Tag: grief

Lament: When anger is our highest creed

Lament: When anger is our highest creed

Our news invariably seems to have images of war. For those who grieve, on whatever ‘side’, Psalm 137 may give them, or us, voice.  It is often missing from our worship. Some may remember ‘By the rivers of Babylon’ by Boney M. Halfway through the song they change to Psalm 19: ‘May he words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight…’. Perhaps Psalm 137 is seen as too violent, not Christian. But when we have suffered at the hands of others, when we grieve, lament is legitimate. Then it is understandable to use Psalm 137 in its entirety. And so I want to sing in solidarity with people in places of war and degradation…these words were inspired by the spirit of that Psalm.

1	When anger is our highest creed,
	revenge the motivating force;
	God, understand our depth of hurt,
	our need for action, not just thought.

2	Ejected from what makes us safe,
	familiar ground and well-known names,
	we sicken for the things we've seen,
	all sense of hope and courage drains.

3	We cannot celebrate our faith,
	and faith lacks meaning, all is lost;
	for nothing is as it once was,
	we cannot ever bear the cost.

4	So, God, what should we do or say?
	What is there left of love or life?
	What mitigating cause or plea
	will rid us of this pain of strife?

5	Amid our sense of grief and loss
	where nothing now can be the same,
	stand in the midst of shattered faith;
	rebuild, renew, and raise again.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2001 Stainer & Bell Ltd
Words ©  2001  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: LM
Tune: PLAISTOW

A little memento can move us to tears – for the famous or obscure – those we remember – a hymn

A little memento can move us to tears – the saints we remember

A little memento can move us to tears, 
a memory can surface along with its fears, 
the past is still with us, and scars are so raw, 
while hope can seem absent on life's barren shore.

The life that has ebbed has left marks on our lives, 
while love is still present some hope still survives. 
The treasure of saints in each era and age, 
is loving, while living upon the earth's stage.

And these we remember, each person, each life, 
the good they engendered, their solace in strife; 
the warmth of a hand, or the smile of a face,
their presence a channel of God given grace.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words Andrew Pratt © 2015 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: 11 11 11 11
Tune: DATCHET

All Saints Day revolves around "giving God solemn thanks for the lives and deaths of his saints", including those who are "famous or obscure".

A hymn in a shattering, divided world…perhaps?

Reflecting on the world in which we live, what can we, should we sing?

Hymns should at least allow for the expression of everything to which the Psalms give voice. And I am including those words over which we tend to be rather squeamish. This interpretation of Psalm 137 was attributed to John Donne but was probably written by Francis Davison (circa 1633-69):

        Happy, who, thy tender barnes

		From the armes

	Of their wailing mothers tearing,

	'Gainst the walls shall dash their bones,

		Ruthless stones

	With their braines and blood besmearing. 
[Donne, J., The Poems of John Donne, Edit. H.J.C. Grierson, Oxford 1912, p426].

And why should I want to sing this or anything even distantly emotionally related to it? Because sometimes that is how I feel and the Psalms testify to the fact that God can cope with us feeling like that.

Not finding such a hymn in my own denomination’s hymn book at the turn of the millennium, and reflecting on the plight of refugees, I wrote these words. And are they, perhaps, redolent of those of opposing opinions, experiencing hatred and fear, in our world, in our countries today?

1	When anger is our highest creed,

	revenge the motivating force;

	God, understand our depth of hurt,

	our need for action, not just thought.



2	Ejected from what makes us safe,

	familiar ground and well-known names,

	we sicken for the things we've seen,

	all sense of hope and courage drains.



3	We cannot celebrate our faith,

	and faith lacks meaning, all is lost;

	for nothing is as it once was,

	we cannot ever bear the cost.



4	So, God, what should we do or say?

	What is there left of love or life?

	What mitigating cause or plea

	will rid us of this pain of strife?



5	Amid our sense of grief and loss

	where nothing now can be the same,

	stand in the midst of shattered faith;

	rebuild, renew, and raise again.



Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)

Words © 2001 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: LM

Tunes: PLAISTOW; KEDRON(Dare)

Great God, your love has held our lives – Remembrance Hymn

1	Great God, your love has held our lives
	through all the years down to this day.
	Your constant presence held us fast:
	remain with us we plead and pray.
	We've seen the ruins left by war,
	the tumbled buildings, street by street;
	some heard the voices that they loved
	and cried for those they'd no more meet.
	
2	As time moves on some memories fade,
	some griefs we shared lie in the past;
	for others pain is just as sharp,
	we know their hurt will always last.
	Some human acts have swept away
	our partners, parents, children, friends,
	some people we had never known;
	the memory lives and never ends.
	
3	Beyond this day we try to live:
	a sinew of each life survives,
	but where is God in hurt and hate?
	The questions stay to haunt our lives.
	Help us to build a better world
	not fuelled by vengeance, fed by greed;
	a world in which we all can live,
	what ever colour, race or creed.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2015 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: LMD
Tune: JERUSALEM

Other resources: Worshipcloud