UPFSA

The Prayer of a Huguenot Descendant
by Frans Jordaan
South Africa
21 March 2006

O God of my fathers
You are my Saviour,
my Rock and my Shield!
God Emmanuel,
Protector of the réformés!
By grace I was saved,
by faith alone,
not through the works of men.
Honoured be Your Name
Yeshau Messiah,
God of mercy and love,
praised are You who are One!

As a small band they came
after Fontainebleau
to this land of the south.
Servants of the Almighty,
saved by grace
in the Spirit free.
Men of Gideon,

leader of old,
lapping Your Word like
water from a brook.

Little more than two hundred,
man, women and child.
Just a crumb
dropped in the haste
of a dispersion so great.
Small in number,
but strong in spirit.
Under the Power of Your Word
they came.
Standing strong
like a peninsula in a storm
to spread the Light
piercing Africa’s gloom.

Shining méreaux
in a Southern Land
Medallions of Truth
embedded in spirit’s realm.
Like ensigns on a hill,
streaming through
tempest and hail.
The Good Hope
to be carried
from a Cape of Storms
Over mountains
and into deserts
entering hearts of stone.
Bringing water to a wasteland,
wells to a land of thirst.

Let the Seed of Your Word return
to the Homeland,
the Land between the Seas
Land of vineyard,
mountain and plain.
Let it return in the power
of Your Spirit
as

Israel

will return
to the Promised Land

Praised be Your Name
Establisher of Truth!
Let me be a humble prédicant
of Your Word
Freed from proudness,
and tradition’s snare.
Let it be my honour
to carry Your banner
proclaiming Christ the Lord.

And if I have to suffer
like our forefathers did
Make me willing
and give me strength
to plant a martyr’s seed
Yielding abundance
in the Spirit’s acre of Truth.

Praised be Your Name
For ever and ever!

Amen