This past Sunday, the service at First UU was led by Ken Sizemore, who bills himself as "The Old Folkie" and is a former president of the congregation.

It was fun singing along to "Inch by Inch" and "Blowin' in the Wind" and "This Land Is Your Land" (from which today's subject line is taken), but what made me catch my breath was glimpsing several older members of the congregation wiping away tears as Ken sang "The Times, They Are A-Changin'" and "Get Together."

It reminded me of how the song "Hair" electrified the audience in Lexington's Arboretum last summer -- I can't remember when I've seen a crowd rev up from "interested" to "alive" that fast (and that's in spite of the fact that my church has been known to rock the sanctuary when it's second service and the drummer goes Disco Inferno on the closing hymn). I am awed by the power of those songs.