The earth pleads for justice, the harvest is wanting - While Matthew 9: 37 speaks of a harvest of people, perhaps it is also pertinent today if we think of a harvest of the earth and its care?
The earth pleads for justice, the harvest is wanting,
in fire, flood or tempest our crops are destroyed;
the Spring, once predicted, is desolate, silent,
excuses are hollow, we’ve done all we can?
The mountains have echoed, or is that God’s whisper,
the quiet consternation of one in distress?
A prompting, a question that answers our calling,
is that your defence, that you’ve done all you can?
While continents crumble and ice caps are melting,
you sit on your hands, you do nothing at all.
Wake up to the danger still growing around you,
and do all you can till your passage is through.
And now in the present let’s work for the future,
still others will follow, they wait in the wings:
this planet, its future, its people our neighbours,
join hands, sing our anthem: ‘We’ll do All We Can!’
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2021 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
Metre: 12 11 12 11
Tunes: LAREDO; ST CATHERINES COURT
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The cosmic cries that sound through all creation – inspired by Psalm 33: 1-12 especially v 8-12.
The cosmic cries that sound through all creation -
inspired by Psalm 33: 1-12 especially v 8-12.
1 The cosmic cries that sound through all creation,
the pain of creatures, birth-pangs of the stars,
the whining of the world upon its axis,
you craft in ways that nothing stains or mars.
2 We cannot fathom each eternal purpose,
or wrap our minds around what is to be.
We only know that, earthed here for a season,
our role is sealing human liberty.
3 Half crazy world in which we nurture children,
where right seems absent, mercy ground to dust;
O God give courage, foster our intention
to love our neighbour, resurrect our trust.
4 So God, as we would seek to follow Jesus,
to mine the depths of wisdom he has shown,
illuminate our task and lead us onward,
until into his likeness we have grown.
Andrew E. Pratt (born 1948)
© 2009 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.
Metre: 11 10 11 10
Tune: LORD OF THE YEARS; HIGHWOOD
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With daring we enter the future that beckons – a hymn for new beginnings (Matthew 28: 16-20)
With daring we enter the future that beckons –
a hymn for new beginnings (Matthew 28: 16-20)
With daring we enter the future that beckons,
our feelings in tension - excitement and fear.
Wherever we're walking we know God walks with us,
before and behind, God's protection is near.
Alone in the desert God's people felt empty,
the land that was promised of honey and milk
seemed distant, reality made hope distorted,
clothed them with despairing, more sackcloth than silk.
And sometimes the way that we find in the present
has troubles and heartaches enough of its own;
but still God walks with us through valleys of darkness,
encompassed with loving, we're never alone.
So welcome the future and enter it boldly,
look back, God was with you wherever you trod.
This God is your lover through life and forever,
take hold of the certainty: this is your God.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2006 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
Metre: 12 11 12 11
Tunes: WAS LEBET, WAS SCHWEBET
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A spark exists within us all – alludes to John Wesley’s experience of a strangely warmed heart on the 24th May 1738 as we approach Pentecost
A spark exists within us all - Richard Rolle wrote of the fire of love - this hymn reflects that theme but also alludes to John Wesley’s experience of a strangely warmed heart on the 24th May 1738.
1 A spark exists within us all
that, fanned, will form a flame of love;
so let cold embers warm and glow
then, flickering, dancing, leap above.
2 This sign of pre-existent power,
the ground of all enlightenment,
the blaze of which we share a part
is love that shimmers heaven bent.
3 So let that universal flame,
that fire which cannot be confined,
ignite a spirit in the world
transcending bounds of space and time.
4 Then all the earth consumed by love;
awakened, warmed, and fused as one,
will know a single sense of joy
as all rejoice beneath the sun. Amen!
Words Andrew Pratt © 2002 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.
Metre LM
Tune: GONFALON ROYAL
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Pentecost – a hymn ‘Is this a void, or just a time of challenge?’
Pentecost signalled a time for a new start? A time of change for the disciples. For us? – a hymn ‘Is this a void, or just a time of challenge?’
Is this a void, or just a time of challenge,
a new found joy, beginning or an end?
Yet God has travelled with us on this journey
along with each acquaintance, neighbour, friend.
And will God leave us as we travel onward,
abandon us to all the future holds?
But God, is here, behind us and before us,
as every chance is greeted and unfolds.
So God, we offer thanks for every blessing,
for times of care and gifting, now long past,
and hand in hand we seek a common purpose,
assured that love and grace are sure to last.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2015 © 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.
Metre:11 10 11 10
Tune: INTERCESSOR
Created by HymnQuest.com
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