HOW THE WORLD WAS WON (Easter)

1. Let’s remind each other how the world was won
— not with mighty army, nor with soldier’s gun;
his unlikely palace: Mother Mary’s womb;
Operation Jesus from a borrowed room.

2. Flesh and bone, so fragile, his strategic way:
with a broken body Jesus won the day.
Cluster bombs and rifles
— he had none of these.
They were never needed for his victory.

3. Though this man was helpless, Satan’s kingdom fell.
Weakness was the weapon that defeated hell.
Feeble flesh, so human, just like mine and yours,
brought the world to safety, opened heaven’s door.

4. May I sit beside you in this quiet room?
Though the darkness hides you, dawn is coming soon.
When the night is gone, your legs will walk again,
death will be destroyed and life will never end.

For Christmas, a different v.4

4. May I lie beside you, in your manger bed,
Will I know or care what danger lies ahead?
If I feel your breath upon my face, I know
heaven’s power is with me everywhere I go.

Keith Stiller, a Lutheran pastor in Queensland, emailed me a couple of months before Christmas 2001, asking if I might write a song for him, for their Christmas Eve service. He had thought of using a 17th century hymn full of military imagery but, deciding that it was archaic, asked if I could write a new one. After at first feeling negative towards the idea — I’m not much into wars and militarism — I studied the older words and decided that I could do something similar. Jesus is not the Saviour of the World through superior military power, but wins through losing, lives by dying, is strong by being weak. The invasion of Afghanistan gave the song an edge that it might not have when war is not the first story in the news every night. And of course this still applies in March 2003.

30.9.24

Back from a Break

During September, Dorothy and I travelled
to Norway and the UK.

After long flights
- Adelaide to Melbourne,
Melb to Dubai (14 hrs),
Dubai to Oslo (7 hrs) -
we did Norway in a nutshell
from Oslo to Bergen, then
the Hurtigruten Cruise
up the west coast of Norway
and back again.
Then an 8 day Trafalgar tour
and 4 days in London,
before taking the direct flight
(16 3/4 hrs)
from Heathrow to Perth.
We're a bit tired (!) but we'll still be a part
of the LWA convention and the
General Convention .

See some of you there.