WOV 739 "In All Our Grief" (stanzas 1 and 2)
Devotion
Sylvia Dunstan, ordained minister in the United Church of Canada, wrote several hymns in her brief life, 1955-1993. Here is her hymn of sorrow and repentance, each stanza ending with the Kyrie Eleison, "Lord have mercy." (The tune, Fredericktown, somberly bears these words of confession, while in the Lutheran Book of Worship (555) the same tune joyfully proclaims, "When in our music God is glorified ... Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.")
Like the texts for Sunday, these words are about life together in the human family. When we sing this hymn we confess our sins against each other, difficult as it may be to let the words escape our lips, "Forgive me for hurting you."
It may be even harder to confess our sins to God. This hymn gives shape to guilt we are unable to acknowledge. It recognizes ways in which the communion of the saints is also the community of sinners, and echoes the texts for Sunday:
"Teach us the way in which love best is served" (WOV 739)
"Love does no wrong to a neighbor..." (Romans 13:10)