Two and a half weeks ago, Central District Conference (CDC) leaders held our annual visioning retreat in our church building.  As part of the opening meditation, Conference Minister Doug Luginbill played the song “We Rise” by Batya Levine.  The soulful lyrics wove their way into our process of creating the next two-year theme for CDC: Rise Up! Take Courage! 

If you were in church this past Sunday, you heard this song during the lighting of the Peace Candle.  If you weren’t, no worries.  “We Rise” will be part of every service during our “Anabaptism at 500” series.  Within its harmonies, it captures well the Spirit of Anabaptism – humble yet bold, prayerful yet active, mournful yet hopeful – we seek to embody.  It has become an anthem for Mennonite Action, which has received permission to use the song on its podcast and mass calls over Zoom. 

The song has been around a while.  The artist Batya Levine, a Jewish prayer leader, wrote it after being at Standing Rock in 2016, witnessing the prayerful protest of the Sioux against the Dakota Pipeline.  Levine writes: “In that moment, I started to sing, praying into my bones that vision of holy resistance.  This song is one small attempt at holding onto that vision, and praying it into our collective bones.” 

If you haven’t encountered THIS recording yet, do yourself a favor and give it a three minute listen.  Batya is the lead voice. 

As the language of our Peace Candle says, “We join our hearts with all those who yearn for peace with justice.”  For these couple of months, we will do this through “We Rise.”  As the song says: “In hope, in prayer, we find ourselves here.  We’re. Right. Here.”

Joel