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Beauty for Brokenness: Singing Lazarus’s Song

Beauty for Brokenness: Singing Lazarus’s Song

Readings: Amos 6:1a, 4–7; Psalm 146; 1 Timothy 6:11–16; Luke 16:19–31

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The Hymn as a Prayer

When Graham Kendrick wrote Beauty for Brokenness (TIS 690), he wasn’t simply writing a hymn — he was penning a prayer of lament and hope. It cries out on behalf of the poor, the dispossessed, the voiceless:

“God of the poor, friend of the weak, give us compassion we pray.”

Singing it today, with fresh voices or even a recording made long ago, it becomes a living commentary on the Scriptures appointed for this Sunday. When reflecting on the readings, this hymn and a recording I made of it some 16 years ago kept bubbling to the surface. 

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Amos: Woe to the Comfortable

The prophet Amos is fierce:

“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion… who lie on beds of ivory… but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph” (Amos 6:1a, 4–7).

The words slice through complacency. It is not wealth itself Amos condemns, but indifference — the numbing of the heart to suffering.

When TIS 690 pleads for “refuge from cruel wars, havens from fear,” it could easily have been Amos’s own psalm of protest.

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Psalm 146: God’s Priorities

Psalm 146 gives us a picture of God’s economy:

• He upholds the oppressed.

• He feeds the hungry.

• He frees the prisoner.

• He watches over the foreigner and the widow.

This is not abstract theology but a manifesto. When we sing, “Shelter for fragile lives, cures for their ills”, we echo the psalmist’s conviction that God is always on the side of the forgotten.

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1 Timothy: The Fight of Faith

Paul’s charge to Timothy is urgent:

“Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:12).

True wealth is not counted in coin but in courage, steadfastness, and compassion.

The hymn’s refrain — “Melt our cold hearts, let tears fall like rain” — is Timothy’s charge in musical form. It is a call to lay hold of the life that is really life.

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Luke 16: Lazarus at the Gate

Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus is devastating in its simplicity. The rich man does not torment Lazarus — he simply ignores him. His sin is omission: the failure to see, the failure to act.

Here Beauty for Brokenness becomes our confession:

“God of the poor, friend of the weak…”

It’s as if the hymn gives us the words the rich man never spoke, the prayer he never prayed.

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A Call to the Church

Together, the readings and the hymn form a sharp question: Whose side are we on?

• Amos won’t let us hide in our comfort.

• The psalmist reminds us of God’s bias for the poor.

• Paul calls us to courage and righteousness.

• Jesus warns us of the eternal consequences of indifference.

And so we sing — not as a warm feeling, but as a dangerous prayer:

• That God would break our hearts for what breaks his.

• That he would turn our worship into justice.

• That the beauty of his kingdom would be revealed in our care for the broken.

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Closing Word

To sing Beauty for Brokenness is to let God’s Spirit stir us, to make our lives into an answer to our own prayer.

As the hymn says:

“Until your kingdom comes, until the nations learn, your mercy will not rest.”

Friends, may we be restless until God’s mercy is made visible in us.

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