Broken World

Riffing on Psalm 46:

The waters rage and riot;
their rampage fills the sky,
and all we know of quiet
is but the cyclone's eye.
The mountains quake in terror—
then how shall we not fear?
Our broken world's repairer,
why do you not draw near?

And if we have offended,
done evil in your sight,
oh, can it not be mended?
Can nothing be put right?
Remember, Lord, the deluge,
your promise to all things:
Come make for us a refuge
beneath your outspread wings.

Come fill our thirst and hunger;
lift up the lost and poor,
then work a greater wonder
and still the rage of war.
Our strength and our salvation,
our rescue in distress,
though mountain fall and nation,
draw near, draw near to us.

Thunderstorm near Pritzerbe (Germany) By Mathias Krumbholz – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26118676SONY DSC

When the Mountains Fall

Based on Psalm 46:

When the mountains cower, quaking,

and the seas rise up in fear,

though the place we stand is shaken,

still we know that you are near.



When the nations rage in turmoil,

and the kingdoms topple down,

when we fight for scraps of empire,

be our sure and solid ground.



You alone have been our refuge

through the turning of the years.

Be our strength, O God, forever;

be the hope beyond our fears.



When the world we built is falling

underneath the weight of sin,

let us hear your city calling;

let your children enter in.



When the night is split with thunder

of the cannons as they roar,

come, O Lord, and work your wonders:

Break the weapons; end the wars.



You alone have been our stronghold;

with your praise our hearts are filled.

You alone shall be exalted.

You are God, and we are still.

Mount Rinjani eruption in 1994, in Lombok, Indonesia By Oliver Spalt, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86316445

Psalm 46

Riffing on Psalm 46:

Come, O Lord: The earth is shaken,
mountains falling to their knees.
All we thought we knew is breaking
with the raging of the seas.
Be our refuge and our shelter;
be our help in troubled days.
Let the earth be still your dwelling,
through the bloody wars we wage.

See, O Lord, how we hold nothing:
Only you can fill that void.
In our need, we fight for somethings
until everything's destroyed.
Look on us, the weak and thirsty;
see us wounded, hungry ones
aching for the taste of mercy,
yearning 'til your kingdom comes.

Speak, O Lord: Your word is power.
Break the bow and bend the spear.
Turn the bloodied swords to plowshares
with the whisper of “Be still!”
Turn our battlefields to gardens;
turn our famines into feasts.
Come at last to reap your harvest
with the implements of peace.

Rapier By Rama – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4359923

I Shall Not Fear

Based on Psalm 46, to the tune FINLANDIA:

I shall not fear, though all the earth is shaken,
though mountains fall and seas in tempest rise,
though I am struck, the heart within me quaking,
and I will fall as strength within me dies.
In me there flows, while all my walls are breaking,
a living stream whose source will ne'er run dry.

Then I will trust the spring that rises in me,
though nations fall and kingdoms topple down.
And I will drink and let the waters fill me
with saving hope when deep despair abounds.
God is my rock, from him these waters streaming
are all my life, where only death was found.

Let mountains fall, and let my heart be shaken:
The waters flow, and deserts they will fill.
The sword is bent; the bow at last is breaking:
All wars must end and fade as all things will.
Yet God is here, unmoved when I am quaking;
I cling to him who bids my soul, “Be still.”

A natural spring on Mackinac Island in Michigan By DaemonDivinus, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=982411