When mountains crumble
A reflection on 9/11 that began more than 3,000 miles away on a Cornish river walk with lyrics that have now inspired a new Celtic rock track.
I guess most writers feel validated when something they have produced is chosen by another artist. For hymn writers there is nothing like hearing their piece sung by congregations.
It was a great joy to be in Coventry Cathedral when a text I had written for the 70th anniversary of Methodist Homes was part of the celebration service and sung by hundreds.
But today is the first time I’ve ever been able to share that some words I produced have become a single release!
I’m so grateful to the band Celtish - Nigel Cameron and Julie Cameron-Hall - who have taken words I wrote the day after 9/11 and produced an epic 8-minute track which they are releasing this week as we mark the 23rd anniversary of the attack n the Twin Towers.
This is the song, with awesome guitar work from Dave Bainbridge part of iconic bands like The Strawbs and Iona.
The new single from Celtish
This is the journey of the text, written in North Cornwall as a hymn as I tried to process what I had watched in New York.
There aren’t many events that appear to stop time. September 11, 2001, was one.
I recall being in the first weeks of a posting as the Methodist Minister in Wadebridge, North Cornwall. I was working in my manse study - more than 3,000 miles away from New York - when the true horror of the attack began to emerge.
We turned on the TV just as the first plane hit the twin towers and then, like millions of others, watched in disbelief as all hell broke loose.
Newscasters were struggling for words, trying to get official statements and the cameras kept turning. That’s inevitable now, especially with our 24-hour news cycle, but there was a conflict of emotions. I wanted to know what was happening but also knew that people needed to be able to do their work without cameras constantly getting in the way.
Of course there was nothing else to do but sit quietly in front of the screen as it broadcast other people’s nightmare into our front room.
The next morning I set out for a walk and found myself on what is now called the Camel Trail - a cycle path along a former railway line between Wadebridge and Padstow.
The contrast couldn’t have been more stark. There were almost no people around beyond a few cyclists and walkers. The river flowed serenely and birds landed and took off alongside the handful of boats that moved along the water.
I couldn’t help contrast what I had watched the day before and recall these giant towers - monuments to money - crumbling with the after-effects of the attacks.
How should we respond? What good would getting angry do all those miles away? What did it matter how a Methodist Minister in a Cornish town responded?
As a hymn writer, answers often come lyrically and as I walked some lines began to form. By the end of the next day they were complete.
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
Gareth Hill. Copyright 2001 © Gareth Hill Publishing/Song Solutions CopyCare, 14 Horsted Square, Uckfield, TN22 1QG www.songsolutions.org CCLI Song number 5916476
Possible tunes: Vox Dilecti, Kingsfold
In the weeks that followed I discovered that words are not wasted when they help people express their pain and uncertainty.
The annual Royal Cornwall Show had been postponed till September in 2001 because of the Foot and Mouth outbreak in the UK. It was my first year as a show chaplain and we used the hymn during a silence in the churches tent at the show that weekend.
I then heard that a number of British Methodist churches had used it on the Sunday after the attacks. In a truly humbling moment I was contacted to say that it had been used at a Quaker meeting in New York within days.
The Methodist Church then included it in the news authorised collection of hymns, Singing the Faith, when it was published in 2011 (number 722, if you’re interested).
A couple of years after 9/11 we were in New York and made the pilgrimage to Ground Zero, as it was then called. The atmosphere was extraordinary, even then, and we were so touched visiting nearby St Paul’s Church which sat in the shadow of the Twin Towers and had been completely unscathed by the terror attack. Not a window was broken.
St Paul’s had been the refuge for rescue workers to catch some sleep between working in the rubble. The wooden pews were scarred by the boots that the firefighters and others had been too tired to take off and the church had decided to leave it as a reminder.
In the entrance area was a pile of badges sent from fire brigades all over the world. In a moment of extraordinary connection, the first badge I saw was for the Gwent Fire Brigade. I was born there and now, after 32 years away, have come back to retire. I remember being deeply moved by it.
Then last year I was contacted by Nigel Cameron and Julie Cameron-Hall of the band Celtish. Nigel said: ‘I recently came across this hymn and was very moved by the lyrics. I know they were written in response to 9/11 but they are very relevant today to all that's going on in our world. [We] wondered if we could have your permission to record a version of your hymn for our next album? We intend to set it to the traditional Irish tune Homes of Donegal.’
I have loved Celtic music for a while and when Nigel and Julie told me they intended to bring in guitarist Dave Bainbridge to play on the track I couldn’t wait to hear it. It is, as Nigel told me, EPIC and I love it.
What began as a set of lyrics asking how we should respond to terror has become a hymn of hope that cries out for justice, whether sung to an organ or given the Celtish treatment.
I’m really blessed to discover that Nigel and Julie are releasing it as a single from their album Celtish Journey and grateful that the words still speak today to troubled people and places.