John Badertscher

John Badertscher stood on the church steps side by side with his friend
but they closed and locked those church doors and would not let him in
in 1963 it was a brave move to make
to stand on those church steps locked outside of heaven's gate

well John and Marvin Armstrong stood in that sunday morning
locked outside a white methodist church they were deaf to everyone's warning
"John take that boy away, you know you cannot bring him in
because this is a place of worship where god judges you by your skin"

Oh it's hard and cold in a Mississippi cell when through the bars at night
cockroach dance across the floor and play in the pale moonlight
but it's harder and colder still in a world you can't come in
where the church doors slam against you for
the colour of your skin

'Disturbing divine worship ' was the charge that they faced
what was worse was John was white - a traitor to his own race
1963 is really not that far awaybut maybe
we just learned to disguise those doors differently today

Oh it's hard and cold in a Mississippi cell when through the bars at night
cockroach dance across the floor and play in the pale moonlight
but it's harder and colder still in a world you can't come in
where the church doors slam against you for
the colour of your skin

John now makes his home on frozen Manitoban shores
but he still fights those battles against hard, unyielding doors
sometimes the enemy is the one we find within
but we're god's children, each and every one of us
let those loving souls come in

cuz it's hard and cold in a Manitoban cell when all thru the night
the only comfort that you hold is knowing that you might have done right
no doubt the biggest heroes are the ones who stand alone
and fight against the war that's found
right inside their home
right inside our homes
on our streets, in our towns, in the churches
amen