HOW THE WORLD WAS WON (Easter)

1. Let’s remind each other how the world was won
— not with mighty army, nor with soldier’s gun;
his unlikely palace: Mother Mary’s womb;
Operation Jesus from a borrowed room.

2. Flesh and bone, so fragile, his strategic way:
with a broken body Jesus won the day.
Cluster bombs and rifles
— he had none of these.
They were never needed for his victory.

3. Though this man was helpless, Satan’s kingdom fell.
Weakness was the weapon that defeated hell.
Feeble flesh, so human, just like mine and yours,
brought the world to safety, opened heaven’s door.

4. May I sit beside you in this quiet room?
Though the darkness hides you, dawn is coming soon.
When the night is gone, your legs will walk again,
death will be destroyed and life will never end.

For Christmas, a different v.4

4. May I lie beside you, in your manger bed,
Will I know or care what danger lies ahead?
If I feel your breath upon my face, I know
heaven’s power is with me everywhere I go.

Keith Stiller, a Lutheran pastor in Queensland, emailed me a couple of months before Christmas 2001, asking if I might write a song for him, for their Christmas Eve service. He had thought of using a 17th century hymn full of military imagery but, deciding that it was archaic, asked if I could write a new one. After at first feeling negative towards the idea — I’m not much into wars and militarism — I studied the older words and decided that I could do something similar. Jesus is not the Saviour of the World through superior military power, but wins through losing, lives by dying, is strong by being weak. The invasion of Afghanistan gave the song an edge that it might not have when war is not the first story in the news every night. And of course this still applies in March 2003.

ALWS 29/5/24

In May 2023 we travelled to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, seeing work supported by Australian Lutheran World Service. Dorothy and I are Ambassadors for the ALWS programme, Lives You Touch. We are encouraging people to leave money in their will for the work of ALWS. We committed to leave a third of our will many years ago and hope many others can touch lives in this way.

Last year we visited churches in SA, Vic, Qld and WA with Jonathan & Julie Krause promoting the cause of ALWS.

Coming up soon:

* Nuriootpa (St Petri) Saturday June 22, 4 pm

To be confirmed:
Bordertown July 28,
Everton Park (Qld) August 17,
Canberra August 24

Looking forward to seeing you at one of these events