God, give us grace to grieve aright

God, give us grace to grieve aright; our souls cry out in pain.

Our hearts are filled with longing for your healing touch again.

We grieve for those we’ve lost in death, from past years ‘til today. 

The gaping hole left in our hearts will never go away. 

 

God, give us grace to grieve aright; our nation bears the scar

Of lives once taken much too soon in battles near and far.

In blessed memory, let us all resolve that war shall cease,

And that our days be lived in full for justice and for peace.

 

God, give us grace to grieve aright; we reel from tragedy

For thousand thousands who have died in painful agony.

Pandemic grief, that overwhelms and numbs us to its power, 

We lay before you, gracious God, in this and every hour.

 

God, give us grace to grieve aright; even after many years,

The loss of loved ones long ago can still bring us to tears.

For grief that ever lingers on, compelling still today,

We lean upon your loving care that never goes away. 

 

God, give us grace to grieve aright, that even in times of glee,

We still may hear the anguished cries of those on bended knee

Who grieve and mourn with breaking hearts and for dear comfort plead; 

May we, who know this sorrow well, be present in their need.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, May 2021.

MUSIC: Possible tunes:

            MOSHER, Sally Ann Morris, 1995. Copyright 1998 GIA Publications, Inc.

            SALVATION, Kentucky Harmony, 1816 (used here).

            KINGSFOLD, English Country Songs, 1893 (harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906).

            RESIGNATION, USA folk melody, Lewis’s Beauties of Harmony (various harmonizations).

 

 

While written on Memorial Day (which certainly provided some prompting), this hymn also touches on the post-pandemic reckoning of grief and loss as well as the more personal and lingering losses felt over great lengths of time that many of us know. It ends with a plea that we be present for those suffering sorrow, even in our own good times.