Isaac the Beloved

When you can't find the hymn that quite says what you want, clearly the solution is to write one, no? 

This is "Isaac the Beloved", to the well-known tune of Be thou my Vision / Lord of Hopefulness; which mostly wrote itself on a walk around Birmingham's canals. 

Isaac the beloved was Abraham’s dear son

How could God ask him to give up this precious one?

Was there sadness and anger before he said yes?

Did he know God was with him, even in his distress?

They walked to the mountain, they walked side by side

Did he know what was happening as his hands were tied?

But still in that moment, in the depths of the pain

Still daring to listen, so God spoke again

God said to Abraham “do him no harm”

Where bloodshed was threatened, a moment of calm

Where sometimes we falter, unsure what we must give

A promise is whispered your God wants you to live!

But what of that message, had he misunderstood

Or had God changed her mind about what was now good

As we journey to discover what we’re called to do

It’s the daring to listen that allows something new

Sometimes we listen, sometimes struggle to hear

As the voice seems to change with the passing of years

But dare we still listen to what God will say

And dare we still follow when she changes the way?

(Written for the church at Carrs Lane service which I wrote about here)