Blogs

A Hymn for Pilgrims – ‘A scallop shell the badge of our devotion’ – written to mark the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower from Plymouth, England.

A scallop shell the badge of our devotion,
as, travelling on where other steps have led,
we trust in God for all our life’s provision,
for love and joy, and for our daily bread.

We seek the path wherever Christ may lead us,
held firm by love and grounded in God’s grace,
we share companionship with those who join us,
and in each one we meet Christ face to face.

The past has witnessed, through our history’s pages,
to life-long sacrifice, to faith and praise;
as pilgrims let us vow to future ages
we’ll walk in hope and love through all our days.

Andrew Pratt (b.1948), 1/2/2020
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.
Tune: INTERCESSOR (Parry, 1848-1918; public domain)

The Mayflower set sail on 16th September 1620 from Plymouth, UK, to voyage to America, known to English explorers at the time as the New World.
See https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/the-mayflower-story/

Ash Wednesday & Lent Hymn

A calendar will call us to share with Christ in Lent,
to walk within the darkness: some drawn, yet others sent;
and here we sense contrition, an ashen cross we bear,
reminder that the fire of love of God is everywhere.

In many different places God’s people bear the strain
of human expectation as cruel norms constrain;
for each convention sealing another person’s fate
forgive, release, give freedom before it is too late.

We witness acts of hatred dressed up as self-defence,
where vengeance is the motive hid deep in self-pretence;
great God forgive those moments, when hate and human pride
leads to the domination of those we might deride.

As Christ you suffered torment, the torture and the hate,
yet on the cross forgave them, the ones who sealed your fate,
so as we kneel confessing complicity, we pray,
great God forgive humanity when selfishness holds sway.

Andrew Pratt 15/2/2020
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.

Tune: CRUGER (Thy hand, O God has guided)

Bonhoeffer – the cost of our discipleship NOW – no cheap grace – Jesus is Lord? Much more than words…

Found this quote of Bonhoeffer from a confirmation service in 1938:
“You have only one master now…But with this ‘yes’ to God belongs just as clear a ‘no.’ Your ‘yes’ to God requires your ‘no’ to all injustice, to all evil, to all lies, to all oppression and violation of the weak and poor, to all ungodliness, and to all mockery of what is holy. Your ‘yes’ to God requires a ‘no’ to everything that tries to interfere with your serving God alone, even if that is your job, your possessions, your home, or your honour in the world. Belief means decision.”

See the source of this here – https://livingwittily.typepad.com/my_weblog/2020/02/bonhoeffer-your-yes-to-god-requires-your-no-to-all-injustice-to-all-evil-to-all-lies.html