Let our hearts be broken, alternate tune

Let our hearts be broken, let our souls be torn;

For the chaos 'round us, let us weep and mourn.

Violence and hatred, practiced in your name?

Your true gospel twisted into fear and shame?

 

Refrain:

Let our hearts be broken, let our souls be torn;

For the chaos 'round us, let us weep and mourn.

 

How have we stood silent for so many years

While this anti-gospel stoked up angry fears?

Why did we not speak out until so, so late?

When the lie was shouted, why did we still wait?

Refrain 

 

Now our call to answer will no longer wait:

Speaking truth to falsehood, speaking love to hate;

Ev'n amidst such violence, injuries and pains,

Bearing witness only to the Christ who reigns.

Refrain 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, June 2026.

MUSIC: Tune WYE VALLEY, James Mountain, 1876.

 

 

One of those inevitable attempts to express in a hymn some kind of response to <gestures around wildly> all this. Set to the alternate tune, with refrain.

 

 

 

 

O Lord of our ancestors

"O Lord of our ancestors, are you not God above?

Are we no more your people? Have you withdrawn your love?

Do you not rule the nations? Is your great power not true?

We know not what to do, Lord, but our eyes are on you."

 

"You gave your faithful people a sanctuary place,

A land where we could live safe and covered by your grace.

Now enemies surround us, their hate and bile they spew;

We know not what to do, Lord, but our eyes are on you."

 

That cry of ancient Judah we feel again today,

Beset by vain indifference, or hatred holding sway.

How do we stand against these, and yet to you stay true?

We know not what to do, Lord, but our eyes are on you.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, July 2026, from 2 Chronicles 20:5-12

MUSIC: Tune PASSION CHORALE, Hans Leo Hassler 1601;

                  harmonization Johann Sebastian Bach, 1729.

 

 

After a sermon heard at the Presbyterian Association of Musicians' Worship & Music Conference, Montreat Conference Center on July 1, 2026 (preached by Brian Blount, president emeritus of Union Presbyterian Seminary). Yes, the sermon was on 2 Chronicles 20.