These words aren’t new. I wrote them after Orlando and Jo Cox. Then we sang them again after Manchester and Westminster Bridge and London Bridge. And Christchurch, and Sri Lanka. And San Diego. And the rest.
O God of all salvation
in every desperate hour
Look down at your creation
With pity and with power.
In all the pain we’re seeing,
For stranger as for friend
We’ll cling with all our being
To love that cannot end.
O God, your loving passion
Is deeper than our pain,
Look down, and in compassion
Bring us to life again.
When we are found despairing,
When all seems lost to sin,
We’ll hear your voice declaring
That love alone will win.
O God, when hate grows stronger,
With fear to pave its way,
The cry, ‘Lord, how much longer?’
With broken hearts we pray.
In all that is dismaying
In humankind’s freewill,
We’ll join our voices, praying
That love will triumph still.
O God, whose love will never
Be silenced, stalled or stilled,
Set us to work wherever
There’re bridges to rebuild.
We’ll take our life’s vocation
To make, like heav’n above,
In this and every nation
A kingdom built on love.
(Tune: Kings Lynn or other 7676D)
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