What does this hymn have to do with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Read on to see….
The lyrics to Canticle of the Turning (also known as My Soul Cries Out With a Joyful Shout) are by Rory Cooney, but the music is an old Irish folk tune. The original tune dates back to the Middle Ages. I love that, in the Lutheran church, so many of our favorite hymns probably started out as bar songs!
A canticle is simply a hymn. The lyrics paraphrase Luke 1: 46-55, a section of the Bible referred to as Mary’s Magnificat. The Magnificat is a joyous celebration of the Savior Jesus, and the lyrics of Canticle of the Turning certainly portray that.
My photo doesn’t include the refrain:
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears,
For the dawn draws near,
And the world is about to turn.
The world is about to turn. Just a few weeks ago, before the midterm elections, I was struggling with depression over the state of our country and the world. I was losing hope. I described how I felt about the elections in my previous blog post.
Today, when I sang this hymn in church, it spoke to the change in my spirit since the November 6. This was a historic election. There were record number of women, people of color, and people of other sexual orientation winning seats. The first two Native American women were elected to Congress. The first two Muslim women were elected to Congress. The youngest woman ever elected to Congress was 29 year old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. These are just a few of the firsts that came out of this election. The world is about to turn.
I’ve become a huge fan of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I remember long ago, someone told me that I would become more conservative as I ages. That prediction turned out to be untrue. I am as progressive as I ever was and I’m excited to see someone winning so decisively with a progressive platform like Ocasio-Cortez has done. And I love how feisty and authentic she is. I saw at her response to an absurd Fox News tweet, and I thought “the world is about to turn.”
