3. Look Away (Luke 5:31,32; Matt. 25:31-46.)
This song was inspired by my wrestling with the Western Church’s hesitation to engage with the AIDs pandemic
The night the soldiers came to town
The burned our little stick house down
Took our cows; took our sheep;
Took a knife to me brother in his sleep.
I screamed and cried as off I ran
But they caught my sister, tied her hands
They left her carrying their seed
As they filled her life with their disease
(chorus)
Look away--look away!
Don’t you worry ‘bout the state I’m in!
Look away--look away! Leave me to die in my sin.
My country’s lungs began to wheeze
Unemployment brought her to her knees.
Before her skin would grow stone cold,
Papa disappeared in search of gold.
Ma found a way to keep us fed--
Men paid her to share her bed;
She kept 5 kids alive that way
Till the sickness stole her life away.
(chorus)
(bridge)
Judgement’s comin’ on some day
And all self-righteous saints will say,
“Didn’t we do this and that in Your Name, Lord, Lord?”
Jesus Christ Himself will say,
“Turn around and walk away!! I never knew your name--
You never knew my pain!”
A mad bull gores society
Takes the strong and leaves the weak.
Through Africa’s streets and towns
--there’s orphans covering the grounds.
Find a way to reach them now.
Holy Spirit teach us how--
Since You Yourself are one of these
suffering with this disease.
The burned our little stick house down
Took our cows; took our sheep;
Took a knife to me brother in his sleep.
I screamed and cried as off I ran
But they caught my sister, tied her hands
They left her carrying their seed
As they filled her life with their disease
(chorus)
Look away--look away!
Don’t you worry ‘bout the state I’m in!
Look away--look away! Leave me to die in my sin.
My country’s lungs began to wheeze
Unemployment brought her to her knees.
Before her skin would grow stone cold,
Papa disappeared in search of gold.
Ma found a way to keep us fed--
Men paid her to share her bed;
She kept 5 kids alive that way
Till the sickness stole her life away.
(chorus)
(bridge)
Judgement’s comin’ on some day
And all self-righteous saints will say,
“Didn’t we do this and that in Your Name, Lord, Lord?”
Jesus Christ Himself will say,
“Turn around and walk away!! I never knew your name--
You never knew my pain!”
A mad bull gores society
Takes the strong and leaves the weak.
Through Africa’s streets and towns
--there’s orphans covering the grounds.
Find a way to reach them now.
Holy Spirit teach us how--
Since You Yourself are one of these
suffering with this disease.