A SONG AND A PRAYER.
February 16, 2022
Something completely different! New times: new songs, songs reflecting our earth, the place God gave us to inhabit for eternity, and new prayers as we await his coming.
THE LORD’S PRAYER in verse and song.
Melody of “All people that on earth do dwell”.
Our father far beyond our reach
Yet still so close that you can teach
Us how to live in your great earth
Where we forever have our berth.
You made this world for us to dwell
Made it both yours and ours as well
Made it so holy, all for us
To treat with care without a fuzz.
Our father in eternal light
So great and ever, ever bright
Your kingdom you to us did give
To treasure, so that we may live.
Your kingdom is the holy earth
You made it: it reflects your worth
Your precious, dear beloved globe
Our last and very real hope.
A song celebrating the laws of Ecology.
(Everything is connected)
All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the Lord, his ways foretell.
Remember earth, air, sea and tree
Are all a part of you and me.
(Creation knows best)
Creation knows the ways to go
God bred it in its natural know,
We therefore must inquire of her
To see where we go right or err.
(Nothing disappears)
Nothing will ever disappear
It lingers on, it is now clear
The oil we burn creates much ill
And causes universal kill.
(No free lunch)
There is no free lunch to be had
The bills are due: they will be bad
Our children must pay this great debt
We robbed them of their safety net.
We robbed them, left them in the lurch
No wonder they have left the church
We wasted, stole, their future need
Please Lord, forgive us our great greed.
A translation of the Dutch Easter Song: Daar juigt een toon.
A voice rings out a glorious hymn
Resounding through Jerusalem
A bright new morning lies ahead
The Son of God rose from the dead
Now death has lost its very sting
We now need ne’er fear anything
For Christ has conquered everything
He truly is creation’s king.
Now that the Lord rose from the dead
We look for brand-new life ahead
New life prepared by his demise
New life in earthly paradise.
A Lament for creation. An adaptation. With refrain.
Where are the birds that sang in tall tree towers,
Why are the woodlands now full-soaked in ash,
Where are the eyes to see the fire showers,
Where are the tears when birds no longer dash?
How clean the water, how tall the grain?
How green the forest, can the earth renew again?
When will the deserts stop their massive spreading?
Where will we plant so food can freely grow?
When will we hear no more of species dying?
When will we care enough to cherish all?
How clean the water, how tall the grain?
How green the forest, can the earth renew again?
When will the sea be free from human binging?
Safe for the whales that frolic in the deep
Who will arise and send alarm bells ringing?
Now is the time and for our voice to weep.
How clean the water, how tall the grain?
How green the forest, can the earth renew again?
Music: 11.10.11.10 with refrain, based on TIDINGS: James Walch, 1875. P.D.
The entire world is struggling with extinction. Despair is mounting.
When anxiety for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and pray, Maranatha, Lord Come,
and visualize the new creation,
where all is at rest, where the wolf and the lamb feed
together, and swords have become instruments of peace.
I then see shalom emerge, everywhere
in earth and sky and seas.
In my dreams I see Jesus, walking hand in hand
with his woman friend, amidst a throng of children
Happily dancing around that pair.
I see flowers in manifold colors and shapes,
And I see above me the balmy sun,
with healing in its wings,
friendly, soothing, refreshing, blessing
those who have waited for the Lord.
O Holy Earth.
O holy earth receive our tears
O brother Jesus, still our fears.
We live as exiles in our land,
Oh, where, oh where your healing hand?
The people all are drunk with wine
In blinded daze see no decline
The nations’ rulers spread the lie
With death for many, life for some.
What evil thought gave life to birth
That made us kill God’s Holy earth?
(Tune: The Old Hundredth: O people that on earth do dwell)