From the hymnal · Anointed
Small Things, Faithfully
Track two from our laundromat record — the thesis of the whole thing, written on a folding table while the spin cycle ran. No shadow overhead and no rival to name: only the quarters, the warm load, and the small faithful work. We print it as Sister Petra wrote it, in the one key of A.
We are not always called to the mountaintop peak,To the trumpet, the banner, the strong to the weak;Most mornings the calling is humble and small —A dish to be dried, or a chair by the wall.
We wrote it one afternoon, warm at the fold,While the spin cycle turned and the quarters ran cold;Sister Petra kept time to the hum of the drum,And nine of the songs on the record would come.
So we tend to the sock that has wandered astray,And we sort what we can, and we start where we lay;For grace is not always a windfall or crown —It is correct change, and a warm load come down.
Then we lift the warm load from the drum where it lay,And we fold it in thirds at the close of the day;No mountaintop won and no banner unfurled —Just small things, done gently, that hold up the world.
Refrain
Small things, faithfully, small things and true;The Lord loves the quiet, the least that we do;So bring what you carry, a coin and a prayer —He is there in the folding; He meets you right there.
A note for the folding chairs
Anointed (2019) is our laundromat record, and "Small Things, Faithfully" is track two — the thesis of the whole thing. Sister Petra wrote nine of the eleven songs in a single afternoon at the Camarillo laundromat, on the lid of a folding table she calls her "productive heap," while the spin cycle kept perfect time and asked for nothing back. We cut the record the way we always do, across a single weekend and in the one key of A, and we did not edit the heap. There is no quarrel anywhere in this one and no neighbor's name to fold away — only the doctrine that most mornings you are not called to the spectacular but to the sock that has lost its pair, and the call is to keep looking anyway. You are not the motor; you are the one who loaded it with care. If you have been waiting to be called to something large before you begin, the folding table is open and the quarters are on the cupholder. Bring a dish. Bring a roll of quarters. Stay for decaf.
Hymn five of eight albums' worth — the third here with no quarrel in it. Back to the hymnal — “We Held the Volume” →