Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is ‘Lord, is faith is disenchanted’ by Alan Gaunt. Although it’s in the section of the book headed ‘funerals and the departed’ its theme is wider than that, and covers other situations of grief and loss, and that, to use the repeated motif of the last lines of each verse, Christ’s love is deeper than all the things that trouble us and threaten our faith.
In the first verse, ‘if pain persists too long… your love is deeper than all time’s wrong’ the last line repeated at the end of the hymn where it refers to the Resurrection. In the other verses, Christ’s love is said to be deeper than our unbelief where we find ourselves overwhelmed by sin and grief, deeper than the prayers of those who protest injustice and oppression, deeper than the deepest cry of grief when children are dying.
This deep love of Christ reminds us that the God we believe in is not a remote creator but one so full of compassion that he came in human form, suffering pain, rejection and grief himself, before willingly dying in order that the Holy Spirit might be with us for ever to channel his love. Lord, re-enchant our faith in you.
I found this a moving hymn – particularly the tune, which I think is a rare gem and worth much wider use, but also the words: as I’ve said before Alan Gaunt has his great moments as well as his occasional lapses. I think the flow of the hymn, towards the last verse’s reminder of the cross and resurrection, is part of the essential dynamic for how to deal with these feelings of being forsaken and unfairly treated and devastated.
I could wish the last line of verse 4 had a stronger match with the rhythm of the tune, and maybe writing “their” instead of “grief’s” would have flowed better? And the refrain line “deeper far than all time’s wrong” also set me wondering – is the wrong actually a possession of time?, and also, don’t the line’s stresses fail to match those of the tune? I don’t know how to “fix” this problem, if “fix” is needed.