Faith That Lets Us Sing ‎#40

40. How Can We Sing Our Love for God

1 How can we sing our love for God
when God seems far away,
and we are captive to the hate
that threatens us today?
How can we sing a song of hope
when fear is in the air,
and we stand shaking, hollow reeds,
in streams of deep despair?

2 So cried the psalmist long ago
from exile in a place
where sinful people wept and mourned
their dreadful fall from grace.
Yet even in this sad lament,
the psalmist’s faith is clear:
though we may suffer in strange lands,
our God is always near.

3 God loves us with a steadfast love,
a love that has no end.
No matter what, or when, or where,
God is our trusted friend,
and, like a friend, God feels our pain;
God hears our every cry.
God never will abandon us
in life, or when we die.

4 We know the Hebrews' Babylon,
for we have ours today
whenever crises threaten us
and God seems far away.
Though times are strange, by faith, we know
God's mercies never cease,
and faith transforms our sad laments
to songs of joy and peace.

5 Praise God for faith that lets us sing
of love that conquers hate,
and hope that overcomes the fears
of those who sit and wait.
Praise God for peace that springs from hope,
and joy that flows from love.
Praise God, all people here on earth,
and all the saints above.

Text Information

• First Line: How can we sing our love for God
• Title: How Can We Sing Our Love for God
• Author: Mary Nelson Keithahn (2004)
• Meter: CMD
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 2017
• Scripture:
  Psalm 137
• Topic: Psalms: Psalm 137
• Notes: A hymn commissioned by St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Hickory, NC, for a hymn festival we led there. The tune is named for Thaddeus I.McDonald, a beloved former pastor. The hymn was awarded honorable mention in the psalm setting (text and tune) category of the Sacred Song and Hymn Search in 2005 to inaugurate the new Fred Bock Institute of Music at the Brehm Center at Fuller University in Pasadena, CA.

Tune Information

• Name: MCDONALD
• Composer: John D. Horman (2004)
• Meter: CMD
• Key: D Minor
• Source: Faith That Lets Us Sing
• Copyright: Wayne Leupold Editions, Inc.