It was not until Comex had come face to face with the ups and downs of ordinary people in the wilderness of human relations that our own songs began to emerge expressing the experiences we shared. How these would be received called for faith in ourselves, hope that all would turn out well, and that audiences would take a charitable view of what we had to offer. Celia Congdon's voice was well suited to just such a purpose, and once the audience had heard her, approval flowed in abundance - not least at the inauguration of The Green Pennant Awards. Lydia Lufungulo sings the Zambian version of Faith, Hope and Charity. The style is different but the meaning the same.

Celia Congdon on stage.

Day dawns with fresh resolution,

Sifting hope from the ash of yesterday,

Offering again the occasion to laugh, to sing, to dance, to pray.

Hope fades with evening shadows, Victim of life’s decay

As pleading, wailing, tears unavailing -

The body journeys on to meet its clay.

Give us faith; give us hope; give us charity.

Faith lives, guardian of tomorrow and life itself will never end,

‘Til outliving life and all that thrives upon it -

Man comes to see in God his friend.

Swept forward on perilous wings of fortune,

To gamble on the battlefields of chance,

What hope is there of faith surviving,

When death looks out from every glance.

Give us faith; give us hope; give us charity.

Charity glows through the blinding darkness,

Anchored in life’s stormy seas,

A golden straw for clutching fingers,

The healing touch to painful reveries.

A last reprieve from chains of anguish,

A way through jungles of despair,

A kindly voice to whisper softly -

The elixir of life still fills the air.

Give us faith; give us hope; give us charity.