Tag: grief

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, written 18 years ago as one related to this text.

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)