Put peace into each other’s hands

Put peace into each other’s hands. Frederik Herman Kaan* (1929-2009). Written in 1987 as a hymn for Holy Communion. It was one of the prize-winners in a BBC ‘Songs of Praise’ Festival, and published in the BBC booklet, New Songs of Praise 4 (1988). It then appeared in the author’s Planting Trees and Sowing Seeds (1989). It takes its central image from the hands which are cupped to receive the bread at Holy Communion, but in a powerful metaphor the hands hold peace rather than bread. The title of the hymn is ‘Hands shaped like a cradle’, which produces further suggestions of holding something precious and vulnerable, like a baby. The putting of peace into each other’s hands also suggests the...