Day 46 - O God, why are you silent?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LwRZZRfJ_g

It is not easy to find a hymn appropriate to Holy Saturday, but I persevered and eventually discovered this lament by Marty Haugen.

According to Hymnary.Org, “Haugen is a prolific composer with many songs included in hymnals across the liturgical spectrum. He was raised in the American Lutheran Church yet found his first position as a church musician in a Roman Catholic parish at a time when the Church was undergoing profound liturgical and musical changes after Vatican II. Finding a vocation in that parish to provide accessible songs for worship, he continued to compose and to study. A number of liturgical settings were prepared for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and more than 400 of his compositions are available, especially from GIA Publications. He is composer-in-residence at Mayflower Community Congregational Church in Minneapolis (now known as Creekside United Church of Christ) and continues to compose and travel to speak and teach at worship events around the world.”

The hymn is set to Passion Chorale, a traditional secular melody by Hans Leo Hassler and harmonised by Johann Sebastian Bach.

There are many hymns about the Cross of Christ and the Resurrection but very few about the period when Jesus was in the tomb. While not specifically about the tomb, according to the Church of Scotland’s supplement to the Fourth Edition of the Church Hymnary, this hymn is appropriate for Holy Saturday. Singing the Lectionary says that these lyrics are excellent for those seeking words expressing grief and fear and the perceived absence of God. The emotions are honest and raw and yet find strength in the ultimate faith that beneath and beyond the suffering and solitude, lies the grace and comfort of God.

May this hymn be a blessing to you today, whatever your circumstances.

O God, why are you silent?

I cannot hear your voice;

the proud and strong and violent

all claim you and rejoice;

you promised you would hold me

with tenderness and care.

Draw near, O Love, enfold me,

and ease the pain I bear.

Now lost within my grieving,

I fall and lose my way,

My fragile, faint believing

so swiftly swept away.

O God of pain and sorrow,

my compass and my guide,

I cannot face the morrow

without you by my side.

My hope lies bruised and battered,

my wounded heart is torn;

my spirit spent and shattered

by life’s relentless storm;

will you not bend to hear me,

my cries from deep within?

Have you no word to cheer me

when night is closing in?

Through endless nights of weeping,

through weary days of grief,

my heart is in your keeping,

my comfort, my relief.

Come, share my tears and sadness,

come, suffer in my pain,

oh, bring me home to gladness,

restore my hope again.

May pain draw forth compassion,

let wisdom rise from loss;

oh, take my heart and fashion

the image of your cross;

then may I know your healing

through healing that I share,

your grace and love revealing,

your tenderness and care.

Marty Haugen

© 2003, GIA Publications, Inc

Alan Kennedy