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God, Whose Love Is Always Stronger

Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

A prayer-hymn for a time of war and anxiety.

God, whose love is always stronger
Than our weakness, pride and fear,
In your world, we pray and wonder
How to be more faithful here.
Hate too often grows inside us;
Fear rules what the nations do.
So we pray, when wars divide us:
Give us love, Lord! Make us new!

Love is patient, kind and caring,
Never arrogant or rude,
Never boastful, all things bearing;
Love rejoices in the truth.
When we're caught up in believing
War will make the terror cease,
Show us Jesus' way of living;
May our strength be in your peace.

May our faith in you be nourished;
May your churches hear your call.
May our lives be filled with courage
As we speak your love for all.
Now emboldened by your Spirit
Who has given us new birth,
Give us love, that we may share it
Till your love renews the earth!

Woman at prayer service of Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad by Hege Opseth

Get this song in printable PDF (fits perfectly as a half sheet bulletin insert) or Sibelius Scorch format from the General Board of Discipleship website. Sibelius Scorch format allows you to listen to the music, to transpose it, and other useful things.

Tune: BEACH SPRING 87.87 D "Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service," United Methodist Hymnal, #581.
Alternate Tunes: ABBOT'S LEIGH 8.7.8.7 D ("God Is Here!") by Cyril Vincent Taylor, 1941
HYFRYDOL 8.7.8.7 D ("Alleluia! Sing to Jesus!") by Rowland Hugh Prichard, 1831.

Biblical References: Romans 8:28-39, 2 Corinthians 12:9, John 3:7, Revelation 21:5, 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, John 14:27, Matthew 5-7, 1 Thessalonians 2:2, John 3:16, 17:18, Psalm 46:9, and Romans 8:22.

Please share this hymn (with the above copyright and contact information) with other pastors, church musicians and friends in your community and online. Permission for free one-time use is given for a congregational or ecumenical community service. The above copyright and contact information shall be included when reproducing this hymn in worship bulletins. Thank you. (Email: Bruce.Gillette@ecunet.org).

People who want to make a donation for using the hymn may do so to UMCOR to support their important relief work. Information on how to give is at: http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/emergency/youhelp.stm. Secure online donations are available.

Carolyn Winfrey Gillette is the author of Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today's Worship (Geneva Press, 2000) and co-pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Pitman, NJ. A complete list of her hymns can be found at http://www.firstpresby.org/hymnlist.htm

Photo: A woman in prayer at a service of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad. Credit: Hege Opseth NCA/ACT International, March 2003.