1. When through the whirl of wheels, and engines humming,
Patiently powerful for the sons of men,
Peals like a trumpet promise of His coming,
Who in the clouds is pledged to come again.
2. When through the night the furnace fires aflaring,
Shooting out tongues of flame like leaping blood,
Speak to the heart of love, alive, and daring,
Sing of the boundless energy of God.
3. When in the depths the patient miner striving
Feels in his arms the vigor of the Lord,
Strikes for a kingdom and his King’s arriving,
Holding his pick more splendid than the sword.
4. When on the sweat of labor and its sorrow,
Toiling in twilight flickering and dim,
Flames out the sunshine of the great tomorrow,
When all the world looks up because of Him.
5. Then will He come with meekness for His glory,
God in a workman’s jacket as before,
Living again th’eternal Gospel story,
Sweeping the shavings from His workshop floor.
Source: The Cyber Hymnal #7707
Born with Irish heritage to the vicarage in a deprived parish in Leeds. Studdert Kennedy got into Trinity College Dublin at the age of 14, though poverty meant he did not attend until later, graduating with a First Class degree. He was a popular teacher at Calday Grange Grammar School on the Wirral Peninsula before entering the Anglican Ministry; ordained in Worcester Cathedral in 1908 and married in 1914. He worked in deprived parishes: in Rugby, with his Father in Leeds and St Paul's in Worcester. He was known for his forgetfulness, his generosity (he famously gave away the marital bed to an old lady in need recruiting his wife to help carry the mattress) and his plain speaking.
He became a military chaplain (AKA the Padre) in 1915. He… Go to person page >
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