April 30, 2018

Former Pastor Doug Gwyn writes, “I’ve been reconnecting with First Friends Meeting in Richmond, where I was pastor for seven years. They have just finished installing solar panels on their roof.  They celebrated the completion of the project last Sunday (April 22).  I was asked to write a song for the occasion.  It went over well.  I thought since Durham Friends has recently been through the same process, people there might enjoy the song.”

Photons Don’t Fail Us Now!

it would be foolish to vote on the nature of a photon

as Quakers we simply approve

you can argue to the grave it’s a particle or wave

we just want to let it hit our roof

‘cause you can’t catch a paradox and lock it up in a box

you can only let it pass right through ya

it feels more like a current, as it were and as it weren’t

and it makes you sing Hallelujah!

photons, calling all photons

photons, don’t fail us now!

 

try as we might, we cannot see the light

we only see what the light illuminates

like Jesus and Moses, it sees us and shows us

where we are and how to navigate

like the light of the sun, there’s a light in every one

if we’ll only tune in to that channel

and if you need any proof, just stand on our roof

and learn from our solar panels

photons, calling all photons

photons, don’t fail us now!

 

like the Old and New Testaments, this major investment

is somehow divinely inspired

to live more sustainable is surely attainable

‘cause that’s what the Lord requires

all those thousands of dollars might make some folks holler

it might even bring them to tears

but as the sun shines, it rains nickels and dimes

and will pay off in twenty-two years

photons, calling all photons

photons, don’t fail us now!

 

Doug Gwyn, April 2018