Valediction

this is my last day all I saved will stay when we first began you were everything but now, I'm not sure

have you changed your mind should I even stay or punch out, I'm in the way

I am sad because I'm so far from you and I am far from you because I'm sad sometimes I must speak out these lies just to see this is my last prayer the last words that you'll hear let me know that you're here

The Bullets Go Everywhere Else

seen and unseen if there is nothing in between I'm lost, I'm nonplussed surface leaves me nervous wheels swerving lines blurring on the bridge I cross same one I dream of jumping off patiently to eternity answers hardly qualify new life

you sting my eyes now, swing with both arms I need you with all that I can still it's not over, still I'm no older the bullets go everywhere else you are the fumes that burn the whole house down the bullets go everywhere else

illusions of exposure leaves erosion of the soil I'm turning over turning over run my will over, and over

The Bridge

as I walk the planks, I wish there was a sword pointing at my back and pointing me forward, forcing my choice closing the doors, till there's only your voice

I could stay right here set up camp for good knowing where I hide and where I bleed, is hidden inside but the edge of your cloak catches my eye

carry me on your back across, across carry me on your back across, across

Should you find yourself stuck with no way forward Beat the undergrowth, search for the path trod by the few right to the edge of the bridge and the truth

I can't see the thousands armed behind me I can't see the flaming swords they bear all I hear is thunder all around me hear it as your laughter everywhere

When I Am Loved

in the light of his presence I can feel anything when I am loved when I am loved in his touch will remain everything when I am loved when I am loved when I am loved when I am loved all will be right but the streets are still lonely tonight

its the rightness of presence that will make me believe when I am loved when I am loved its the only thing that will heal anything when I am loved when I am loved. when I am loved it will be the only magic that will make me believe but the streets are still empty tonight

Where Do I Begin by The Chemical Brothers

sunday morning I'm waking up can't even focus on a coffee cup don't know who's bed I'm input where do I start, where do I begin

My Pleasure, My Savior

something inside of me I can't resist and urges me beyond something outside of me would have me pay for all I want when I need grace in pleasure

my pleasure, my savior where ever I feel you please have me come as a lover

something on me pressing all of this weight re-enters my undoing something below taking all that I am and swelling, clouds are parting, dawn is coming

my pleasure, my savior the wonder that I can't see my center, forever from corner to corner, as a lover

these are the noises these are the feelings all of me longs and belongs and comes in his presence

Prayer by Summer Mohrlang

Lord, as the images around us and the words of these songs, the silence of these moments draw us into a place of reflection, we have to be honest and admit that for many of us, the backdrop for this entire evening, Aurora, with its bridge, its many corners, is nothing more than a rundown road we cross over or drive down on our way to someplace else. This is not where life happens, it's a place we cross over so we can get on with life.

Perhaps at times the fact that Aurora is also a community is forced into our awareness when we read a headline about one of the motels being closed, dozens of families displaced... when we witness a drug deal as we wait for the light... or watch a woman selling her body on the corner because someone's fooled her into believing this will lead to a better life.

Lord, forgive us for the frequency with which we turn a blind eye to your children for whom this is life... forgive us for the days and weeks and years that we fail to even think about the broken community that exists on the street corners, in the alleyways, in the motel rooms, in the broken down apartments along Aurora. Men and women, girls and boys who struggle every day to beat out an existence that will allow them to see another morning... not in some developing nation around the world someplace, but right here in our own city. Forgive us for not seeing.

Father, tonight we ask for your healing to come to this neighborhood. We ask, through your power, your love, that you would bring light into the darkness, that you would birth life out of death... and that you would turn the sorrows of this community into laughter and dancing again.

We lift up to you the needs of Aurora... bring an end to the isolation, the loneliness, the fear, the despair that so many along this stretch of road are consumed by.

Bring an end to the hunger, provide shelter to all who need it.

Father, we ask for an end to the violence. The abuse.

And the addictions that fuel so much of the crime and dysfunction that happens here.

Lord, we also thank you, for the faithful citizens who are already battling for the dawning of a bright new day here on Aurora. For G.A.I.N. and their advocacy work, and neighborhood cleanups. For Awake church--the community garden they have just recently planted and the positive presence they are week in and week out on Aurora. For the Good Friday ministry and their work with people living in the motels along Aurora... for Bethany and the Tabitha ministry they run here, providing housing for women... and for all of the other community groups including food banks, soup kitchens, recovery groups, churches and others that are caring for the people of this neighborhood. Renew their strength. Grow in them new creative vision.

And Lord, we ask too that you would raise up members in this community, people here tonight, to be the next band of leaders... of caretakers, to seek new solutions to the problems that plague this neighborhood. Grow in each of us hope for Aurora. Birth in us tonight a deep conviction that these words from the book of Isaiah that you spoke to Israel so long ago can also be true for Aurora:

"Behold I will create new heavens and a new earth, the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Aurora to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Aurora and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. Never again will there be in it a woman who sells her body to feed her child, or a child who sells drugs to other children they will come together to plant gardens where once dirty needles lay and they will eat their fill of food they grew themselves no longer will they cower alone in dark hotel rooms or ponder the bridge as a means to ending the pain for they will know that life has meaning and they will know they are loved, they are precious. They will no longer need to steal to survive or overdose to hide from reality for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their children with them before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. No longer will the sun be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for I will be your everlasting light... I will be your glory... and your days of sorry will end."

Awaken The Dawn

arise

Hallelujah! What A Savior by Philip Bliss

man of sorrows what a name for the son of God, who came ruined sinners to reclaim hallelujah what a savior

bearing shame and scoffing rude in my place condemned he stood sealed my pardon with his blood hallelujah what a savior

guilty, vile, and helpless we spotless lamb of god was he full atonement, can it be hallelujah what a savior

lifted up was he to die it is finished, was his cry now in heav'n exalted high hallelujah what a savior

when he comes, our glorious king all his ransomed home to bring then anew his song we'll sing hallelujah what a savior

Jesus, Lamb Of God

Jesus, lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world have mercy on us

Jesus, lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world grant us your peace