Thursday, October 28, 2021

For those who serve as pastors

For those who serve as pastors – a holy, foolish call;

For those who rise in triumph and also those who fall, 

With fearful contemplation we wonder at their task

To preach and teach and listen, and idols to unmask.

 

For those whose fame and glory have led them to betray,

Whose pride and lust for power drive souls into decay;

We pray for these, the fallen, sometimes through gritted teeth,

That your love yet may conquer and surge up from beneath.

 

For those whose souls have broken beneath abuse and scorn,

Whose service is rejected, whose faith is left forlorn; 

We pray, dear God of calling, that hope may bloom anew, 

And holy fire rekindle in service sure and true.

 

For those in times of chaos who struggle just to breathe,

For whom all days of serving with dangers writhe and seethe;

With earnest, pleading sorrow we lift them to your care

So they again are able to hope and do and dare.

 

For those who in their calling can see no path ahead;

No road extends before them, but only empty dread; 

Dear God of all compassion, whate’er their path may be,

In prayer and contemplation, give them a road to see.

 

O God of word and table, of pulpit and of font,

Give strength to these your servants and leave them not in want.

Give them the grace to serve you with heart, soul, strength, and mind,

And help them in their serving new joy in you to find.



TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, October 2021

MUSIC: Tune SALLEY GARDENS, Irish folk melody



Not one I really expect to be sung in a church, ever, but one for all the fellow clergy who are up against it one way or another (or maybe many ways) in these freakish and painful times. Perhaps not exactly your typical Clergy Appreciation Month offering, but an offering of appreciation nonetheless.





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