Let our hearts be broken

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?

 

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?

 

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.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, June 2026.

MUSIC: Tune KING'S WESTON, Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1925;

            other possible 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, especially when you realize you should have been speaking up long, long ago...

 

 

 

A Hymn for Resistance

Resistance is a holy act when empire now holds sway,

Like that empire with iron fist, which ruled in Jesus's day.

To feed and clothe and shelter those once called "the least of these"

Will anger tyrants bent on power, but will our Jesus please.

 

Resistance is a sacred work in times when hatred thrives,

When those who seek supremacy crush holy human lives.

To care for those of different skin gets punished as a crime,

But Jesus lifts up human folk of every race each time.

 

Resistance is in every age our mandate and our call,

Until the day when, like our Christ, love is from all, for all.

Until that day we feed and clothe, we shelter, care, and love,

To live as Jesus lived on earth, to love like God above. 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, August 2025

MUSIC: Tune KINGSFOLD, English Country Songs, 1893; 

              harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906.

 

 

This is a hymn very unlikely to be sung on a Sunday morning, unless the congregation is headed out to a march or protest immediately after worship. 

A "good trouble" hymn

When Jesus came to temple grounds,

His heart was vexed most sore

To see the merchants in their stalls 

As if this was a store.

 

He drove the moneychangers out

And set God's creatures free; 

He saw this sacred, holy space

Should not a market be.

 

The temple priests were horrified;

The sellers, filled with fear.

For Jesus, this act told the world

Good trouble time was here.

 

When church gives up its guiding star

To business or to state, 

Good trouble is our holy call,

Before it is too late. 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 17 July 2025 (fifth anniversary of the death of John Lewis)

MUSIC: Tune McKEE, African American spiritual; Jubilee Songs, 1884; adapt. Harry T. Burleigh, 1940. 

Today was the fifth anniversary of civil rights legend and Congressman John Lewis, and several protest events (billed under his phrase "good trouble") were held around the country today. My schedule didn't allow for one (none were nearby) but this text, derived from one of Jesus's acts that might well be the antecedent of "good trouble," arrived today. As is often the case, the tune helped set the text free in my head. The "underground hymns" aren't dead yet, sir...

For a king the people clamored

For a king the people clamored

To the prophet Samuel.

"Other nations have such rulers,

And we want a king as well."

So the prophet, grieving sorely,

Asked of God what he should do.

God replied, "Give them an answer,

Tell them all that I tell you."

 

"Now the king who will reign o'er you 

Will declare his right to claim

All your sons and all your daughters

To serve only in his name

As his soldiers, cooks and servants,

Serving at his will alone;

So much of your grain and cattle,

What your worked for will be gone."

 

Still the people would not hear him;

For a king was all their cry.

God told Samuel so to give them

What they wanted in reply.

Saul was tall in human stature,

But he was not strong of heart;

David did win many battles,

But his family fell apart.

 

Solomon did tax them sorely,

All for his own selfish gain; 

At the last the kingdom sundered;

Conquered, exiled, doomed to pain.

No king is for God's own children 

Who must follow God alone!

No kings can claim our allegiance,

No king but our God alone!

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, June 2025, after 1 Samuel 8.

MUSIC: Tune EBENEZER, Thomas John Williams, 1890.

Let the reader understand.

There Is No Christ

How does an age come so afoul

Of all that Jesus said and did,

Now bound to empire's cruel abuse

With hate and rage no longer hid?

Such acts of evil, done with joy,

Pure meanness acted out with bliss;

Do not blaspheme the Lord's name so!

There is no Christ in such as this.

 

How does this church, in Christ made one,

By Spirit led to God's own work,

Turn crazed and stray so far from truth - 

So drunk with power and gone berserk?

How does this church defend itself 

When they Christ's life and words dismiss?

This is not "faithful" anything!

There is no Christ in such as this.

 

How will the churches left behind,

Belittled, scorned, yet holding fast

To how Christ lived and what Christ taught,

Endure and keep faith to the last?

Let not despair derail us now,

No hopelessness drive us amiss;

This is not how the Spirit leads!

There is no Christ in such as this.

 

In Christ shall we withstand and stand,

Condemn the false, raise up the true,

Bind up the wounds and shelter those

On whom the hateful spit and spew.

Stand in Christ's love and Spirit's power,

In God's true grace to bear witness;

This is our work! This is our call!

Christ is revealed in such as this.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2025.

MUSIC: Tune ST. PATRICK, Irish melody,  arr. Charles Villiers Stanford, 1902.

Another hymn of sorts responding to the time in which we live and the failure of the church or some large portion of it to do the right thing.

Stand down, O "men of God"

Stand down, O “men of God,”

To war is not your call;

Brothers in Christ, this is your work:

To love and to serve all. 

 

Stand down, O “men of God,”

No more of lesser things.

Live as our Jesus showed us how

So his true witness sings.

 

Stand down, O “men of God,”

Your work is not to hate;

This does not glorify our God

Whose love for all is great.

 

Stand down, O “men of God,”

Don’t lord it over all;

Women and men are both alike 

Ordained in Jesus’s call. 

 

Stand down, O “men of God,”

Alone is not your call;

To serve together is your work,

Brothers and sisters all.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2025,

MUSIC: Tune ST. THOMAS, Aaron Williams, 1763.

 

Not a hymn for a worship service, at least not one I can immediately imagine. More like a teaching hymn? Self-instruction? Chastisement? I don't know, but I couldn't stop myself from writing it. 

Our Christ is not a weapon

Our Christ is not a weapon

For spewing hate and fear.

His name is not for smashing 

Those whom the Lord holds dear.

Christ's enemies may hasten

To injure whom they please,

But those who follow truly

Will love "the least of these."

 

Internments or invasions,

Lies meant to harm or kill,

Or massive deportations

With hatred raging still; 

Those who commit such violence

May reap great power and fame,

But in truth cannot ever

Do these in Jesus's name.

 

The work of Christ can only

Be done in holy love,

Relentless and unyielding

Like that of God above.

Our Christ is not a weapon

For spewing hate and fear;

Let such lies be forever

Denounced for all to hear.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2025.

MUSIC: Suggested tune VALET WILL ICH DER GEBEN, Melchior Teschner, 1614; harm. William Henry Monk, 1861.

Something had to be said.