"Thinking of Pete" by Stewart Burrows.

Because of Peter Seeger's passing a few weeks ago, Mr Burrows has used him as the theme for today's service. ( Webmaster's note : I have  included a few background stories found on the internet)

Call & response

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Leader : 
For everything there is a season, 
and a time for every matter under heaven:


People :

A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

Songs performed by Mr Burrows.

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"Where have all the flowers gone"

Here is Pete’s story behind his timeless “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.”

“I had been reading a long novel—”And Quiet Flows the Don”—about the Don River in Russia and the Cossacks who lived along it in the 19th century. It describes the Cossack soldiers galloping off to join the Czar’s army, singing as they go. Three lines from a song are quoted in the book: ‘Where are the flowers? The girls plucked them / Where are the girls? They’re all married / Where are the men? They’re all in the army.’ I never got around to looking up the song, but I wrote down those three lines.

“Later, in an airplane, I was dozing, and it occurred to me that the line ‘long time passing’—which I had also written in a notebook—would sing well. Then I thought, ‘When will we ever learn.’ Suddenly, within 20 minutes, I had a song. There were just three verses. I Scotch-taped the song to a microphone and sang it at Oberlin College. This was in 1955.

“One of the students there had a summer job as a camp counselor. He took the song to the camp and sang it to the kids. It was very short. He gave it rhythm, which I hadn’t done. The kids played around with it, singing ‘Where have all the counselors gone? / Open curfew, everyone.’

“The counselor added two actual verses: ‘Where have all the soldiers gone? / Gone to graveyards every one / Where have all the graveyards gone? / Covered with flowers every one.’ Joe Hickerson is his name, and I give him 20 percent of the royalties. That song still brings in thousands of dollars from all around the world.”   http://performingsongwriter.com/pete-seeger-flowers-gone/

Pete Seeger- Sanga Music Inc -BMI

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn? 

Where have all the young girls gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone for husbands everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the husbands gone, long time passing?
Where have all the husbands gone, long time ago?
Where have all the husbands gone?
Gone for soldiers everyone
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn? 

Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn? 

Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Gone to flowers, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn? 

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/peter+paul+mary/where+have+all+the+flowers+gone_20107752.html

"If I had a hammer"

PETE SEEGER
"If I Had A Hammer"

If I had a hammer,
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening,
All over this land.


I'd hammer out danger,
I'd hammer out a warning,
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.


If I had a bell,
I'd ring it in the morning,
I'd ring it in the evening,
All over this land.


I'd ring out danger,
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.


If I had a song,
I'd sing it in the morning,
I'd sing it in the evening,
All over this land.


I'd sing out danger,
I'd sing out a warning
I'd sing out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.


Well I got a hammer,
And I got a bell,
And I got a song to sing, all over this land.


It's the hammer of Justice,
It's the bell of Freedom,
It's the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.


It's the hammer of Justice,
It's the bell of Freedom,
It's the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.
http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/pete_seeger/if_i_had_a_hammer.html

"We Shall overcome"

We Shall Overcome Lyrics
Pete Seeger

We shall overcome, we shall overcome
We shall overcome someday
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We shall overcome someday

The lord will see us through, the lord will see us through
The lord will see us through someday
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We shall overcome someday

We're on to victory, we're on to victory
We're on to victory someday
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We're on to victory someday

We'll walk hand in hand, we'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand someday
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We'll walk hand in hand someday

We are not afraid, we are not afraid
We are not afraid today
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We are not afraid today

The truth shall make us free, the truth shall make us free
The truth shall make us free someday
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
The truth shall make us free someday

We shall live in peace, we shall live in peace
We shall live in peace someday
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We shall live in peace someday

http://www.releaselyrics.com/eab4/pete-seeger-we-shall-overcome/

"Thinking of Pete" by Stewart Burrows

Pete Seeger was once asked if he knew any “peacemaking techniques,” and he said, “Keep a cheerful countenance!” I think that that’s certainly a technique we might all spend some time practicing! It really does seem to help. Pete lived through some good times, but also through some very tough times as well, and I am sure that “keeping a cheerful countenance” helped him survive some of those tough moments. 

Once, in the early days of the civil rights movement, Pete had been asked to fly down to Alabama to sing at a demonstration.

Sitting on the plane, Pete conducted an interview with a reported. Throughout the conversation, the man in the seat in front of him was really scowling. He was not keeping a cheerful countenance! Finally, when the interview was done, the man turned and said, “You come down here to sing for those ni**ers?”

Keeping his cheerful countenance, Pete answered, “I hope I will sing for everybody!”

The man followed him around, and kept watching him. As Pete got to the end of the boarding ramp the man was standing there fuming. He said, “I gonna knock the stuffing out of you mister, sooner or later, but I can’t do it right here. If we were alone, and you weren’t with that reporter there…” That was one of those times when a cheerful countenance came in handy for Mr. Seeger.

Here’s a small part of a eulogy that appeared in Rolling Stone magazine last week:

``He stood in front of the crowds to protest war, and he sailed up and down the Hudson River fighting pollution. But more than that, he had a gift for bringing people together, for turning a crowd into a community through the power of song.

He was extraordinary, but here’s what strikes me. Anybody who really wanted to could do what he did. Sure, he was a good musician, but there are lots of people with better voices—walk into any college conservatory in the country and you’ll find a singer with a rounder tone, a more operatic sound. Sure, he was good on the guitar and the banjo, but there are people in my personal acquaintance who are better. He wrote some wonderful songs, but they’re hardly models of musical sophistication. His talent was considerable, but not really anything amazing—maybe not even all that special.

What was so incredible about Pete Seeger was not any singular gift or talent. What we celebrate, what we remember, was not a man who could do things no other person could, but rather a man who spent his whole very long life walking with a whole heart toward what he believed in. Whether it was his 70-year relationship with his beloved wife Toshi or an afternoon’s connection with a crowd at a concert or a protest, Pete was fully present, fully engaged, ready to be connected. He was a man who knew the power of the people, and who used the considerable force of his personality not to draw attention to himself, but rather to engage people with each other, and with their ability to create positive change. He gave himself, and he kept giving—not as a martyr, but as someone who found great joy in the giving.”

He was a simple man. He lived the last fifty years of his life in a log cabin he built with his hands; a cabin where he raised his family. He was chopping wood for his fire two weeks before he died.  He put his whole heart into everything he did, a man who had a whole heart, unbroken by cynicism or despair.

Pete Seeger spent a lifetime singing songs of a deep hope – a deep hope that we might put down our arms, put an end to war, and in our spare time clean up the environment which we have wantonly defiled with chemical waste of all kinds. Since his death, the media has been focused on his concerts, public appearances and high profile appearances before congress during the McCarthy witchhunts.

But there was a quiet determination to Pete as well. He stood for his convictions, not for accolades. During the Gulf War, most days he would quietly hike down from his mountaintop home along the Hudson River, stand by the side of the Palisades River Parkway and simply hold up a hand lettered sign that said, “End The War.” He didn’t do it to call attention to himself: He did it to bring his message to people.

He also spent a lifetime doing just what the Hebrew Prophets did back in the day: Speaking Truth to Power. There is no more God-called vocation than that. Pete Seeger did it with three chords and the truth and a banjo in his hand. He could make people sing. He could empower people to work for change. He used music to inspire us all to take on one project at a time, and most notably clean the Hudson River which he could see from his front yard. His annual Clearwater Festival has made the Hudson River a cleaner flowing river and a symbol of what the vision of one old man can make happen. Once upon a time the U.S. Government House on UnAmerican Activities Committee sentenced Seeger to jail time for singing songs that inspired people to join unions, oppose wars, and speak truth to power, and, of course, for not ratting out other suspected “fellow travelers.” There is a long and storied musical tradition called “protest music” in America of with which Peter Seeger has long been associated. I decided this morning that I am not sure I like that designation. Instead of “protest music” I have always heard it as Hope-Filled Music – inspiring hope in others who often feel there is no hope in speaking truth to power.

Any of us could stand up to injustice, work for peace, speak our truth, sing out and keep singing.

Any of us could be an instrument of freedom, of joy, of connection and the power of the gathered will of the people. Any of us could. Pete Seeger did.

He wrote:

So though its darkest before the dawn

These thoughts keep us moving on

Through all this world of joy and sorrow

We still can have singing tomorrows.

"Seasons and Balance" by Stewart Burrows

In 1962, Pete Seeger recorded a good part of today’s reading as a song which he titled initially titled “To Everything There is a Season”, and later “Turn, Turn, Turn”. I was reminded of it due to Pete Seeger’s passing two weeks ago, which gave me cause to read it again. It’s very often read at funerals and at New Year’s. From my reading this time, I took it as a call for balance in life. Everything has a place in life, and in God’s world. “He has made everything suitable for its time”.

I receive somewhere between 25 and 50 e-mails a day — sometimes more. Faxes come into the office. I hate to think of how many times the phone rings — and I even carry a cell phone to make sure I can always be reached. The answering machine catches any calls I may have missed. I listen to the radio while I drive, to catch up on news and hear what is going on in the world. The television reminds me of all the things I need, what I should buy, how I should look and what I should do.

We live in a culture which is overstimulated with messages and demands. How do we sort through all these and find balance in our lives? How do you handle the pressure of what the boss is telling you to do, what your spouse is asking you to do, what the kids want you to do, what the school is requiring of you, what the church is calling for you to do, the expectations of friends, extended family, and community?

There are several approaches. Some people, like me, try to do it all. When someone asks them to do something, they try to do it even if they don’t have time or don’t want to do it. They cannot say, “No.” Sometimes people try to do it all because they love a crammed calendar. The more they have to do, the better they like it. Some people even thrive on chaos — the more the better. Their days are a swirl of overwhelming activity from beginning to end.

Still other people handle it by withdrawing from everything. Maybe they have been burned out by people and activities, and now they just say “No” to everything. They never join anything, or if they were involved they quit everything they used to do. It’s the only way they know how to handle it.

Others withdraw by retreating into a world of fantasy. They enter a false world where they do not have to be involved with other people on a real level. They sit for hours in front of the television, read countless books, play video games or watch an endless string of movies. They retreat into the chat rooms of the internet with its pretend relationships. Fantasy becomes preferable to reality. They sometimes become sullen and non-communicative in their withdrawal from life.

But neither hyper-activity nor withdrawal is the answer to feeling good about life and adjusting to its realities. There must be balance. We were not meant to live like this. What happens when a tire is out of balance on your car? One tire out of balance by just a few ounces can shake a whole car. What happens when you have inner ear problems and lose your sense of balance? Your whole world becomes disoriented. It is the same when your life is unbalanced. There has to be a balance between home, work, rest and fun. There has to be a balance between the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual part of you.

That balance will look different for each person, because we all have such different personalities. I know people who cannot stand quiet and lack of contact with other people. Inactivity drives them wild. For others too much busyness and contact with other people absolutely drains them of energy. Balance will not be the same for every person, but there are some principles that apply to all of us.

The first thing you have to do, if you are going to have balance in your life is: You have to discover your PURPOSE. What is your purpose in this world? This is the core question of our lives. If you have not thought seriously about this, you have not taken life seriously. Many of the problems in people’s lives would be settled if they understood their purpose in life and lived it out. The Bible says, “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord” (Romans 14:8). If it is true that we belong to the Lord, then we have the obligation to live for the Lord and his teachings. While lives are our own, we have this obligation to incorporate our faith in our day to day lives. One day my kids were visiting my parents at their house and my father told one of them to do something. She looked up at him and said: “No….  You’re in charge of ice-cream. Grandma is in charge of us.” They knew who the soft touch was. But there are many grown adults who look up at God and say, “You’re in charge of ice-cream, and I’m in charge of me.” Sometimes, we find it difficult to surrender to God’s teachings and His purpose.

The Bible says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Our purpose here in our lives is to do as much good as we can for Him, and for others. We are not here to serve and please ourselves alone; we have a higher calling. If you don’t understand your purpose, then your life is built on the wrong foundation. And if a life is built on the wrong foundation, it does not matter how magnificent the structure is, it will crumble and fall.

Another thing you have to do, if you are going to have a well-balanced life is: You have to establish your PRIORITIES. You may have a firm grasp of what your real purpose is in this world. You may understand that your life must be lived according to God’s teachings, but you also need to understand God’s specific plan for you. Begin by asking yourself, “What are my gifts? What are the specific talents and interests that God has put into my life? How can I use these to fulfill his purpose for me in this world?” The reason that these questions are important is that you may be doing many good things, but you may not be doing the things that God has in mind for you. Your area of interest may be music and you are serving on the finance committee of the church. That is probably not where you should be spending your time.

Setting priorities is not about choosing between what is good and what is bad. That has been settled when you decide to live out your God-given purpose in life. Priorities have to be set when the choice is between what is good and what is best — between what will be beneficial and what is actually God’s will for you. He has made you with particular interests, skills and gifts. Go in the direction of your interests and gifts, because this is how and why God has created you. It is about getting the most from your life. Setting priorities helps you to trim down your involvement to a reasonable level.

A recent CNN poll revealed that 69% of Americans said, “I would like to slow down. I would like more time to relax.” At the same time the latest Harris poll says that we are actually spending 8 ½ hours less time per week in leisure than we did ten years ago. In Time magazine’s cover article entitled, “Stress, Anxiety and Depression,” the author calls our condition “The twenty first century blues.” We are over-involved and stressed-out. As a nation, we are driving ourselves at an increasingly frenzied rate that is pushing us over the edge. We are trying to live out our dreams and finding ourselves living in a nightmare.

Here is the bottom line: If we don’t take charge of our lives, someone else will. Someone else will be making our life decisions and determining how our time is being spent. But God has given us the responsibility of ordering our own life — no one else. We cannot learn to say no until we understand our purpose and set our priorities. Once we do, we’ll be better prepared to say yes to the things that we enjoy and that ultimately matter, and no to the things that do not fit in our list of priorities or God’s plan for us.

If the earth ever got out of balance it would spin chaotically into space destroying life as we know it. The same is true of your life. Christ needs to be at the center, and all other things need to come from your relationship with him if there is to be balance in your life. Concerning Christ, Paul wrote: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). Without him at the center, holding your life together, it will be difficult to maintain balance; your life might easily spin out of control.

When your life is in balance you will find more contentment, and you will be more confident. You will be free to be yourself, and not as pressured by the expectations of other people. You will have direction, and your life will take on a new energy as it finds an explosive power from a new direction. You won’t repeat the same old mistakes and spend your time and effort on things that do not ultimately matter. You will enjoy life more. You will grow closer to God and your relationships will be richer. People will take priority over things. God’s will for your life will take priority over your own selfish plans. Your life will take on an eternal dimension. Your life will be grounded in God if you discover your purpose, establish your priorities and make your plan.

Just a last word about Pete Seeger: At his memorial service this week in Beacon NY, his ashes were displayed along with various pictures and items that his family felt represented his life. The Pete Seeger we know from the media would surely have been represented by records, guitars, music sheets and a banjo.

His banjo WAS there…. But so was a picture of his family, a quilt that he loved, his favorite hat, and his wood splitting maul. Sounds like a well-balanced life, well lived.

"Michael Row the Boat Ashore"

Lyrics to Michael, Row The Boat Ashore :

Michael, row the boat ashore, hallelujah.
Michael, row the boat ashore, hallelujah.

Michael's boat is a music boat, hallelujah
Michael's boat is a music boat, hallelujah

Michael, row the boat ashore, hallelujah.
Michael, row the boat ashore, hallelujah.

Sister help to trim the sail, hallelujah
Sister help to trim the sail, hallelujah

Jordan's River is deep and wide, hallelujah.
Meet my mother on the other side, hallelujah.

Jordan's River is chilly and cold, hallelujah.
Chill's the body, but not the soul, hallelujah.

Michael, row the boat ashore, hallelujah.
Michael, row the boat ashore, hallelujah

http://www.lyricsmania.com/michael,_row_the_boat_ashore_lyrics_pete_seeger.html

"Turn Turn Turn"

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time for every purpose, under Heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time for every purpose, under Heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time of love, a time of hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late

http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/pete_seeger/turn_turn_turn-lyrics-223571.html