now we're going pretty far back...

i grew up going to a catholic school. we went to church most weekends, vacillating between periods of sundays, but mostly saturday evenings.  the music director there was amazing and i remember my mother saying how important the music for mass was for her. clearly, this imprinted on me.  i still find the divine in music, whether it was placed there intentionally or not.  in looking back on the music i was exposed to at church, i really absorbed a lot of what it was saying.  the way i grew up wasn't oppressive.  my relationship with the religion and spirituality i grew up with is a complicated one, but it is quite obvious it played a major role in my personal development.  below are some lyrics to a song i remember from childhood, it is "God of Day and God of Darkness," by Marty Haugen. 

God of day and God of darkness, 
now we stand before the night. 
As the shadows stretch and deepen, 
come and make our darkness bright. 
All creation still is groaning 
for the dawning of your might. 
When the Sun of peace and justice 
fills the earth with radiant light.

Still the nations curse the darkness, 
still the rich oppress the poor. 
Still the earth is bruised and broken 
by the ones who still want more. 
Come and wake us from our sleeping, 
so our hearts cannot ignore 
all your people lost and broken, 
all your children at our door.

Show us Christ in one another. 
Make us servants strong and true. 
Give us all your love of justice, 
so we do what you would do. 
Let us call all people holy. 
Let us pledge our lives anew. 
Make us one with all the lowly. 
Let us all be one in you.

You shall be the path that guides us; 
you the light that in us burns. 
Shining deep within all people, 
yours the love that we must learn. 
For our hearts shall wander restless 
'til they safe to you return. 
Finding you in one another, 
we shall all your face discern. 
(Text: Marty Haugen. C 1994 GIA Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Music: The Sacred Harp, 1844.)

if you know me, it's amazing how much stuck.

i couldn't find any full audio of this, otherwise you'd be seeing/hearing that. it's out there, though for purchase (but more importantly, for the "sample").