‘Healer of all Hurts, how long?’ – A Lament by Jon Swales

Father God,
Healer of All Hurts.

We come to you in our hour of need saying.

How Long? O Lord.
How Long?

We find our ourselves caught up in the storm of Covid.
We feel stranded and alone,
Cut off from those we love.

How Long? O Lord.
How Long.

We face shipwreck and catastrophe,
Battered and bruised by the storm of this pandemic.

Our nation is in peril,
Our NHS is stretched,
Our Souls feel anxious and afraid.

How Long? O Lord.
How Long?

Healer of all hurts,
We come to you in our hour of need pleading.

That you would still the wind and waves,


And act,
And move,
And comfort,
And heal,
And embrace us in your healing hands.

Covenant God,
Father of Lights,
We bring before your tender love.

Those who are sick,
Lord have mercy, Christ Have mercy.

Front Line workers for protection and resilience,
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.

For energy and patience for those homeschooling,
Lord have mercy, Christ Have mercy.

For the vulnerable and those shielding,
Lord have mercy, Christ Have mercy.

For ourselves in our boredom, frustration and anxiety.
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.

Father God,
Healer of All Hurts.
We come to you in our hour of need praising you,
That you do not leave us,
or forsake us.
You have shown your love to us in Jesus.

Covenant God,
Father of Lights,
We come to you in our hour of need praising you,
That there is not a hurt you will not heal.
Nor a tear you will not wipe away.
You have shown your love to us in Jesus.

We praise you that in Jesus is a balm to soothe our souls.
We praise you that in Jesus there is always hope.
We praise that in Jesus all will be well.

Until that day,
We Weep and Pray.

How Long? O Lord,
How Long?

Written by Rev Jon Swales, January 2021

Jon is Lighthouse Mission Priest (C of E) at Lighthouse West Yorkshire, which is is a fresh expression of church and registered Leeds-based charity which reaches out to those who are battered and bruised by the storms of life.

Find out more on their website.

THE GATE OF THE YEAR

‘God Knows’

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:
What need our little life
Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life’s stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God’s thought around His creatures
Our mind shall fill.[3]

By Minnie Louise Haskins 1875 – 1957