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Holocaust
The silence…
palpable
tourists alight…
silence deafens,
like Buddhists, walking, shedding no footfall,
slipper footed it seemed.
The air was light,
the breeze slight,
yet every heart was heavy.
Rows of sheds…
empty.
Tiers of planks named ‘bed’ where bodies had lain:
Nameless.
Objects of a crude economy,
measured and managed,
pulled,
pushed,
directed.
Objects transported to where we were standing.
No looking back.
The end of the line.
The silence…palpable…
We left…
silence…
never more
in peace
For Holocaust Sunday 27th January 2019 © Andrew Pratt
Susanna Wesley Anniversary Hymn 2
One of two hymns written for the Anniversary of the Birth of Susanna Wesley 350 years ago – 20th January 1669.
She was the mother of John and Charles Wesley.
Not just a shadow in the past,
a smudge on history’s page,
but women shared their faith themselves
and took the centre stage.
Not just content to live their lives
through children they had borne,
but standing, speaking, preaching love,
in face of fear or scorn.
Their sons might take the central place,
convention seemed to rule,
but wisdom played a different hand:
showed prejudice a fool.
So now we stand where they once stood,
defiant in God’s grace,
no crude constraint will turn us back
in any time or place!
Andrew Pratt 14/1/2019
Metre: CM
Tunes: SHANTI (by Marty Haugen); ABRIDGE.
Words © 2019 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.
Susanna Wesley Anniversary Hymn 1
One of two hymns written for the Anniversary of the Birth of Susanna Wesley 350 years ago – 20th January 1669.
She was the mother of John and Charles Wesley.
The wisdom of women, so often determines
the paths that we take from the moment of birth;
both nature and nurture define through our growing:
a life hardly noticed or fame upon earth.
As parents we live out our lives through our children,
restraining, controlling or letting them grow;
demanding obedience, enabling their freedom,
or opening doors, simply letting them go.
The care and compassion received in the cradle
can influence choices and actions we take,
the growth of our faith, or our arrogant conflict,
the walls that we build, or the bridges we make.
From humble beginnings faith leaders are nurtured,
in just such a crib can a tyrant be found,
a mother or father can model commitment,
God’s graciousness planted in gently tilled ground.
And so we remember the strength of our parents,
their place in informing what we have become,
and those who through history have parented leaders
extending their influence through daughter or son.
Andrew Pratt 14/1/2019
Metre: 12.11.12.11
Tunes: ST CATHERIINES COURT; STREETS OF LAREDO
Words © 2019 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.
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