Storm coming in tonight. A taste of what we’re told we’ll see a lot more of.

Standing on the gnarled Cornish coast, looking out at rocks that have been eroded by storms for centuries beyond centuries, is so humbling. The drama is everywhere. Not parading itself, but just there – evidence of the power of nature and its consequences.

Now it seems that nature’s power is growing, or channelling in new ways, with the consequences becoming more widespread. It is bigger than us, and it’s changing its patterns. The knowledge is unnerving. Bad enough on land. How must it feel to be at sea? These words keep coming to mind “… for those in peril on the sea …”

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bid’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea.

The hymn was written by William Whiting (1825 -1878). It’s said that he’d experienced danger at sea first hand, so when a boy at the college in Winchester where he was master, grew anxious about crossing the ocean, Whiting wrote what would later become this hymn to help calm the boy – a prayer for him to hold on to.

I can’t imagine that Whiting had any idea how apt his words would sound two decades into this millennium.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023