The Lord’s Highway
Chris’s wife, Sandy Nelson, found this story in the Notes app on his phone after he died. She is grateful that she knows the story behind this song and she has a recording of him singing it.
Rev. Jennifer King Daugherty at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle handed out an assignment to her Celtic Spirituality class during a Wednesday forum after her return from sabbatical. The assignment was to go home and write a prayer of protection, called a Lorica. She had just read Saint Patrick’s “Breastplate” to us as inspiration.
I heard the assignment, but I was sitting in the back of the class fiddling with half a dozen screens, and it didn’t register, so I didn’t do it. During the next session, Jennifer had people read what they had written, and the results were so amazing that I added “write a Lorica” to my to-do list.
A year and a few months later, and with pencil poised and banjo in lap, the moment arrived where I was conjuring up Jennifer’s descriptions of old Scotland and Ireland, “thin places,” crossing boundaries, ancient stones, and wishing wells. I aimed for the poem to be graced with that timeless imagery, but mostly I wanted it to be a prayer of protection. Since I had no clue regarding how to pull that off, I remember lofting the intention up into the realm of the Holy Spirit.
At the time, I was knee-deep in Psalm 24, and I was also learning a couple of somewhat raucous reels on my Irish banjo, all of which likely influenced the words and melody. The song, even before it was finished, became a prayer of protection to me, though I don’t often think of it that way. It’s fun to sing. It feels deep in a way that’s hard to explain.
The Lord’s Highway
The Lord of hosts came home one day
From out of the west on the Lord’s Highway
Astride a horse of granite gray
Singing alleluia, singing alleluia
Shrouds of cloud surround the road
The horse is flying through the snow
The crowd’s alight with holy glow
Singing alleluia, singing alleluia
On every head is a crown of glory
Every face a story of love
Every hand is open to another
From every heart pours a river of love
The lord of hosts came home last night
To lead the way from dark to light
Turning every wrong to right
Singing alleluia, singing alleluia
By his side a bride so fair
Stars are flowing through their hair
Love’s pure love is everywhere
Singing alleluia, singing alleluia
On every head is a crown of glory
Every face a story of love
Every hand is open to another
From every heart pours a river of love
The Lord of hosts comes home today
From out of the west on the Lord’s Highway
Astride a horse of granite gray
Singing alleluia, singing alleluia
