When grief is raw and anger burns – a hymn for those who grieve

When grief is raw and anger burns – a hymn for those who grieve

1	When grief is raw and anger burns 
	and lives are churned about, 
	the reed will bruise, but will not break, 
	love's flame will not snuff out.
	
2	Our depth of love is signalled by 
	this parting stress we feel 
	and neither platitudes, nor prayer, 
	can make our loss less real.
	
3	Yes, death will sting and pain will hurt, 
	but love will not recede, 
	for God is greater than our loss 
	and to our God we plead.
	
4	We cry for peace, we plead for rest, 
	we ask that we might trace, 
	through every mem'ry that we hold, 
	God's present love and grace.

Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words 2008 © Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd.
Metre: CM
Tune: BEATITUDO

On the Sunday between my wife’s death and her funeral one of the lectionary readings is John 14: 15 – 21
Jesus’ words…18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

HymnQuest.com suggests this hymn as one related to this text, written 18 years ago.