I was flipping through the Book of Common Praise just before Evensong the other night and read the lyrics to this hymn I had never heard before. I thought the lyrics were so beautiful considering all of the hurt that seems to be present all around the world these days. I looked up the lyrics and copied them below for any who would be encouraged by them. I also found a recording of the hymn that I pasted below.
We cannot measure how you heal
or answer every sufferer’s prayer,
yet we believe your grace responds
where faith and doubt unite to care.
Your hands, though bloodied on the cross
survive to hold and heal and warn,
to carry all through death to life
and cradle children yet unborn.
The pain that will not go away,
the guilt that clings from things long past,
the fear of what the future holds
are present as if meant to last.
But present too is love which tends
the hurt we never hoped to find,
the private agonies inside
the memories that haunt the mind.
So some have come who need your help,
and some have come to make amends,
as hands which shaped and saved the world
are present in the touch of friends.
Lord, let your Spirit meet us here
to mend the body, mind and soul,
to disentangle peace from pain
and make your broken people whole
(Source)
Pencil & Uke 