I wrote this hymn in response to the Jubilate call for new hymn words in response to the pandemic. It uses a tune I've wanted to use for years - the chorus of 'Do you hear the people sing' from the musical Les Miserables! This is of course a copyrighted tune so I can't reproduce the music here, but it is widely available in 'songs from the shows' type music books - or can simply be sung from memory unaccompanied.
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| The interior of St Dunstan's church set up with social distancing |
It is particularly written for entering a church again that has been closed for the time of pandemic, but I have tried to also make it of general use for gathering for worship at any time when there has been a crisis, stress or trouble, whether in the specific church community or more generally.
We will come into this space
Bringing our weariness and pain
Bringing our wariness and fears
That life may never be the same;
We will gather in this place
Willing our hearts to open wide
Willing our words and actions here to bring hope outside.
We will come into this space
Knowing that we will never see
All that our memories say it was
All that we dream that it should be;
We will gather in God’s grace
Willing to let go of our fears
Willing to be what’s needed now and what’s needed here.
We are weary of fake news
Weary of inequality
Weary of struggling to choose
To live against hostility;
We are wary of God’s call
Wary of what we’re asking for
Wary of all the times our trust’s been abused before.
We will go from here renewed
Strengthened by spirit, bread and song,
Strengthened by welcome, silence, word
And by the knowledge we belong;
We will go from here with you
Willing to walk your humble way
Willing to choose love’s liberation afresh each day.