"Canticle of the Turning" (ELW 723)
1. My soul cries out with a joyful shout
that the God of my heart is great,
and my spirit sings of the wondrous things
that you bring to the ones who wait.
You fixed your sight on your servant's plight,
and my weakness you did not spurn,
so from east to west shall my name be blest.
Could the world be about to turn?
Refrain:
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn.
2. Though I am small, my God, my all,
you work great things in me,
and your mercy will last from the depths of the past
to the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame,
and to those who would for you yearn,
you will show your might, put the strong to flight,
for the world is about to turn.
Refrain:
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn.
3. From the halls of pow'r to the fortress tow'r,
not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears
ev'ry tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more,
for the food they can never earn;
there are tables spread, ev'ry mouth be fed,
for the world is about to turn.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn.
3. From the halls of pow'r to the fortress tow'r,
not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears
ev'ry tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more,
for the food they can never earn;
there are tables spread, ev'ry mouth be fed,
for the world is about to turn.
Refrain:
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn.
4. Though the nations rage from age to age,
we remember who holds us fast:
God's mercy must deliver us
from the conqueror's crushing grasp.
This saving word that our forebears heard
is the promise which holds us bound,
till the spear and rod can be crushed by God,
who is turning the world around.
Refrain:
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn.
It's easy, natural, and perhaps unavoidable to be fixated on what seems to make us unhappy or to be obsessively attached to what we think will make us happy. Yet "the world is about to turn" says our canticle. This may seem an almost facetious statement of the obvious. For indeed, when has the world ever ceased to turn? It's only in our minds that we can seem to forget that the world is still moving, still unfolding, still just as mysterious as it was yesterday. It is today that holds the potential for the fires of God's justice, the healing of the nations and the wiping away of tears. The world will continue to turn beneath us whether we commit ourselves to cherish it and one another, or continue to blindly stumble deeper into the living nightmare of eternal war, ecological suicide, and callous indifference divisions between those who have privilege and those who do not.
God of flaming hearts, do not let us be satisfied with a faith that keeps us safe, that insulates us from one another in theological silos. Burn away our indifference and turn our hearts toward you and to one another. Amen.
Ryan Pusch, '17
Awaiting first call in the Southwest Pennsylvania Synod
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn.
4. Though the nations rage from age to age,
we remember who holds us fast:
God's mercy must deliver us
from the conqueror's crushing grasp.
This saving word that our forebears heard
is the promise which holds us bound,
till the spear and rod can be crushed by God,
who is turning the world around.
Refrain:
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn.
It's easy, natural, and perhaps unavoidable to be fixated on what seems to make us unhappy or to be obsessively attached to what we think will make us happy. Yet "the world is about to turn" says our canticle. This may seem an almost facetious statement of the obvious. For indeed, when has the world ever ceased to turn? It's only in our minds that we can seem to forget that the world is still moving, still unfolding, still just as mysterious as it was yesterday. It is today that holds the potential for the fires of God's justice, the healing of the nations and the wiping away of tears. The world will continue to turn beneath us whether we commit ourselves to cherish it and one another, or continue to blindly stumble deeper into the living nightmare of eternal war, ecological suicide, and callous indifference divisions between those who have privilege and those who do not.
God of flaming hearts, do not let us be satisfied with a faith that keeps us safe, that insulates us from one another in theological silos. Burn away our indifference and turn our hearts toward you and to one another. Amen.
Ryan Pusch, '17
Awaiting first call in the Southwest Pennsylvania Synod
The Luther Seminary
2481 Como Avenue
Saint Paul | Minnesota 55108, United States
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