New Reinhardt hymn for our Ukraine brothers and sisters

ONTARIO – Be Near Your People, Lord, We Pray is a new hymn written by Rev. Kurt E. Reinhardt, pastor in Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC)’s East Region, serving Trinity Lutheran Church in Kurtzville, Ontario. Pastor Reinhardt shares that this hymn was written for our dear brothers and sisters in Ukraine.

The hymn is set to the tune O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf (LSB 586) and the words are as follows:

Be near Your people, Lord, we pray

Be near Your people, Lord, we pray,
In war’s dark terrifying hour;
Do not let fear their faith dismay,
Uphold it by Your Spirit’s pow’r.

Their lives are in Your watchful care
And can’t be snatched away from You;
You number each strand of their hair;
And walk with them their whole lives through.

When all the world is crashing down,
As death is raining from the sky;
Remind them that Your thorny crown
Led to Your vict’ry up on high.

You stretched Your arms out on the tree
To pay for their sins with Your life;
Your wounded hands that set them free
Now bear them home through worldly strife.

You know their fears and all their woes,
How hard it is for them to cope;
Deliver them from all their foes
And be their sure and certain hope.

Have mercy, Christ, and bring an end
To this war waged against their land;
Arise, O Lord, Your cause defend;
Restore peace with Your mighty hand!

For those interested in singing along at home, a video has been released on LCC’s YouTube Channel and Website, featuring LCC musician, Kayla Falkenholt, on organ.

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