Commentary: Terror spawns a glorious hymn
By UWE SIEMON-NETTO, UPI religion correspondent
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- No sooner had the dust settled on the debris
of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, that a masterful hymn was created.
As so often in times of calamity, a priestly poet accomplished in six,
four-line stanzas what no philosopher could do in many tomes: He made sense
of the inexplicable.
And so from now on the image of airliners striking skyscrapers, of people
falling to the ground from the upper floor of a skyscraper, will come alive
again as congregations sing:
"When sudden terror tears apart / the world we thought was ours, / we find
how fragile strength can be, how limited our powers.
"As tow'r and fortress fall, we watch / with disbelieving stare / and
numbly hear the anguished cries / that pierce the ash-filled air."
The Rev. Carl P. Daw, Jr., executive director of the Hymn Society of the
United States and Canada, authored these lyrics that sent shivers down this
correspondent's spine as congregants sang it to the venerable Lenten tune of
St. Flavian after the sermon in New York's Madison Avenue Presbyterian
Church last Sunday.
It had taken this powerful song just a little over a week to make it to
this famous sanctuary, and doubtless many others. Daw, an Episcopal priest
who teaches hymnology at Boston University, said he penned and polished it
in a couple of days before turning it in to the Hope Publishing Co. of Carol
Stream, Ill.
Writing a hymn about the unfathomable "is a way to deal with what we are
living through," he told United Press International in a telephone
conversation Monday.
As one who has already published two volumes with a total of 115 hymns,
Daw stands in one of the finest traditions of the Christian Church, which
from its very beginning has always been a singing church, as we know from
the apostle Paul:
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one
another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with
thankfulness in your hearts to God" (Colossians 3:16).
But with his hymn, When Sudden Terror Tears Apart, Daw places himself in
the even more clearly defined tradition of the 16th-century Reformation that
gave congregational singing a liturgical weight equal to that of the sermon
and the prayers.
In crying out theological truths, the faithful respond to the preacher's
homily, and thus it was last Sunday when the Rev. Fred R. Anderson reminded
us from the pulpit of what Scripture has top say about what man is to do
when egregiously wronged:
"Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall
slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes
swiftly" (Deuteronomy 32:35).
The congregation responded, in Daw's words:
"Have mercy, Lord, give strength and peace / and make our courage great; /
restrain our urge to seek revenge, / to turn our hurt to hate."
This wasn't an appeal to exercise blue-eyed pacifism. It did not say,
"Don't go in and capture the terrorists." It simply said what people of God
must not do -- retaliate. For that would imply presuming God.
The best hymns are always theology put to rhymes and music. And it is in
times of distress that hymn writers excel theologically. They do not excel
in the hateful manner of tyrants' songwriters, such as the Nazis or
communists. Instead, they stand out in writing the opposite of what seem to
be natural sentiments of the afflicted.
Think of "Now thank We All Our God," a hymn beloved by many around the
world but wrongly reviled by some who misinterpret it as the anthem of
Christian triumphalism, which it clearly is not.
Its author, Martin Rinckart, wrote it in 1636 at the height of the Thirty
Year War, in which two-thirds of the German population perished. Rinckart's
faith is thus not a triumphant one, it is no Christian call to arms, but an
expression of humble trust in "The one eternal God, / Whom Earth and Heaven
adore! / For thus it was, is now, / and shall be evermore."
The Nazis yelled, "Die Fahne hoch" (hold high the flag); the Marxists call
their comrades, "Come rally, and the last fight let us face." But theirs is
not a biblical spirit, such as Josua Stegmann's, who wrote in 1628 -- again
during the Thirty Year War - what many regard as the quintessential tune for
times of terror.
It is called, Abide, O Dearest Jesus, and culminates in the plea that
seems particularly pertinent these days:
"Abide with Thy protection / Among us, Lord, our Strength / Lest world and
Satan fell us / And overcome at length."
Americans know well this hate-free spirit. It permeates the mighty
spirituals of the slaves, especially from the late 18th to the early 19th
centuries.
This is the spirit, too, of We Shall Overcome, the grand anthem of the
Civil Rights Movement. Again, it contains no vengeful note, just words of
conciliation: "We walk hand in hand ...."
Following is the full text of Carl Daw's hymn, "When Sudden Terror Tears
Apart," in its entirety, reprinted with permission of the Hope Publishing
Co:
1. "When sudden terror tears apart / the world we thought was ours, / we
find how fragile strength can be, / how limited our powers.
2. "As tow'r and fortress fall, we watch / With disbelieving stare / And
numbly hear the anguished cries / That pierce the ash-filled air.
3. "Yet most of all we are aware / Of emptiness and void; / Of lives cut
short, of structures razed / Of confidence destroyed.
4. "From this abyss of doubt and fear / We grope for words to pray, / And
hear our stammering tongues embrace / A timeless Kyrie.
5. "Have mercy, Lord, give strength and peace, / And make our courage
great; / Restrain our urge to seek revenge, / To turn our heart to hate.
6. "Help us to know your steadfast love, / Your presence near as breath; /
Rekindle in our hearts the hope / Of life that conquers death."
(Copyright 2001 Hope Publishing Co. Carol Stream IL)
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