hit hard by this disease in our community, nation, and world.

Lord, Have mercy.

And we pray Lord for the medical personnel who care for the sick.

Be their Rock of Ages. Bless them, O Lord! (pause and pray by name for any doctor, nurse, or medical staff you may know)

Please bless all clergy, scientists, researchers, public health officials, counselors, teachers, and many others who are at the forefront of the care of our communities.

Be their strength and wisdom!

 And for all of us, Lord, guide us so that this may be a time of reflection and good will to work to eradicate the diseases that threaten our bodies, and the hate that threatens our souls.

Lord, Have mercy.

O God our help in ages past, the God who heals us and comforts us: incline your ear to us, and grant, in your mercy, the prayers of your people.

Amen.