Like Ancient People on a Quest

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Like ancient people on a quest

Author: Mary Nelson Keithahn (1998)
Tune: MITAKUYE OYASIN
Published in 1 hymnal

Representative Text

Like ancient people on a quest
to find a vision clear,
we come, Great Spirit, now to seek
your will and blessing here.

Grant us your wisdom to discern
the right path from the wrong,
to choose the way you set for us,
though it be hard and long.

We ask for courage to accept
the things we cannot change,
to be responsive to new tasks
so difficult and strange.

We pray for generosity,
a willingness to share
all that we have with gratitude
for your kind love and care.

Great Spirit, God, Wakantanka,
we send these prayers on high,
like smoke from sweet grass rises up
or eagles mount the sky.

Like you, may we respect the earth,
the air, the sky, the sea,
and treat each living thing as one
with our own family.

Source: The Song Lingers On: new hymns for our journey of faith #5

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Author: Mary Nelson Keithahn

Mary Nelson Keithahn, a retired United Church of Christ ordained pastor and church educator, has been a curriculum writer-editor, journalist, and lyricist for musical dramas and anthems. She still works out of her home in Rapid City, South Dakota, as a free-lance writer. In 2016 she published Elfie: Adventures on the Midwest Frontier, a chapter book for children, and Embracing the Light: Reflectioins on God’s Holy Word, a collection of meditations for individual or small group use. Augsburg Fortress also published Sing the Stories of God’s NEW People, the third in a trilogy of Bible story-based collections of songs for young children, written with her longtime colleague, John D. Horman. The two have written over a hundred hymns togethe… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Like ancient people on a quest
Title:	Like Ancient People on a Quest
Author:	Mary Nelson Keithahn (1998)
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Source:	The Song Lingers On
Notes:	The text uses a Lakota ritual as a metaphor for meditation and prayer