Blue Boat Home

Though below me, I feel no motion

standing on these mountains and plains.

Far away from the rolling ocean

still my dry land heart can say:

I’ve been sailing all my life now,

never harbor or port have I know.

The wide universe is the ocean I travel

and the earth is my blue boat home.

Sun my sail and moon my rudder

as I ply the starry sea,

leaning over the edge in wonder,

casting questions into the deep.

Drifting here with my ship’s companions,

all we kindred pilgrim souls,

making our way by the lights of the heavens

in our beautiful blue boat home.

I give thanks to the waves upholding me,

hail the great winds urging me on,

greet the infinite sea before me,

sing the sky my sailor’s song:

I was born upon the fathoms,

never harbor or port have I known.

The universe is the ocean I travel,

and the earth is my blue boat home.

~Peter Mayer, 1963 - , copywrite 2002

A Song for All The Nations

On this USA Independence Day, I wanted to share a hymn that I often included as a part of worship. We who are traveling abroad often get opportunities to experience other cultures, lands, and peoples. I have always been reminded about what makes other peoples, lands, cultures great and not so great, while at the same time being reminded about what makes my own people, land, and culture great and no so great. When I travel, I am reminded that I am able to do so because of the goodwill and hospitality of other peoples. Indeed, my travels and well-being have often depended upon it.

Blessings on your travels.

Joel

"This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
"My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight, too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh, hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.
"May truth and freedom come to every nation;
may peace abound where strife has raged so long,
That each may seek to love and build together
a world united, righting every wrong --
A world united in its love for freedom,
proclaiming peace together in one song."
~ Music: Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) "Finlandia"
~ Words: Lloyd Stone 1934