1. Let my people seek their freedom
in the wilderness awhile,
from the slave pens of the Delta,
from the ghettos on the Nile:
So God spoke from out of Sinai,
so God spoke and it was done,
and a people crossed the waters
toward the rising of the sun.

2. Let my people seek their freedom
in the wilderness awhile,
from the aging shrines and structures,
from the cloister and the aisle:
so the Son of God has spoken,
and the storm clouds are unfurled,
for God's people must be scattered
to be servants in the world.

3. When we murmur on the mountains
for the old Egyptian plains,
when we miss our ancient bondage,
and the hope, the promise, wanes;
then the rock shall yield its water
and the manna fall by night,
and with visions of a future
shall we march toward the light.

4. In the maelstrom of the nations,
in the journeying into space,
in the clash of generations,
in the hungering for grace,
in the agony and glory,
we are called to newer ways
by the Lord of our tomorrows
and the God of earth s todays.