La Dispute - St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues lyrics

Stained-gla** and the choir sing out That strong and ceaseless chorus here So sweet the voices, sweep like Leaves into the street, on Easter A celebration, carried on For God and hope and refuge To keep each other, life Give shelter from the storm (And keep warm) The congregation gathers Outside in the parking lot Each service done, they keep the old hymn Rolling on and on, and I see the scene in color each day Driving out to Eastown That old abandoned church And have I gone the same sad way? Have I gone the same sad way? Through the sixties flourished And the seventies did flux The eighties fluctuate each year Unclear when the money would dry up And when the nineties Violent crime and rising Unemployment rates came by That parking lot grew dim and thin Of sinners and saints Until the voices Unceasing, slowly faded to black Until the weeds stormed the concrete From unattended cracks It had to know, had to feel that glory Never coming back Like I could feel it when the pa**ion left The last of what I had It had to know Like I knew And I can't find it back Might not ever Ten years now, standing vacant Ten years on empty, maybe more Once held the faith of hundreds Soon one more cell phone store For years, they gathered here Inside the building, sound and true To sing their praises to a god That gave them hope, to carry on To carry through So I've been thinking about that Sometimes go slow when I drive by How a home of stone and a house so holy Grows so empty over time What gave those people purpose Past d**h approaching constantly Now left to crumble slowly Now left to wither with the weeds Now left to ice and vandals The advent candles long since gone The old foundation shifting hard The concrete overgrown, but That stained-gla** window Sits untouched amongst the brickwork worn A symbol of the beauty Only perfect at that moment we were born And just the other day I swear I saw a man there Pulling weeds out of the concrete Sweeping up and patching cracks I saw him lift a rag to Wash the years of Filth from off those windows Made me wonder if there's Anyone like that For you and me And anybody else Who broke and lost hope