When The Temple Veil Was Rent (For Christchurch at Easter)

This hymn reflects the trauma caused by the devastating earthquake at Christchurch,
New Zealand, in 2010 and points to the Easter promise of new life and new opportunities.

When the Temple veil was rent
and the earth shook violently,
people questioned what it meant:
Where was their security?
Were they not a favoured race?
Why, then, this disastrous loss?
Where was God when this took place?
Lifeless on Good Friday’s cross?

When Cathedral bells‚ no more
ringing out across the sky‚
sit, abandoned on the floor,
where the piles of rubble lie —
in their trauma and their doubt,
people question, weep and wail,
seeing dreams turned inside out,
shattered, as the Temple veil.

Verses 3-4 follow

7.7.7.7.D. Suggested tune: Aberystwyth
Words: Copyright, ©, Easter 2011, Norman J Goreham