In An Age of Twisted Values

Hymn Information

First Line: In an age of twisted values
Author: Martin E. Leckebusch, b. 1962
Tune Name: CHURCH UNITED
Composer: Alfred V. Fedak, b. 1953 (1988)
Topic: Nation · Hymns That Are Prayer · Elements of Worship: Confession

Copyright Information

Text Copyright

Tune Copyright

Reprint/Projection Information

Words: Permitted with a license from CCLI.com or from OneLicense.net. If you do not own one of these licenses, please contact the copyright holder for permission.
Music: Permitted with a license from CCLI.com or from OneLicense.net. If you do not own one of these licenses, please contact the copyright holder for permission.

Scripture References

Psalm 33:12-22
·
Psalm 95:10
·
Isaiah 1:3
·
Hosea 4:1
·
Matthew 5:6
·
Romans 12:1-2
·
Revelation 22:2

Confessions and Statements of Faith References

Further Reflections on Confessions and Statements of Faith References

Our songs and prayers include honesty before God in which we express the pain we experience over our own sins and failures, the difficulties in both our lives and others’ lives, and our laments at the suffering and brokenness that marks our world and our lives. We have assurance, says Belgic Confession, Article 26, that Christ, our intercessor, will hear us, “since he suffered, being tempted, he is also able to help those who are tempted.”

We are encouraged to approach the throne with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Belgic Confession, Article 26, based on Hebrews 4). “We grieve that the church…has become a broken communion in a broken world” (Our World Belongs to God, paragraph 40).

We also “lament that our abuse of creation has brought lasting damage to the world we have been given...” (Our World Belongs to God, paragraph 51). And we cry to God for those who suffer in our world, knowing “that God…is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged...” (Belhar Confession, Section 4).

662

In An Age of Twisted Values

Additional Prayers

A Prayer of Confession

Great and Holy God, you who shun what’s evil and embrace what’s good, we confess to you that we have too often caved in to secular culture. Thinking we are following you, we have instead been drawn to the gods that fascinate our world. “In an age of twisted values,” give us again the truth we need, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

— Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.

662

In An Age of Twisted Values

Tune Information

Name: CHURCH UNITED
Key: f minor
Meter: 8.7.8.7 D

662

In An Age of Twisted Values

Hymn Story/Background

This text of confession and petition expresses problems faced by many in today’s world. It begins by describing a culure gone awry and ends with a scathing indictment of the church for its blindness, apathy, and indolence

— Bert Polman

Author Information

Martin Leckebusch (b. Leicester, England, 1962) was educated at Oriel College before going on to study Mathematics at Oxford and Numerical Analysis at Brunel University. He and his wife, Jane, have four daughters; their second child, a son, died in 1995. The family live in Gloucester and belong to a Baptist church.

Martin’s work in hymnody over the past twenty-five years has resulted in almost 400 hymn texts, of which around half have so far been published by Kevin Mayhew. These include the ever-popular More than Words and Songs of God’s People – books which have cemented his status as a talented and accomplished hymn writer.

Martin is keen to see the church equipped for Christian living, and believes that well-crafted and wisely-used contemporary hymns and songs have a vital role to play in that process.

— Kevin Mayhew Publishing (http://www.kevinmayhew.com/)

Composer Information

Alfred Fedak (b. 1953), is a well-known organist, composer, and Minister of Music at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Capitol Hill in Albany, New York. He graduated from Hope College in 1975 with degrees in organ performance and music history. He obtained a Master’s degree in organ performance from Montclair State University, and has also studied at Westminster Choir College, Eastman School of Music, the Institute for European Studies in Vienna, and at the first Cambridge Choral Studies Seminar at Clare College, Cambridge.

As a composer, he has over 200 choral and organ works in print, and has three published anthologies of his work (Selah Publishing). In 1995, he was named a Visiting Fellow in Church Music at Episcopal Seminary of the Soutwest in Austin, Texas. He is also a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, and was awarded the AGO’s prestigious S. Lewis Elmer Award. Fedak is a Life Member of the Hymn Society, and writes for The American Organist, The Hymn, Reformed Worship, and Music and Worship. He was a member of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song that prepared Glory to God, the 2013 hymnal of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

— Laura de Jong