ALL THINGS NEW
1. I saw heaven and earth,
brand new heaven and earth, and I heard a voice say to me:
2. He will wipe away
every tear away,
every pain away - all things new.
No more sighing, crying, dying - God himself is here.
3. And he will make his home,
here with us his home;
God will make his home with us all.
No more sighing, crying, dying - God himself is here.
4. The old has passed away,
sadness passed away,
death has passed away - all things new.
Melody: Robert Schumann (1838)
Words: Neal Nuske, Robin Mann, Geoff Schirmer (1984); based on Revelation 21:1-5
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1984. These words, based on Revelation 21:1-5, were the combined effort of Neal Nuske and Geoff Schirmer, both Lutheran pastors, and myself. When I heard Neal playing the wonderful tune by Robert Schumann ([Von Fremden und Leuten] Of foreign places and people from Scenes of Childhood) I thought it would make a beautiful song. The following day (we were at a National Youth Assembly) Neal suggested Revelation 21 as a theme and I think we immediately wrote the first verse together. The rest came out fairly quickly, and I sang it, with Neal's exquisite accompaniment, at the Assembly concert later in the week. ALL THINGS NEW (Revised – inclusive language) 1. I saw heaven and earth, brand new heaven and earth, and I heard a voice say to me: 2. God will wipe away every tear away, every pain away - all things new. No more sighing, crying, dying - God himself is here. 3. And see, God makes a home, here with us a home; God will make a home with us all. 4. The old has passed away, sadness passed away, death has passed away - all things new. |
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.