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For today: Watch the video of the song “People Get Ready." Check out these lyrics.
People get ready, there's a train a comin' You don't need no baggage, you just get on board All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin' Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord People get ready for the train to Jordan It's picking up passengers from coast to coast Faith is the key, open the doors and board 'em There's hope for all among those loved the most. There ain't no room for the hopeless sinner Who would hurt all mankind just to save his own Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner For there's no hiding place against the Kingdom's throne So people get ready, there's a train a comin' You don't need no baggage, you just get on board All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin' Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord Written and composed in 1965 by Curtis Mayfield, Martin Luther King called this song the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights movement and often had it played during an event to comfort and calm people.¹ Mayfield said this about the inspiration and origin of this song: “That was taken from my church or from the upbringing of messages from the church. Like there's no hiding place and get on board, and images of that sort. I must have been in a very deep mood of that type of religious inspiration when I wrote that song.” Even now people are getting ready for the holidays. People are getting ready for the election. People are always getting ready for something. Often getting ready means taking on more tasks and packing up more stuff, but getting ready for God is the opposite. It is giving up. Letting go, as Mayfield writes, means “You don’t need no baggage.” We are people getting ready for a revival, and again according to Mayfield, one way to get ready is to “just thank the Lord.”
For further reflection: How does thanking the Lord make room for God? What might you need to unpack and leave behind in order to make room for God to revive you?
Expect
This first week focuses on the word expect. It is an Advent word. It is a word that reminds us that God is always at work in the world and in our lives. At times, God is working so deeply in the soil of our life, that we are not yet aware of its bloom. So, we wait. We expect. October 16 Devotional October 15 Devotional