There is a New World Waking.

On this inauguration day, I will quote from the lyrics of "New World Waking." These are the words written by Rev. Peter J. Carman, pastor of the Lake Ave. Baptist Church in Rochester, NY, which was the inspirational spark that lit the fire.

There is a new world waking
Though nations fail to hear
There is a world of justice
Unstained by power or fear

And though the mighty traffic
In greed and pain, somehow,
There is a new world waking

There is a new world waking
Within my heart right now

c2008 Peter J. Carman/Steve Schalchlin See No Evil Music/Lil Shack O Tunes/ASCAP

And it's that last line, "within my heart right now" -- that was the line that resonated so strongly with me because it parallels the same theme expressed in "Sometimes When I Pray" from The Big Voice: God or Merman?, the phrase most cited by people when they talk about the score.

If God has hands
They're your hands
If God has eyes
They're your eyes
And if God is love
It's your love

It feels very right to be returning to The Last Session at this point in my life. It was a show based on music that literally saved my life -- or kept it going long enough until Dr. Bruce Dorsey at Merck put some Tinker Toy-shaped molecules together and turned it into Crixivan, which came to me solely because I got picked randomly in a lottery (all documented in the original online diary in real time).

At this moment of renewal and rebirth, the bonus round, I love the idea that I'm going back to the beginning, the source -- and to do it in the city where Rev. Peter is minister.

I intend to sing as much of "New World Waking" as I can at his church and anyplace else who will have us, with as many people as will join me. Cast, friends, choir, kids, dogs.

I keep thinking of Bob Dylan's lyric, "I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now."

It feels good to start over. A new President. A new show. A new production of an old show. In the bonus round, time speeds up and the prizes are better!

From the Epilogue:

Somehow it all must come down to one person
Or the human condition will gradually worsen
Not him
And not her, Lord,
But I

(Oh, I just looked up and saw Michelle's dress. Wow. She does look good.)