posted on behalf of Canon Michael Manley at Carlisle Cathedral
The following hymn was written specifically, at the cathedral, for this week of mourning for those we have lost, in gratitude to the devotion, professionalism and kindness of NHS staff.
It can be sung to the tune of 'Eternal Father, strong to save…..'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZJdqQeieyg Mourner’s Hope
1.
We give them back to you O Lord
Those whom we loved - but could not hold.
We dare to trust they weren’t alone
For all are yours and all are known.
Through nursing care, we understand
You sat beside them, held their hand.
2.
We thank you for the angels there
who day and night fulfilled our prayer:
to hear their sighs in whispered breath
and speak your peace to ease their death.
We leave them in your warm embrace
Now raised to life within your grace.
3.
We could not mourn as others may
Nor offer all we hoped to say.
We could not gather all as one
To toast their name or sing their song.
Yet at your table now they dine
And with us join in bread and wine.
4.
Lord help us on our lonely road
to voice the grief and share our load.
You know the pain the fear the loss:
You held our wounds upon your cross.
Then rose, still scarred, to life reborn,
In us, let hope, new purpose dawn.
5.
We give them back to you and trust
Your love that gave them each to us.
You did not lose them when they came
Nor we, in letting go again.
Help us to see we’re all but one
that death’s defeated, love has won.
6.
Creator, Spirit, Word made flesh
In you is life, and all is blest.
Receive our prayer and bring us home
By love transformed, your image own,
With all your saints who’ve gone before
To worship you for evermore.
© Chapter of Carlisle Cathedral, March 2021