Some Worship Resources
in the Wake of the Tsunami Disaster
Collected by Shanta Premawardhana,
NCC's Associate General Secretary for Interfaith Relations, and a native of
Sri Lanka
Congregational Hymn
In Times Like These, We Strain to Sing
(Tune: "Was Mein Gott Will")
In times like these, we strain to sing a hymn of exaltation.
Our voices fill with bitter tears; our souls, with lamentation.
The seas have swelled; we wonder where you were 'midst nature's violence.
We long to sing with joy and praise, but shudder at your absence.
Creating God, you spoke your Word and guided this world's making.
Where was your voice to turn the tide, to calm the deep earth's quaking?
We have no words to understand the scope of human sorrow.
So speak through us and give us strength to make a new tomorrow.
Redeeming Christ, you raised your hand, and winds and waves were quiet.
But now we see no miracle when oceans go ariot.
The roaring wave rekindles fears, reminds us of our weakness.
Awake, O Lord, and calm our souls! Cast out despair and bleakness!
O Spirit, once you brooded o'er the face of formless waters.
So comfort those whose lives are rent, who've lost their sons and
daughters.
And stir our hearts, though numbed by pain, to newfound depth of feeling.
And make us agents of your love, your grace, your hope, your healing.
Text: “In Times
Like These, We Strain to Sing” © 2004 Paul Janssen
A Note from the Hymn's Author, Paul Janssen:
I wrote this hymn for my congregation to sing to the tune "Was Mein
Gott Will." It was well received, and a number of congregants (as well as
others to whom I sent the hymn) asked whether I was giving it broader
hearing. So I submit it to you for your interest and for possible
publication over your website. I am Paul Janssen, a member of the NCC-USA
Faith and Order Commission representing the Reformed Church in America,
and I serve the RCA General Synod as its Moderator of the Commission on
Christian Worship. I ask no fees for use of the hymn; I would simply like
to be informed of its use at p.janssen@att.net
Thanks!
Congregational Hymn
O God, that Great Tsunami
PASSION CHORALE 7.6.7.6 D
O God, that great tsunami has stunned us
one and all;
Our neighbors reel in anguish while homes and cities fall.
O God of wind and water who made the sea and sky,
Amid such great destruction, we mournfully ask "Why?"
How many folk have perished? We can’t their
bodies find:
Life will not be the same now for those they’ve left behind.
More than a million mourners are grieving to their core;
O Jesus, Friend and Savior, you suffer with the poor.
Economies are ruined and lives in tatters
lie,
Sewage is washed down-river while lonely orphans cry:
O Spirit, send your comfort and give us faith that cares.
For when our neighbors suffer, our lives are bound with theirs.
Text: “The Storm Came
to Honduras” © 1978 Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. Adaptation © 2004 by Peter
Holden.
Tune: Passion Chorale
Hans Leo Hassler, 1601, Harm. Johann Sebastian Bach, 1729 ("O Sacred Head,
Now Wounded").
Free one-time permission is given to
congregations that are using the hymn to support ecumenical relief efforts
in response to the earthquake and tsunami of December 2004 in Asia.
Background on the Hymn:
An Australian pastor, Peter Holden, has
done an adaptation of a six-year old hymn for the new disaster caused by
the earthquake and tsunami in Asia and Africa. Holden served as a pastor
in Indonesia before retiring to Australia. His adaptation changes some of
the verses in “The Storm Came to Honduras” while keeping other lines.
The new hymn also keeps well-known tune of “Passion Chorale” by Hans Leo
Hassler (1601) that was harmonized by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1729 and is
associated with the popular hymn "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded".
In November 1978 Carolyn Winfrey Gillette
wrote a hymn, “The Storm Came to Honduras,” in response to Hurricane
Mitch’s devastation in Central America. Many congregations in the USA and
overseas used this hymn to encourage support for what the United Nations
described as the “worst natural disaster in western hemisphere in the 20th
century.” The hymn was widely shared on the Internet, posted on numerous
denominational and ecumenical web sites and featured twice on national
PBS-TV. Holden and Gillette hope the new hymn will encourage individuals
and congregations to support the relief efforts responding to new
disaster.
Poem
Shattering Stillness
A gentle nudge, a
murmuring rumbles,
That was heard in the distant,
A rocking motion, a grain of sand tumbles,
At the beginning of the dawn.
A patter of little feet running on the sand,
Peals of joy of children’s voices,
Early birds pecking at fish along the land
The sun rises swiftly without restraint.
Sleepy eyes, hardly opening to the morn glare,
Swimmers frolicking in the lazy waves,
Bells and minarets resounding calling for the flock to prayer,
While sleepers turned over to the other side.
In the shattering stillness, it hung suspended,
An ominous wall of water, all along the beach,
Wiping the sleep out of the eyes, disbelief apprehended
A frozen moment, a stifled cry, a voice lost.
A playful wave lapped over the shoreline,
More boisterous than ever experienced before
Then in a second breath, the next wave rose on time,
The sea retreated, then stood up tall.
The wall of water walked in through the blue sky,
Unsuspecting humans, feet anchored with no where to run,
Swallowed up with the first wave, the next just meets the eye,
Once again flushed out to the horizon, never to be seen again.
The bright sunny day, with no signs of any storm or rain,
Suddenly was like a battlefield, scattered mayhem everywhere,
A placid calm, a house secure, in a flash nowhere to be seen
People having no time to stop to think what they need or not
A brother, a mother, a father, a friend, there was no difference
All were lost, but some were saved, scattered here and there
A Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, all looked up to God
All with the same prayer, with amazement at His Power.
Then as the crescendo violence of the wave resounded,
A silent stillness lashed out at the waters to be free,
Not a Noah’s bird or animal to be seen for miles around
Not a branch to cling to, not a standing tree.
Amidst the scattered flattened ruins,
A whimpering of a baby could be heard.
A coloured cloth that was once a bridal gown
Fluttered in the breeze, chasing the ripples out to sea.
As the waters covered the death that roared beneath the seas,
It was able to devour anything in its path as it rose from Hades,
Nothing in its path was spared, not a child, or man,
Spreading death across continents, and countries in a wink.
In an instant, time stood still, fallen clocks were stopped,
Man in all humbleness, realized that he is but a dot
Nature doesn’t pick and choose those she takes away
Every Nation felt some loss, some more than others.
Countless are homeless, children are orphaned,
Anxiety on those left behind, looking for a lost one,
Many are recovered out at sea, from the rooftops,
No distinction was made to help a fellow being.
Holy places, schools, standing buildings were used,
To huddle the injured, cold and lost, to love a human being,
Aid came instantaneous by the survivors, to pass a loaf around,
To hold fast to an outstretched hand struggling with the stream.
A week, another too, passes by and life starts to settle down,
The humdrum of the jostling countries, all trying to pitch in
Aid comes in abundance, but is still to reach the needy,
Some have not seen a fellow human being from the first wave.
Those whose lives were shattered, gather splinters of hope,
A tin of rice, an earthen pot, a pitcher of water,
Till the army of aid comes by, they have to remain afloat
Deep within the mined jungles, isolated on wave formed islands.
Looking for a new tomorrow, we salute those who went before us,
We salute those who survived, we salute those who have come to help
We salute the world for waking up without any borders
We look for a new tomorrow, for our fragile world in peace.
We ask those who help the children, to keep them safe and warm,
For many have spent their short lives in the midst of the storm,
Let us go on our knees, for we who are not afflicted and live
In comfort, to thank our Maker that we still breathe.
A Tribute in verse and prose to those who lost their lives in the Tsunami on
26th December 2004. By Ronnie Johnson, 6th January, 2005
E-mail: ronniejohnson@vsnl.net
Webpage:
http://www.geocities.com/ronnie.johnson
A Prayer for the Victims and Loved Ones
Lost in the South Asian Earthquake Tragedy
Holy Creator of Life: You give us the
beauty of the earth with all its glory and splendor. We move through each
day oriented by the movement of the earth, the rising and setting of the
sun. We are nourished by the plants that grow from the soil touched with
rain.
But we also know disorientation. We now
feel the loss of direction because of the force of nature. At such a time
we have trouble feeling your presence. Like the Psalmist, we cry out to
you and lament the loss of lives. We feel what the Psalmist meant when she
wrote: "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."
(Psalm 90:12).
Even while we may feel your absence in our
lament, we trust you to be the One who grieves with us and who is present
in the touch of each of us, their brothers and sisters, who offer hands
and hearts to rescue and to rebuild places and lives. May your healing
love be felt through us as we remember and reach out to those in need.
Amen
Prayer by Rev. Barry
Lewis, pastor, Sewickley United Methodist Church, Sewickley, PA, as
presented on
FaithfulAmerica.org, an NCC-sponsored web resource.
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