Between the Cross and the Ballot

We folded hands on Sunday mornin’ Spoke of grace and being kind But come Monday, we were marching Right behind a harder line He said he’d keep the wolves from knocking Guard the doors and hold the flame We didn’t like the way he talked much But we loved the strength he claimed We told ourselves it wasn’t personal Just the cost of keeping safe Turned our eyes from little mercies For a louder kind of faith Oh, we sang about forgiveness While we learned to look away Traded kindness for a promise We were too afraid to break And somewhere in the silence When the truth got hard to name We held tighter to the feeling And let go of what we’d say Neighbors turned to quiet strangers Over words we used to share Every question felt like treason Every doubt a whispered prayer If you didn’t stand beside him You were standing with the enemy So we built our little altar And we never let it break Oh, we sang about redemption Like it only ran one way Covered cracks with righteous language Kept our conscience tucked away And somewhere in the shouting We forgot the gentler call It’s a hard thing to remember We were never right at all Maybe truth ain’t something sacred If it’s scared of being tried Maybe faith is in the questions Not the need to always side And if love is what we’re after It don’t live in fear and blame It’s the courage to see clearly And the strength to change your name Oh, we sang about forgiveness Now we’re learning what it means Not in words we learned by heart But in how we choose to be And maybe in the breaking There’s a chance to finally see We were holding to a shadow When we thought we were free Sunday’s still a song of mercy If we dare to let it be