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