Neither height nor depth, nor anything else
in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:39

HYMNS IN RESPONSE TO EARTHQUAKES

Is this the judgement of a God,
a God who wind and waves obey?
Where is compassion, grace and love
when earthquakes, death and fear hold sway?

Here we have watched in helplessness,
here we have wondered, ‘are we right?’
What is the logic of this pain,
when grace is lost from human sight?

We know this world is finely set,
this globe is tuned for life and birth.
Tectonic plates that drift and shift
create the chance of life on earth.

There is no other way to be.
Our God of power, God of cross,
knows human pain and shares our fear
in frail communion and loss.
© Andrew Pratt 28/2/2010 andrewpratt@btconnect.com

For use in times of disaster

When innocence is fractured
by nature’s shifting force,
and paradise is ruptured
as life is swept off course.
We come to pray our questions,
we come to share our grief;
in this, our act of worship,
to say that we believe.

As headlines overwhelm us
and make us close our minds;
as news from distant islands
brings death before our eyes.
We seek a hope to cling to,
a refuge to embrace;
lest in the grip of knowing
we lose our hold on grace.

How dare we speak of heaven
made human for our sakes,
or preach a loving Father
when seas and mountains quake?
We dare because our story
speaks of a love that came
to bear the cost of dying
and still would do the same.

In Christ our souls take refuge,
though not to hide from truth:
we face each anguished question
with faith, if not with proof.
We hear his wistful question:
“And will you leave me too?”
Though all the world should crumble,
We hope, O Christ, in you.

If God created all we see
then ours is still a timeless cry;
we cannot understand God's sense;
we ask again the reason why.

Was this prefigured by a cross,
this site of human agony;
the tumbled timbers, broken walls,
where people struggle to be free?

This cannot be the way of God,
yet God is in this quaking mess,
is in the people crying out
in pain and terminal distress.

God seeks the dying, nail pierced hands
reach deep within this grief and loss.
Our every word or touch of love
speaks of the gift of grace and cross.

©Andrew Pratt 16/8/2007 (andrewpratt@btconnect.com)

Metre: LM Download PowerPoint