September 11 Hymns By Ruth Duck

In response to our request, Ruth Duck has provided the following two texts, which are especially appropriate following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.A. These texts may be reproduced for use in congregational worship within the guidelines she has given. She wrote the following in sending these texts for our website:

I attach one new hymn written in response: We Humans Build to Frame a Life -- to be sung to the tune of, How Can I Keep from Singing. I also attach a song I wrote thinking of UMC pastor Norma Lee Barnhart, who lost her son when he died in a hiking accident. Please include the copyright information and the message: This hymn text may be used in worship contexts free of charge as long as the copyright notice is included.

We Humans Build to Frame a Life, by Ruth Duck
Recommended Tune: How Can I Keep from Singing -The Faith We Sing, UMH 2212

We humans build to frame a life
with meaning, love, and feeling,
but time or hate can bring collapse
and loss can leave us reeling.
Let faithful souls from rubble rise
to find new ways from sorrow
and slowly, slowly form a shape
to welcome Gods tomorrow.

For everything our hands construct
will one day fall and crumble
The God who is a carpenter
creates from scrap and jumble.
And we can join the work of God
to raise a new creation
that what we do will long endure
upon a firm foundation.

We dedicate ourselves today
amid lifes change and danger
to build with God a house of peace
for friend and foe and stranger.
Here may the peoples come and go,
partake in shared endeavor,
set free from terror, hate, and war,
alive in God forever.

Words: Ruth Duck, copyright © 2001 - completed September 24, 2001. This hymn text may be used in worship contexts free of charge as long as the copyright notice is included. Text revised by Ruth Duck on 10-22-01.

When Earth Is Changed and Waters Roar, by Ruth Duck
Incorporating images from Psalm 46 and Rainer Maria Rilke
Recommended tunes from The United Methodist Hymnal:
L.M., Deo Gratias (UMH 267),
Dunedin (UMH 725),
Germany (UMH 415).

When earth is changed and waters roar,
and mountains tremble, strong no more,
when tumult floods our lives, our homes,
God, be our help when trouble comes.

When death takes those we love the best
when illness robs our ease and rest,
O Holy Lover, hold us fast
as long as grief and trouble last.

When answers die on silent lips
and truth slips through our fingertips,
God, stay beside us in our hell,
that we may live the questions well.

God, keep us safe till peace returns
and raised from ashes, new hope burns.
God, shelter us till storms are gone
and hope arises with the dawn.

Words: Ruth Duck, copyright © 1998. This hymn text may be used in worship contexts free of charge as long as the copyright notice is included.

Ruth Duck is one of the greatest English-language hymn writers living today. She is a Professor of Worship at the United Methodist Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. She has contributed texts to many hymnals and publications, including The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) and The Faith We Sing (2000). She was a member of the leadership team for the 2002 Introductory Event for The Faith We Sing in Chicago.