Have Mercy, Lord

Bob mentioned a news story that apparently has been ‘all over the net’ this week. It had completely passed me by [it was about a celebrity in whom I have no interest at all] ‘Haven’t you been following the news this week?’ he joked [he knows I am quite obsessive about catching the headlines, morning and evening] So I tried to defend myself- I have been reading about

• the Services of Remembrance …and in particular…
• the poppies at the Tower
• celebrations to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall on 1989
• the stories of child sex abuse in high places
• a serial rapist/killer jailed in Scotland
• political wranglings on both sides of the House
• Aung San Suu Kyi met up with Barack Obama
• the Ebola crisis
• They have made another ‘Band Aid’ recording
• Philae has landed on Comet 67P

And all of these stories [apart from the last] are connected with man’s inhumanity to man, and the way that so often profit is put before people, and the poor and the children are the first to suffer.

I read recently that Trevor McDonald was [on more than one occasion] found weeping in his dressing room, because he was do distressed by the awful news he was called upon to broadcast. I found that very moving.

Graham Kendrick’s wonderful hymn comes to mind.

Who can sound the depths of sorrow in the Father heart of God
For the children we've rejected, for the lives so deeply scarred?
And each light that we've extinguished
Has brought darkness to our land
Upon our nation, upon our nation, have mercy, Lord

We have scorned the truth you gave us
We have bowed to other lords
We have sacrificed the children on the altars of our gods
O let truth again shine on us, let your holy fear descend
Upon our nation, upon our nation, have mercy, Lord

Who can stand before your anger? Who can face your piercing eyes?
For you love the weak and helpless, and you hear the victims' cries
Yes, you are a God of justice, and your judgement surely comes
Upon our nation, upon our nation, have mercy, Lord

Who will stand against the violence?
Who will comfort those who mourn?
In an age of cruel rejection, who will build for love a home?
Come and shake us into action, come and melt our hearts of stone
Upon your people, upon your people, have mercy, Lord

Who can sound the depths of mercy in the Father heart of God?
For there is a Man of sorrows, who for sinners shed his blood
He can heal the wounds of nations, He can wash the guilty clean
Because of Jesus, because of Jesus, have mercy, Lord