A hymn on theodicy

Following our recent discussion of theodicy, I thought I’d post this hymn by Kim Fabricius, which is set to the tune of Scarlet Ribbons:

Children die from drought and earthquake,
     children die by hand of man.
What on earth, and what for God’s sake,
     can be made of such a plan?
Nothing – no such plan’s been plotted;
     nothing – no such plan exists:
if such suffering were allotted,
     God would be an atheist.

Into ovens men drive brothers,
     into buildings men fly planes;
history’s losers are the mothers,
     history’s winners are the Cains.
Asking where was God in Auschwitz,
     or among the Taliban:
God himself was on the gibbets –
     thus the question: Where was man?

God of love and God of power –
     attributes in Christ are squared.
Faith can face the final hour,
     doubt and anger can be aired.
Answers aren’t in explanation,
     answers come at quite a cost:
only wonder at creation,
     and the practice of the cross.