From the recording Zion's Chapel
"Zion's Chapel" was written after reflecting on the incredible things done by the Spirit of God in the American South in those little country churches that are largely abandoned in our day.
This is the oldest song in the new collection and the inspiration for the message of it--to get back to the simple, pure gospel of Jesus Christ!
Lyrics
Zion’s Chapel
After church this morning I took a little drive
down a dirt road to this faded Zion’s Chapel sign
when people in the country didn’t go to church in town
we couldn’t wait to come here and lay our burdens down
Chorus:
Oh but we don’t cry in Zion’s Chapel anymore
The angels walked among us while we knelt on the floor
but then we moved uptown and the deacons chained the door
We don’t cry in Zion’s Chapel anymore
A neighbor family brought me here when I was just a child
and one night me and crazy Jen McPeak, we walked the aisle
Our mothers were out drunk somewhere but our teacher Miss Monette
prayed the sinner’s prayer with us, our teardrops soaked her chest
Chorus:
Oh but we don’t cry in Zion’s Chapel anymore
We used to have revivals, and through wooden door
came the outcasts and their children, the aged and the poor
but we don’t cry in Zion’s Chapel anymore
Bridge:
The uptown Zion’s Chapel sign is a flashing bright marquee
We got basketball and rock and roll and a course in self-esteem
but here I feel the old saints like ghosts surrounding me
I hear them weeping
Chorus:
‘Cause we don’t cry in Zion’s Chapel anymore
One hot summer Sunday Mama came to meet the Lord
The hand of Jesus touched her here and shook us to the core
but we don’t cry in Zion’s Chapel anymore
Tag:
Every now and then I have to see it just once more
‘cause we don’t cry in Zion’s Chapel anymore
©Charlotte Ryerson May 20, 2005