Lewis Elbinger

From "A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights" by Mary Ann Glendon, page 202:

"…A memoir by Eliot Roosevelt provides a glimpse of his mother's busy life
in her last years at the UN. Then in her late sixties, she continued to
keep a schedule that would have left many a younger person
breathless--rising at seven, writing her newspaper column, attending
turbulent Commission meetings, entertaining guests most evenings at dinner,
and often working until midnight. At the end of each long day, Eliot wrote,
his mother would put on her old blue robe, and 'by the bed with its
uncompromising hard mattress, she knelt to say her prayers.' Her nightly
prayer, according to her son, was this:

Our Father, who has set a restlessness in our hearts and made us all seekers
after that which we can never fully find, forbid us to be satisfied with
what we make of life. Draw us from base content and set our eyes on far-off
goals. Keep us at tasks too hard for us that we may be driven to Thee for
strength. Deliver us from fretfulness and self-pitying; make us sure of the
good we cannot see and of the hidden good in the world. Open our eyes to
simple beauty all around us and our hearts to the loveliness men hide from s
because we do not try to understand them. Save us from ourselves and show
us a vision of a world made new."

A WORLD MADE NEW

A world made new.
A world made whole.
A world where
truth is in control.
A world enlightened
by the soul.

A world made new.
A world made free.
A world of peace
and harmony.
A world the way
it’s supposed to be.

A world made new.
A world of choice.
A world where
justice has a voice.
A world in which
we can rejoice.

A world made new.
A world of grace.
A world where all
can find a place.
A world transformed
by sacred space.

A world that dazzles
and delights.
A world where wisdom
shows its lights.
A world that honors
human rights.

 

 

When conscience speaks to power

When conscience speaks to power

it must talk in measured tone.

It must not seem to constitute

a challenge to the throne.

Though power can be daunting

with its armies and its might,

the still, small voice of conscience

in the end is always right.

When conscience speaks to power

it must whisper in the gale.

Though it always triumphs,

it must act like it will fail.

Power has the drums and horns,

conscience just the flute.

In order to be heard at all

it must be resolute.

When conscience speaks to power

it must never raise its voice.

It must render unto Caesar

and put up with Caesar's choice.

It must listen with great patience

while power claims to sway,

knowing when the day is done

it will have the final say.

When conscience speaks to power

it must hide its real strength

and pretend to be much weaker

and much shorter than its length.

While power puffs and struts about

in its efforts to impress,

conscience waits and contemplates

the meaning of success.

When conscience speaks to power

it must sometimes bite its tongue.

It calls to those whose hearts are

very wise or very young.

When power finally listens

to the message conscience brings,

it will know a glory greater

than the majesty of kings.

©   2002   Lewis Elbinger

from the musical play "A World Made New"

based on the book by Mary Ann Glendon

---

photograph of my stained-glass window entitled "Peace in
Jerusalem" which illustrates the reconciliation which is necessary to attain
Middle East peace. The window, which has a steel frame and is
steel-reinforced, measures 5 feet long and 4 feet tall. The photograph was
taken by Douglas Elbinger, a great photographer and even greater brother.

This window is an affirmation in color and light of the essential unity of
the three monotheistic religions. It depicts three figures, one
representative each of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths, surrounding
the symbols of those faiths. Two doves bearing olive branches hover in the
upper corners of the window. A hidden motif in the design is the Banner of
Peace symbol, an international symbol of peace and culture which is
recognized in a treaty signed by the United States and twenty other
countries in 1935 and is still in effect today.

Let this image go forth into the world to illustrate the essential unity of
the Abrahamic faiths and to inspire us to venture from faith to interfaith,
from worship of the God within our religion to worship of the God within all
religions, from darkness to light, from the unreal to the real, from death
to immortality.

Lewis Elbinger