LET ALL THE GOOD SAMARITANS come forth from every city, town, village, and wayside in the desert,
Let all the Good Samaritans of the earth come forth in such numbers as to overwhelm the wickedness of the Trump administration with a love of God and neighbor so great that all manner of goodness shall prevail,
That the poor, the migrant, and the stranger who are treated as the refuse of the earth shall be lifted up and given refuge from their present travail,
That the mountains of hatred and towers of injustice that corrupt the corridors of power shall be reduced to heaps of rubble,
That those infected with false pride shall be made humble and the cruel of heart brought to their knees in penance,
That the mighty who through their laws and levies have forsaken the ways of God’s justice shall be made accountable to the meek who day and night cry for mercy,
That the righteous through acts of loving kindness shall transform the bitter fruits of those who have willfully sown the seeds of death and destruction,
Let the Good Samaritans of the earth come forth,
Let them come forth from the far and near reaches of the soil beneath their feet,
Let them come forth in great numbers with their hearts open and their hands engaged to serve,
Let them come forth now,
Let them come forth,
Let them come.
Readers are welcome to employ this Song of Summons in liturgical settings and to post it on social media. The poem, published May 19, 2019, in Vox Populi, was composed by the author when he read Nicholas Kristof’s account in the New York Times of “A Good Samaritan and the Border Patrol” in which Kristof described the arrest by a sheriff deputy and Border Patrol officer of the Good Samaritan, Teresa L. Todd, who stopped to rescue two young El Salvadoran brothers and their sister who was “suffering from starvation, dehydration and a potentially fatal syndrome.”
Nicholas Kristof’s Opinion Piece in the New York Times
© 2019 Charles Davidson – All Rights Reserved
Charles Davidson, writer and editor, is a retired Presbyterian (PCUSA) pastor, psychotherapist, and professor of pastoral theology, care, and counseling. He is the author of Bone Dead and Rising: Vincent van Gogh and the Self Before God.