This is a hymn I wrote the day after the twin towers fell on September 11, 2011. A few years later Joy and I went to Ground Zero and spent some time in nearby St Paul's Church - which had in a remarkable way been untouched by the carnage of the attacks despite being yards away.

The church had become the place where exhausted rescue workers went to sleep on the pews and had also become a place to show photographs and collections of badges sent by emergency services around the world who wanted to identify with the work of the heroes of 9/11. It was for me one of the most emotional moments to see, at the top of one pile, a badge from Gwent Fire Service - my home area.

It was, somehow, an example of the final verse that we bear the pain together ... but also that in God there is also a promise of a future time when warfare will cease. Without that hope what have we?

When mountains that we thought secure

lie crumbled where we stand

and pain and helplessness endure

- all from another’s hand -

Help us to bear the prophet’s mark,

to stand apart from hate

and witness to the Father’s call

for justice in the land.

God is our strength and refuge still

though all the earth give way;

our help at every time of ill,

the light of our dark day.

And as his people in the world

we bear the scars of grief,

but echo faith’s resounding note

- and still for justice pray.

There is a place of holiness

where God makes warfare cease.

There is a day of hopefulness,

a promised time of peace.

So, here today, we bear the pain
of inhumanity,
but pledge our lives to live for truth
so justice may increase

Recommended tune: Vox Dilecti

If you are a Methodist the month of September brings with it new starts of all sorts.

As well as the school changes that everyone else copes with, and the 'empty nest' heartache as new family members head off to university for the first time, we have a New Year.

Presbyters and deacons who are changing jobs do it now and so are getting used to the regular cycle of meetings but with different groups of people. For ministers, especially Superintendents and District Chairs, the next few weeks are chaotic.

The diary is crammed night after night and the mileage rises as church councils, welcome services and harvest festivals mount up.

Our chaos is of a slightly different nature. My new role as Head of the Mission & Advocacy cluster in Methodist Church House at Marylebone Road, London, begins on September 5 but we can't move from Cornwall to our new home in Winchester for a further 10 days. Even after that Joy's work doesn't finish till the following week!

So if your mind is spinning with the prospect of the next few Methodist weeks, remember that God is in control - even if he doesn't plan the Connexional diary - and reflect on these lovely words from a Paul Field song.

'Go peaceful, in gentleness

through the violence of these days.

Give freely, show tenderness

in all your ways.

God speed you,

God lead you,

and keep you wrapped around his heart.

May you be known by love.'

Go Peaceful, Paul Field from New Hymns for the Modern Church