O God, Our Words Cannot Express

Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

Spiritual comfort in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

O God, our words cannot express
The pain we feel this day.
Enraged, uncertain, we confess
Our need to bow and pray.

We grieve for all who lost their lives...
And for each injured one.
We pray for children, husbands, wives
Whose grief has just begun.

O Lord, we're called to offer prayer
For all our leaders, too.
May they, amid such great despair,
Be wise in all they do.

We trust your mercy and your grace;
In you we will not fear!
May peace and justice now embrace!
Be with your people here!

Tune: ST. ANNE CM ("O God, Our Help in Ages Past") Alternative Tunes: "Amazing Grace" and "America" Attr. William Croft, 1708. Tune is in public domain. Text: Copyright © 2001 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved. 305 South Broadway, Pitman, NJ 08071 Phone: (856)-589-8444 Email: Bruce.Gillette@ecunet.org.

Permission is given for free use of this hymn during religious services held in relation to the September 11 attacks and their aftermath. Please include the above copyright and contact information (in smaller type) when copying the hymn text or emailing to friends. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette is the co-pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Pitman, NJ and author of Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today's Worship (PCUSA Geneva Press, 2000).

Personal Note from the Gillettes

September 11, 2001: Two of our church members are working as EMTs now in the relief efforts in New York. We live 100 miles from the city, but the need was so great that they were called in to assist. This morning our church's clerk of session was across the river in Bayonne to lead a training seminar and witnessed the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. Carolyn wrote this new hymn today as our family watched the news reports from New York City and Washington, DC.

Blessings on your ministry in these difficult times.

Grace and Peace, Bruce Gillete
Church website: http://www.firstpresby.org

GBGM Photo: View of the Destruction of the World Trade Center from the Interchurch Center, upper west side of Manhattan, September 11, 2001 by Thomas Abraham, GBGM.