We turn to you, O God of every nation

We turn to you, O God of every nation

Author: Fred Kaan
Published in 4 hymnals

Full Text

1 We turn to you, O God of every nation,
giver of good and origin of life;
your love is at the heart of all creation,
your hurt is people's pain in war and death.

2 We turn to you that we may be forgiven
for crucifying Christ on earth again.
We know that we have never wholly striven
to share with all the promise of your reign.

3 Free every heart from haughty self-reliance,
our ways of thought inspire with simple grace;
break down among us barriers of defiance,
speak to the soul of all the human race.

4 On all who rise on earth for right relations,
we pray the light of love from hour to hour.
Grant wisdom to the leaders of the nations,
the gift of carefulness to those in power.

5 Teach us, good Lord, to serve the need of others,
help us to give and not to count the cost.
Unite us all to live as sisters, brothers,
defeat our Babel with your Pentecost!

Fred Kaan (1929-2009)
© 1967, 1991, 1997 Stainer & Bell Ltd
11 10 11 10

Used By Permission. CCL Licence No. Not entered
Copied from HymnQuest 2010: Standard Version
HymnQuest ID: 63562


Source: Voices United: The Hymn and Worship Book of The United Church of Canada #685

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Author: Fred Kaan

Fred Kaan was known and honoured throughout the English speaking world as a hymn writer. He was in the tradition of reformed ministers such as Philip Doddridge who wrote hymns to follow and sum up the sermons they preached. Having started to write hymns early in his ministry, his output grew steadily during his career. The post-war years witnessed an explosion of hymn writing that can loosely be categorised into two groups. There were those writers who worked in a traditional style, seeking to add their 20th-century contribution to the corpus of hymns used down the years by churches of all traditions. And there were those who introduced a new style of "worship song" designed to appeal to today's congregations. Kaan was impatient with… Go to person page >

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Text Information

First Line: We turn to you, O God of every nation
Author: Fred Kaan
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Instances

Instances (3)TextImageAudioScore
Complete Anglican Hymns Old & New #741
Hymns Ancient & Modern, New Standard Edition #522
Voices United: The Hymn and Worship Book of The United Church of Canada #685Text
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