SORROWING SONG

1. Lord, hear my praying, listen to me;
you know there's evil in what I see.
I know I'm part of all that is wrong;
still, won't you hear my sorrowing song?

2. Children are crying, hungry for food,
sick from diseases — God, are you good? People are homeless, lost and alone —
God, are you hiding? Where have you gone?

3. Why do the rich ones steal from the poor? Why do they build their weapons of war? How can you stand the torture and pain, hope disappearing, freedom in chains?

4. Jesus, remind us that you are found
with those who cry, with those who are bound. Where there is suffering, you will be there — help us to follow, Lord, hear my prayer.

1986. The psalms are full of complaints and questions, people asking why, wondering about God's wisdom. Yet so few of the contemporary Christian songs argue with God. There's a lack of honesty, which also suggests to me that people are a little out of touch with the one who raises all these questions. Honesty, reality, anger — God can stand a little more of that from us. God is big enough.

 

ALWS 5/10/23

To say I've been inactive on my website is a serious understatement! I've written nothing here since early 2021. 

So, does this mean the world has stopped for us, that nothing is happening?
A major event for us in 2022 was moving house in October. We had been in Modbury Heights since July 1993.Now we're back in Klemzig.

In May 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.
Since then we have visited Box Hill & Loxton with Jonathan & Julie Krause as part of the Asante presentations, promoting the cause of ALWS. Still to come this year are Asante events in Toowoomba & Rochedale (Nov 26 & 27) and Perth (Dec 10)

Looking forward to seeing many people on these occasions.