When those whose thoughts are crystal clear - Luke: 8: 23-39 A man from the region of the Gerasenes, who had demons met Jesus…a hymn…
1 When those whose thoughts are crystal clear
meet those who are confused,
reality can seem disturbed
and sense can feel abused.
We stand upon a sheer abyss
while vertigo takes hold:
the air above, the sea beneath,
our actions uncontrolled.
2 Was that the way that man once felt,
as though he was possessed;
estranged from all the world around,
undignified, unblessed?
And then when Jesus spoke to him,
that contact self-assured,
like raging swine his fever left,
his sanity restored.
3 And still we find we need the help
of those who stand as friends,
when in the nightmare of distress
none hears or comprehends.
God stand beside us, let us be
the channels of your grace,
that we might set each other free
from feelings that debase.
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: CMD
Tune: COE FEN
Tag: mental illness
Where is the care for the silent care-giver?
Where is the care for the silent care-giver,
drowning in tragedy, lost or alone?
Where is our God in such life and such living?
Here in our pain, or remote on some throne?
God, are you deaf to our crying, our pleading?
Why are you absent when we feel so lost?
Come to the centre of need and exhaustion,
help us feel valued, while sharing the cost.
Here in frustration, in folly, when kindness
seems to be hollow, not grasping the fact:
inside our hearts may be broken or dying.
God bring your mending to lives that have cracked.
Then for tomorrow may hope that is buried
push through our anger, our darkness and night,
opening our hearts to divine love and healing,
leading from hopelessness out into light.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Tune: STEWARDSHIP
Metre: 11 10 11 10
Words © 2014 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, http://www.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.
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