This article was written for the September 2026 issue of our parish magazine. Here it is for you again:
I was introduced to this haunting song at Sing for Pleasure’s 2025 summer school for singers and conductors.
- When you’ve crossed the stormy waters
Come walk a shore
Bring your sons and bring your daughters
Wander no more
Chorus: For our door is always open
And our hearth is always warm
When you need a place to shelter
We’re a harbour in the storm - There’ll be time for rest and sleeping
Come walk a shore
There’ll be space for peace and healing
Wander no more
Chorus - For in days of lesser fortune
Come walk a shore
We may need a door to open
Wander no more
Chorus
Anna Tabbush wrote this song in 2020 in response to the Syrian refugee crisis and put it on her website as a free download. Since 2022 there has been a small fee, with proceeds used as a fundraiser for the millions of people that fled Ukraine.
I have chosen to focus on “Harbour” for my article this month as it speaks of so many situations when we need the support of friends. Forty years ago, the entire parish relied on friends in neighbouring communities to facilitate continuity of worship for the congregation, and for emotional support as the long task of clearing, cleaning and rebuilding our church building began. Members of the congregation dug deep organising and attending fundraising activities, and gelled together as a Church Family. This was all well before my time in the parish, but I have heard the stories of the fire, rescuing those artefacts that could be rescued, and the very positive impact within the community that followed. God never lets a crisis go to waste, nor does He waste our suffering.
There is an open day and exhibition at St Margaret’s on Saturday 12 September, all about the devastation of the fire, and what happened in the year that followed. There will also be a service of thanksgiving in church at 4:00pm on the same afternoon.
St Margaret’s Voices learned this song in September 2025, as did the KS2 choir at St Margaret’s Primary School. Hopefully you’ll hear it in one of our services during Creationtide this year. Meanshile, here is the composer singing “Harbour”:
Carol P
