The Doing of the Thing

Tonight I was listening to an old recording from one of my favorite Christian singer-songwriters, Bob Bennett. It has been some years since he has appeared on the charts, but he continues to perform. Anyway, one of the songs from his 1991 album “Songs From Bright Avenue” is called “The Doing of the Thing.” It says, in part:

Broken souls covered in broken skin
No resolution on the video screen
And half a world away
Somebody does our bidding
Because we like to pray
With our fingernails clean

Mistake the nodding of the head
And all the words that can be said
Mistake the sympathy we bring
For the doing of the thing
The doing of the thing

So here I am, feeling incredibly passionate about fighting modern-day slavery, and just a couple of posts ago I was feeling quite content to pray and study as I try to see where God is leading me. But this song reminds me of all the times I have felt sympathy for those in need yet done nothing. And I want to do something now. I don’t want to pray with clean fingernails anymore.

Today I found another organization, Make Way Partners, that seems to be doing some good work in the fight against slavery, and they have some really solid board members. Check them out at the link above.