Lord, While Afar Our Brothers Fight

Lord

while afar our bro­thers fight

Thy Church unit­ed lifts her pray­er;

Be Thou their Shield by day and night;

Guide

guard

and help them ev­ery­where:

O God of bat­tles

hear our cry

And in their dan­ger be Thou nigh.

For those who

wound­ed in the fray

Are lin­ger­ing still on beds of pain

Who to their loved ones far away

May nev­er­more re­turn again

O God of pi­ty

hear our cry

And in their ang­uish be Thou nigh.

For wives and mo­thers sore dis­tressed

For all who wait in si­lent fear

For homes be­reaved which gave their best

For hearts now de­so­late and drear

O God of com­fort

hear our cry

And in the dark­est hour draw nigh.

Spare us

good Lord! If just the strife

Yet still from guilt we are not free;

Forgive our blind and care­less life

Our oft for­get­ful­ness of Thee.

O God of mer­cy

hear our cry

And to our con­trite souls draw nigh.

We bow be­neath the chast­en­ing rod

To us the sin and shame be­long

But Thou art righ­teous

Thou art God

And right shall tri­umph ov­er wrong.

In Thee we trust

to Thee we cry;

Lord

now and ev­er be Thou nigh.