385
O God, We Bear the Imprint of Your Face
1. O God, we bear the imprint of Your face:
The colors of our skin are Your design,
And what we have of beauty in our race
As man or woman, You alone define,
Who stretched a living fabric on our frame
And gave to each a language and a name.
2. Where we are torn and pulled apart by hate
Because our race, our skin is not the same;
While we are judged unequal by the state
And victims made because we own our name,
Humanity reduced to little worth,
Dishonored is Your living face on earth.
3. O God, we share the image of Your Son
Whose flesh and blood are ours, whatever skin,
In His humanity we find our own,
And in His family our proper kin:
Christ is the brother we still crucify,
His love the language we must learn, or die.
WORDS: Shirley Erena Murray, 1987
MUSIC: Melody and bass: Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) Harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906 As in The English Hymnal, 1906
Theme: Life in Christ