Last Sunday we sang a hymn called “Lord God, Your Love Has Called Us Here.” The words are by Brian Wren, an English hymn writer and author who has been influential in raising the awareness of theology in hymns. This hymn was written in 1973 and speaks about the ways in which God’s love finds us at our place of deepest need and is set to an all and familiar tune called CARE”S (SURREY). It’s a wonderful hymn that is worth considering long after the music stops. One of the stanza is as follows:
of broken trust and chosen wrong,
Half-free half bound by inner chains,
by social forces swept along,
by powers and systems close confined,
yet seeking hope for human kind.
Other stanzas speak about Christ’s willingness to come among us as a servant, to wash feet with a towel and break bread at the table, to love us and call us friends. How God’s love calls us into community and worship. But I think the part of the hymn that speaks most deeply to me is found in the last stanza.
Lord God in Christ you set us free
Your life to live, your joy to share;
give us your Spirit’s liberty
to turn from guilt and dull despair,
and offer all that faith can do
while love is making all things new.
God has a way of turning what seems so hard into something joyful and energizing. God’s at work in us makes it possible to do what we could never do on our own. We can receive freedom and liberty and see that love can make all things new.
Now that is a RECKLESS sort of love.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Steve Larsen