Pause In Lent # 3 – Let Love Be Real

We sang this Michael Forster hymn at the women’s world day of prayer on Friday [thank you, ladies of Pinehurst Church, West Moors for such an excellent service]

Do you know the hymn? – the tune is the Londonderry Air, and the words are lovely.

 

Let love be real, in giving and receiving,

without the need to manage and to own;

a haven free from posing and pretending,

where every weakness may be safely known.

Give me your hand, along the desert pathway,

give me your love wherever we may go:

as God loves us, so let us love each other,

with no demands, just open hands and space to grow.

Let love be real, not grasping or confining,

that strange embrace that holds yet sets us free;

that helps us face the risk of truly living,

and makes us brave to be what we might be.

Give me your strength when all my words are weakness,

give me your love in spite of all you know:

as God loves us, so let us love each other,

with no demands, just open hands and space to grow.

Let love be real, with no manipulation,

no secret wish to harness or control;

let us accept each other's incompleteness,

and share the joy of learning to be whole.

Give me your hope through dreams and disappointments,

give me your trust when all my failings show:

as God loves us, so let us love each other,

with no demands, just open hands and space to grow.

It resonated with me on so many levels. Our church verse at UCF for this year is from Isaiah 43 -

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

The fourth line about walking along the desert pathway together reminded me that if we are expecting to see God creating this path for us, He will walk with us, and we should be walking in fellowship together, wherever He leads us. The second verse encouraged me to trust as I face so many new challenges here in Dorset. Many safe, familiar things have gone – and I need to be brave and look forward to new experiences with expectation and hope, not trepidation and fear. The last verse reminds me that none of us is perfect. As usual, its all about Grace!