I. There Weren’t Many People There

Lyrics

[Introduction] [Verse 1] There weren’t many people there Just echoes and folding chairs A guestbook full of empty lines And carnations past repair The preacher cleared his throat again Like God had missed His cue The stained glass threw a little light Across the empty pews No cameras in the parking lot No patriots in prayer Funny how the loudest men Were suddenly not there But that’s getting ahead of it That’s after all the noise Before the name became a headline He was just one of the boys [Pre-Chorus] We were raised beneath the steeples And the fireworks in July Where every cross came wrapped in a flag And nobody asked us why [Chorus] Long live the Jesus of America Patron saint of certainty The son of God and country In the land of the brave and free Long live the Jesus of America Learning every holy part They told him he was chosen So he learned the role by heart [Verse 2] He had the smile for Sunday school The handshake for the men A Bible verse for every wound And a joke for covering them He could sing the roof wide open He could make the old folks cry He could make a room believe again For three chords at a time You would’ve liked him, probably Before the glow went strange Before the spotlight crowned the wound And taught the hurt to preach Before the costume fit him right Before the mirror lied Before the hero in his head Needed someone else to fall [Pre-Chorus] They taught us God made man in His image Then taught us America looked the same They taught us heaven loved everybody With a strong preference for our last name [Chorus] Long live the Jesus of America With the hymnbook in his hands Every answer came rehearsed Every fear came with a plan Long live the Jesus of America Golden boy beneath the stars They told him he was chosen And he mistook it for a heart