Lord, stay with us right now

Please see link to sheet-music in PDF at the bottom of the page!

Has the whole world been left behind?
Is there still hope for human kind?
Lord, please tell us where we should go
If you are not with us right now
On this day

Lord, stay with us right now (4x)
We pray

Where should we go when sorrow reign?
Where is relief for wounds and pain?
Lord, please tell us where we should go
If you are not with us right now
On this day?

When there’s no answer to be found
And we step out on shaky ground
Lord, please tell us where we should go
If you are not with us right now
On this day?

Lord, stay with us right now (4x)
We pray

Tested you were in every way
Who else can understand this day?
Lord, now we know where we can go
We know that you are here right now
On this day!

Lord, you are here right now (4x)
Amen

ABOUT THE SONG

The first Sunday after 9/11 I was looking through our songbook and struggled to find songs that expressed the thoughts I knew many of us had at that time. Even though I found couple, which were OK to use, I felt that I looked in vain. I searched for alternatives in hymn-books from other churches, and found one or two 'lamentations' that I included in the service. 

When TSA in Norway decided to print a new songbook, they also sent out an appeal for new songs to be written for the song book. So I decided to write two songs on subjects I considered to be more or less missing in the previous edition. This song was one of them and it was sent to the commitee in the summer of 2007. A couple of months later we returned to Norway after our first term in Eastern Europe. The first public meeting we took part in after we returned, was the Sunday a few days after our dear friend and colleague, Colonel Bo Brekke was murdered in Pakistan. Our son-in-law asked what kind of song he could sing in a meeting when the congregation was searching for something to cling to, and I suggested that he could sing this song, and so he did, and we discovered that it met a need.

Since the song was published, it has also reached congregations outside of TSA, which in many ways proves that there is a need for texts that express sorrow and questions, without forgetting the hope and the fact that the Lord is with us in the midst of suffering.

The song i published in the Norwegian SASB # 115 and you find a link to a recording on youtube here:

Herre, vær hos oss nå

Here is link to sheet-music in English:

Lord, stay with us right now

Jesus in our time

When Jesus comes to town and passes down my local street,
Will my neighbours even notice the event?
Yet there's an awesome mystery that all believers meet:
It is me, it is me he has sent!

Our Master has a strategy,quite radical, by far: We are 'Jesus' (3x) In our time, Where we are.

When Jesus takes the risk of using me and you today,

I can hardly understand it, but he dares!
Thank God, he's also promised he will guide us on our way,
So I know, so I know that he cares.

When Jesus asks me to reveal his love for all to see,
Will my answer be reliable and true?
'When I walk through your town' he asks 'wherever you may be,
Will they see, will they see me in you?'

(2) Link to the sheet music

Written in Norwegian June 2014

I translated it into an English version the same month, however, it was sent to Jenty Fairbanks for her comments, and she came with some very valuable amendments. 

The story behind the song: 

Three weeks before the start of our annual congress in Norway, Commissioner Dick Krommenhoek came to my office and said: "I think we need a theme-song for the congress!" - I seconded the idea, however, I did remind him that it was only three weeks until the event. "It is not a problem", he replied, "You will write the text and I will write the music, but make it radical!" 

A late evening one week later, I sent him the Norwegian version. After less than one hour, I received  a reply with his sheet-music attached.
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• The song in Russian
• The song in Romanian
• The song in Norwegian