Lent 4 – Two poems and two hymns

John 3: 1-17

Poem: God so loved …

No complicated creeds, 
or self-righteous rituals.
No holy huddles, 
or raw judgements.
No insistence on conformity.

Only a call to turn around 
to find forgiveness waiting.

For at the heart of all creation 
and the core of our existence 
there is the love of God 
for errant people. 

And one special human, 
whose presence in the world 
changed all our perceptions 
of our relationship 
with the God who loves us 
so much that he gave …
Marjorie Dobson - from Unravelling the Mysteries © Stainer & Bell Ltd 2019; London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns where appropriate. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd 

John 3:14-21

Hymn: Trust that God, who lit the cosmos 

Trust that God, who lit the cosmos, 
source and ground of all we are, 
demonstrated love's dimension, 
dying like the evening star, 
softened, shaded, so diminished, 
then extinguished, gone from sight, 
yet the third day rose in glory, 
bringing hope and shedding light.
	
From that day the crisis beckoned, 
those who saw that light must choose 
where to stand: with Christ in suffering? 
To accept or to refuse?
Still that challenge stands before us, 
God has given love and grace. 
Will we take the love that's offered 
or deride God in this place?
	
All our songs are crass and empty, 
all our worship hollow praise, 
if we do not love our neighbours 
that we live with in these days. 
Simple acts of loving kindness 
signal where we place our trust; 
faith without these simple actions 
slowly moulders, turns to dust.

Andrew Pratt 
Words © 2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd.
8 7 8 7 D
Tune: DIM OND IESUS

Poem: Light came …

If light is good 
and darkness is bad, 
why do we have such a longing 
to run to the dark 
when we see the light of God 
entering the world?

Could it be 
that we need to hide 
and the darkness 
is our only refuge?

Yet God persists 
in flooding the world with light 
and focusing its intensity 
through Jesus.

Is it any wonder 
that a new flame 
burns in our hearts 
and fires our enthusiasm 
when we emerge from the shadows, 
as we finally recognize 
how much God loves us?
©Marjorie Dobson

Ephesians 2:1-10

Hymn: Into darkness and disaster 

Into darkness and disaster, 
swept along by what we’ve done, 
making choices that determined 
things we’ve lost and things we’ve won, 
sometimes we reflect and wonder 
at the people we’ve become.

Sometimes lost, sometimes despairing, 
feeling there is no way back 
to the way we wish we’d taken, 
knowing all the things we lack, 
we can feel so God forsaken, 
prayer is dry, resolve is slack.

Yet within the depths of sorrow, 
when there is no way ahead, 
God will reach us, grace will show us 
life beyond the tears we’ve shed; 
God will lift us, heal, forgive us, 
shield us from the things we dread.

God will build a bright tomorrow, 
light a dawn of wider scope, 
where our human strength has faltered 
God will sow the seeds of hope.
Know that, even now, God holds us, 
and will show us how to cope.

Andrew Pratt 
Words © 2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd ©  Stainer & Bell Ltd
Tune: TRIUMPH (Gauntlett); ST COLUMBANUS
Metre: 8.7.8.7.8.7