Music to End the Day for Sunday, 19 July 2020

Hello, everyone.

Some years ago, I was privileged to visit the Iona Community. The peace, tranquility and calm of that holy place touched me very deeply. In times of difficulty and stress, my thoughts always turn to Iona, and the wonderful people I met there.

Our ‘Music to end the day’ this evening is a great song of the Iona Community, one of the many successful collaborations of John Bell and Graham Maule, first published in their second volume of Iona songs (1988):

The love of God comes close
where stands an open door
to let the stranger in,
to mingle rich and poor.
The love of God is here to stay,
embracing those who walk his way.

The peace of God comes close
to those caught in a storm,
foregoing lives of ease
to ease the lives forlorn.
The peace of God is here to stay…..

The joy of God comes close
where faith encounters fears,
where heights and depths of life
are found through smiles and tears.
The joy of God is here to stay……

The grace of God comes close
to those whose grace is spent,
when hearts are tired and sore
and hope is bruised and bent.
The grace of God is here to stay……

The Son of God comes close
where people praise his name,
where bread and wine are blest
and shared as when he came.
The Son of God is here to stay,
embracing those who walk his way.

John L. Bell & Graham Maule, The Iona Community (1988)
CCL31580

Now to end our evening, a prayer from the Iona Community:

When the day’s ribbon of glory around
the world fades
and the earth prepares to sleep –

The shadow of the dove is seen
as she flies across moor and city.

Over the warm breast of the earth she skims
her shadow falling on
the watcher in the tower,
the refugee in the ditch,
the weary soldier at the gate.

The shadow of peace falls across
the all-night sitting of a council,
across the tense negotiations
around a table.

The shadow of hope is cast across
the bars of a hostage cell,
filling with momentary light
rooms tense with conflict,
bringing a brief respite,
a sliver of gold across the dark.

She flies untiring
across flooded fields,
across a city divided by hate and fear,
across a town wreathed in smoke.

The shadow of reconciliation,
the dove of peace,
with healing in her wings,
is felt and seen and turned toward,
as she makes righteous shine,
like the dawn,
the justice of her cause
like the noonday sun.

HOLY SPIRIT OF LOVE,
BRING HEALING, BRING PEACE.

Amen

Goodnight everyone.

Adrian Boynton