Like Waves Upon the Shore

O God of time and all our years,

Of all that comes and came before,

Hold us against our doubts and fears 

That crash like waves upon the shore.

 

We’ve acted out in cruel ways,

Indulged in hates we should abhor.

Our anger flared in fiery blaze

And crashed like waves upon the shore.

 

You claim all peoples as your own;

Against those neighbors we’ve waged war. 

Lord, still the furies that we’ve sown

That crash like waves upon the shore.

 

Cast out our fear, tear out our hate,

Upon our souls your grace outpour.

Your restoration we await,

That flows like waves upon the shore.

 

Fill us with love, and give us poise 

So that, repenting, we restore.

Make us the vessel for your joys

That flow like waves upon the shore.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, January 2021.

MUSIC: Tune O WALY WALY, English folk melody.

An attempt to imagine a particular situation of repentance.