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Pentecost hymn – Come glimpsing, glancing lover

Come glimpsing, glancing Lover,*
ignite your spirit’s fire,
then fan the conflagration
and let the flame rise higher.
Inspire a dancing rhythm
till deep within each heart,
a spark will more than flicker,
a brighter light will start.

Fill every throat with music
to sing the spirit’s song,
till others come to join us,
to join this singing throng.
Dynamic dancing spirit,
give purpose to our flight
We leap into the future,
we break into the light.

Let love be born among us
and passion fired by grace,
until all those around us
will share a smiling face.
Till all the world is laughing
and laughter fills the earth,
to know that love is living,
new love has come to birth.

*Alternative first verse:

Come glimpsing, glancing Spirit
ignite your loving fire,
then fan the conflagration
and let the flame rise higher.
Inspire a dancing rhythm
till deep within each heart,
a spark will more than flicker,
a brighter light will start.

Andrew Pratt 15/4/2014
Words © 2020 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, http://www.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: 7.6.7.6 D
Tune: TYROLESE (Junior Praise, Book 1/Combined, 207/253; Carol Praise)

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The Spirit blows where it will © Andrew Pratt 27th May 2020

Covid-19 hymn of Lament – Through every fighting moment and each breath

Through every fighting moment and each breath,
another burdened person nearer death;
and now we sing our prayer that life might last,
this time might be consigned, be something past.

Great God, we cling to hope when all seems lost,
we never thought that love would hold such cost;
and now our loving feels more like a shroud
to wrap the one we we love: we cry out loud!

How long, O God, must suffering prolong
this tension, is lament so very wrong?
Or is our understanding of your care
corrupt, or incomplete, bereft or bare?

Amid our swirling agony and doubt,
God hold us till the sands of time run out;
when light has gone, and darkness hovers round,
we wait the dawning of Love’s solid ground.

Written on 26th May after watching Clive Myrie (BBC reporter) in a ward with people dying of COVID-19.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-52809201/coronavirus-one-week-in-one-hospital

Words © 2020 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, http://www.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.
Tunes: PEEL CASTLE (Manx Fisherman’s Hymn); EVENTIDE (Abide with me)