As we move towards Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Lent, a moment to pause. By the time you read this the tension in Ukraine may have eased or increased. Let this be a moment to remember that our faith has a worldwide perspective as we share words written in Poland while listening to a lecture by Joachim Waloszek on Polish hymns.
1 The words we sing are wrung from broken hearts,
are formed within the soil of time and place,
are rooted in our history and this time,
yet ring with changeless mystery and grace.
2 Our treasure is the very grace of God,
the pearl that we would lose our lives to hold,
this gift we guard with frail yet gentle hands,
to share among God's people young or old.
3 We sing with others met along the way
who speak our language or another tongue,
who walk beside us on the road to heaven,
who stumble, fly or fall till life is won.
4 The words we sing now whisper sighs of joy,
transcending all we fear within this place,
they ring with endless, everlasting hope,
they celebrate the freedom of God's grace.
Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2009 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
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