"Togetherness"-- a new song for me

Today in worship I heard a new (to me) song-- "Togetherness". The lyrics were meaningful. When I got home, I looked up the song to learn about it.

The song is by Tiffany Hudson, Mitch Wang, and Joe L. Barnes. It was released in 2023 by Tiffany Hudson. 

The official video with lyrics:

Lyrics:

We don't always see eye to eye
And I've been asking for quite some time
Why does that cause such a big divide
Why oh why

All accusations
But no conversations, oh
Way too busy
Burning down bridges
Forgot how to build 'em oh
Lord bring us back to this

You bless, You bless our togetherness
Pour out Your Spirit upon all flesh
We've come, we've come for nothing less
You bless, You bless our togetherness

We're different in more than a million ways
Beautiful colors that bleed the same
A long way to go but we're on our way
We're on our way

Brothers and sisters
In need of forgiveness, oh
Lead us back to Holy religion
Bring death to division
We're ready to listen
Lord bring us back to this

You bless, You bless our togetherness
Pour out Your Spirit upon all flesh
We've come, we've come for nothing less
You bless, You bless our togetherness

One heart
One people
One hope
One gospel

One mind
One body
One church
Crying Holy

One faith
One baptism
One truth
One commission

One Lord
One Spirit
One God
We will worship

One heart
One people
One hope
One gospel

One mind
One body
One church
Crying Holy

One faith
One baptism
One truth
One commission

One Lord
One Spirit
One God
We will worship
We will worship

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The song brought two things to mind.

The first is Mandisa's song about how we all bleed the same.  "Bleed the Same" is the title. Its lyrics rem remind us of what that we have more in common and that coming together is the way forward.

                                            

LYRICS:

[Intro: Mandisa]
We all bleed the same
We're more beautiful when we come together
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why we're divided

[Verse 1: TobyMac]
Woke up today
Another headline
Another innocent life is taken
In the name of hatred
So hard to take (Hey)
And if we think that it's all good
Then we're mistaken
'Cause my heart is brеakin'

[Pre-Chorus: Mandisa]
Are you left? Are you right?
Pointin' fingеrs, takin' sides
When are we gonna realize?

[Chorus: Mandisa & TobyMac]
We all bleed the same
We're more beautiful when we come together
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why we're divided
If we're gonna fight, let's fight for each other
If we're gonna shout, let love be the cry
We all bleed the same
So tell me why, tell me why we're divided

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Besides Mandisa's song, the other thing that came to mind was Ephesians. Ephesians 4:5-7 (NRSV):

"one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift."

As we continue to have division in our world, reminders that we all bleed the same is important. We are better together.  

I invite you to read through the lyrics of both songs, to reflect on them, to see what resonates with you.

May we come together to end all "-ims" (to name some of them: racism, ageism, genderism, sexism, ableism, classism).

Peace,

Deb