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Elizabeth Alexander
Elizabeth Alexander (Seafarer Press)
Do Not Leave Your Cares At the Door (SATB)
A feast of old-time gospel offering welcome and acceptance.
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Do Not Leave Your Cares At the Door
SATB a cappella
Welcome and acceptance are at the heart of this warm choral offering, served up in a feast of old-time gospel with an embracing “Amen.” A powerful concert opener, call to worship, or building dedication song.
Composer’s Notes
“Do Not Leave Your Cares At the Door” has its roots in old-time gospel and popular American folk song, reflecting my own upbringing in the Carolinas and Appalachian Ohio. By all means, go ahead and sing this song with the vocal nuance and abandon which these genres suggest!
– Elizabeth Alexander
Text
Do not leave your cares at the door.
Do not leave them there when you come into this place.
Be open to forgiveness and transformation
—Come on in; you are welcome here;
And do not leave your cares at the door.
Bring your pain and sorrow and joy,
There’s a place for them upon the altar of life.
Be open to forgiveness and transformation
—Come on in; you are welcome here;And do not leave your cares at the door.
This is a place of grace,
Of losing and finding the way upon the winding road,
Meeting and parting,Stumbling and starting over.
Every journey is sacred here, even yours.
Do not leave your cares at the door.
Do not leave them there when you come into this place.
Be open to forgiveness and transformation
—Come on in; you are welcome here;
And do not leave your cares at the door.
Amen.
Original poem © 1997 by Norman V. Naylor. Adapted text © 2006 by Elizabeth Alexander.
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