Later in his life, Benn would assert that he was a “Christian agnostic,” unsure of the existence of God, but someone who believed in “Jesus the prophet, not Christ the King,” the historical Jesus — “the carpenter of Nazareth” — who preached social justice and egalitarianism.
This is the main text of a lecture delivered in November 1980 at Mansfield College Chapel, Oxford in which Benn looks into the revolutionary history behind Christ’s message and its relationship to socialist thought.
Each hour marks a mighty resurrection,
a time of overcoming fate and fear,
the dawning of a common understanding
in which the grace of God is drawing near.
Each morning brings a sense of new creation.
New life, new love, encompasses the earth.
New time, new light illuminates the distance,
as though the world is coming, fresh, to birth.
Each evening brings a stunning revelation,
as stars and planets hove into our view,
beyond imagination and reflection,
these scattered bangles flung against the blue.
Each season brings a sense of co-existence,
relatedness of heartbeat, rhythm, rhyme;
and every year the cycle goes on spinning,
affirming faith and love through endless time.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Tune: HIGHWOOD
Words copyright © 2017 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.
© Andrew Pratt 2020
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