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Hymn inspired by Mark 7: 24-30 – She felt just like a ragged dog

She felt just like a ragged dog - inspired by Mark 7: 24-30

1	She felt just like a ragged dog 
	that scratched around for food, 
	denied, despised and kicked aside 
	and never any good.
	
2	Yet now she stood inside the door 
	and pleaded with this man, 
	for each taboo had little weight, 
	her grief had wider span.
	
3	Her child had need of healing help 
	and she would make Christ hear, 
	the urgency of anguished need 
	had overcome her fear.
	
4	And in that moment he would learn, 
	audacity would teach
	that human laws and well worn creeds 
	put no-one out of reach.
	
5	Compassion ruled and love compelled 
	to action on that day, 
	and Jesus' reach was broadened as 
	he learnt that grace held sway.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2012 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: CM
Tune: ST PETER (How sweet the name of Jesus sounds)

Christ saw a way so clearly – a hymn inspired by Mark 7: 1-8

Christ saw a way so clearly – inspired by Mark 7: 1-8

1 Christ saw a way so clearly
that others feared to tread;
with those who were discarded
he deigned to rest his head.

2 The poor he suffered gladly,
at hypocrites he’d rant;
his vision was not clouded
by sanctimonious cant.

3 He died, but still those faces
look on with mild disgust;
naivety that’s guileless,
the flaw they could not trust.

4 He’ll whirl and dance before them,
his song will fill the air;
we’ll join the dance he started,
in spite of our despair;

5 For he has spun a rainbow
of singing, shining light;
his leap to love and freedom
defies the darkest night.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 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: 7 6 7 6 Iambic
Tune: CHRISTUS DER IST MEIN LEBEN

Hymn inspired by Psalm 84 – God who walked this earth before us

Inspired by Psalm 84

God who walked this earth before us

God who walked this earth before us, 
over mountains, by cool springs, 
pictured in the poet's image:
soaring high on eagles’ wings:

we can never cage or capture 
such a Spirit in her flight, 
yet within a vaulted temple 
people seek to praise your might.

'Neath its eaves, in arching timbers, 
birds are nesting, swallows fly, 
here where choirs will praise Your glory, 
priests and people sing or cry.

While we worship in closed buildings, 
shuttered from the world outside,
far beyond our tethered spirits,
Love is soaring, free to glide.

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.
Tune: RUSSIAN AIR (Hymns for the People, 43; Jubilate); DIJON
Metre: 8.7.8.7