詩歌：Lift Every Voice and Sing

幾千白人至上主義者聚集Charlottesville遊行，公然扛著希特勒的納粹旗，將希特勒的話印在T-恤衫上，實在令人意外。直接原因是抗議弗吉尼亞州挪走某個紀念碑和雕像的決定，據說他們高喊向川普致意的口號呢！

不消說，反對的人也舉行抗議。後來有一部車子闖進反對集會的人群，撞死一人，撞傷19人，其中5人傷勢嚴重。另外，有一架監視集會衝突的警用直升機墜毀，造成機上的两名警察殉職。

我的疑問是，新納粹黨到現在怎麼會有那麼大的勢力呢？那個集會打著「團結右翼」的旗號（United the Right），基督徒在其中是甚麼角色呢？大家不會支持納粹吧？「右翼」包括很極端的政治右派，也包括溫和的中間偏右派，講「團結」恐怕也不能用集會的方法。

今天崇拜的時候，牧師的信息很明確，白人至上主義、種族歧視、暴力、恐怖主義行徑，都不能代表愛國，因為美國這個移民國家，無論甚麼種族，都擁有同樣的權利。牧師特意選了一首曾經號稱「美國黑人國歌」的聖詩，Lift Every Voice and Sing是上個世紀六十年代美國黑人爭取平等權利時唱的詩歌，充滿了在艱難困苦中對神的信心和盼望。



Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand.
True to our God, True to our native land.