INCLUDED

1. Included,
you and me and everybody comprehensively embraced by
the love of the unrestrictive God of all.

With Jesus
we are wanted, we're accepted. We are never segregated or hated; we're all incorporated in him.

But they say they don't want her to be here, she's trouble,
she gets on their nerves.
She speaks a different language, she's noisy, an ethnic.
What's more, she's got a daughter who's possessed by a devil!

2. But we're included
in the new improved creation.
We are Jesus' renovations; he's fixed us, and we're completely overhauled.

With Jesus
we're no longer out of order.
We're no longer on the border,
we're inside the most amazing land of all.

But we say we won't share it
with strangers;
they make us feel so insecure.
It doesn't matter if they're hungry, or lonely, or desperate.
Why don't they find a place
of their own where they can go?
Included, you and me.... incorporated in him.

1990. Written for the St Stephen's student service in September, where the theme, based on the story of the Syro-Phoenecian woman, was 'Send her away'. Jesus is not for a cosy, inside club, but for every and any outsider in society. Often easier to acknowledge than to practise, it's the essence of the good news: God becomes a human in order to gather in all of us outsiders. For me 1990 marked a new phase in my songwriting, where I much more consciously sought fresh images, usually making use of both a thesaurus (Macquarie's) and a rhyming dictionary. 'Included' was one of the first songs to emerge from this process.

 

ALWS 29/5/24

In May 2023 we travelled to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, seeing work supported by Australian Lutheran World Service. Dorothy and I are Ambassadors for the ALWS programme, Lives You Touch. We are encouraging people to leave money in their will for the work of ALWS. We committed to leave a third of our will many years ago and hope many others can touch lives in this way.

Last year we visited churches in SA, Vic, Qld and WA with Jonathan & Julie Krause promoting the cause of ALWS.

Coming up soon:

* Nuriootpa (St Petri) Saturday June 22, 4 pm

To be confirmed:
Bordertown July 28,
Everton Park (Qld) August 17,
Canberra August 24 

Looking forward to seeing you at one of these events