Duration: 5 minutes
Instrumentation: piano and SATB choir (orchestral instrumentation available under Let the Word Go Forth)
Program Note:
For the National President's Day Choral Festival, Gary R. Schwartzhoff, artistic director and conductor, honoring John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, as commissioned by Music Celebrations International, John Wiscombe, President
III. Crisis of Conscience
I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this. (JFK Civil Rights Address, June 11, 1963)
When saw we thee a stranger? When saw we thee an hungered? Naked or clothed thee; sick or in prison; or thirsty gave thee drink? Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least, ye have done it unto me. (from Matt. 25: 37-40 KJV)
One hundred years of delay have passed since Lincoln freed the slaves. Yet their heirs are not yet free from the bonds of injustice; and this nation shall not be free until all its citizens are free.
We face a moral crisis, we face a moral issue as old as the scriptures and clear as the constitution.
It is time to act in the congress, it is time to act in your state, it is time to act in your homes and in your daily lives. This is one country. (JFK Civil Rights Address)