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Christ netted fishermen – the first disciples

Christ netted fishermen, called them to follow, 

challenged them squarely, called each one by name; 

hearing the carpenter they would be joiners, 

lives changed forever, they’d not be the same.



On down through ages the people have wondered, 

wandered, exploring then what it might mean

if they could risk it, to mirror this hist’ry

joining the narrative, sharing each scene.



Now in this moment, then, let us consider:

dare we love freely the outcast, despised, 

reach out with kindness to those now rejected, 

in them see Jesus, though lost or disguised.



Andrew Pratt

Words © 2024 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: 11.10.11.10

Tune: EPIPHANY HYMN

We strain to hear the voice of God – hymn Epiphany 2

Hymn: We strain to hear the voice of God



We strain to hear the voice of God,

this God who knows us inside out, 

a whispered voice of gentleness 

that never seeks to force or shout.



Christ's voice was heard in Galilee 

by those who had the ears to hear, 

he challenged hypocrites with truth 

while sinners, sensing love, drew near.



His crazy, crafted way of life, 

gave little hint where it might lead,

and yet the people followed him,

each word of Christ met hidden need;



for he addressed with present sense

a desert way of wilderness, 

or else the intellectual task 

within the city's busyness.



'Come follow me', hear Jesus say, 

to those who answered to his call; 

and in our present time and place 

may we respond and give our all. Amen.



Andrew Pratt Words © 2011 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: 8 8 8 8

Tune: GONFALON ROYAL
Second Sunday after Epiphany, 1 Samuel 3: 1-10 (11-20), Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; John 1:43-51

A Hymn for the New Year – for Covenant

A hymn for the New Year, for Covenant



1	The year is new, do not resist,

	for God is moving in our midst

	who brings a covenant to birth,

	of common wealth throughout the earth.

	

2	The atmosphere is cold and raw

	and yet our God engenders awe:

	is kneeling there to wash our feet, 

	to heal, to love, to kiss, to greet.

	

3	And in our healing we will find

	a wholeness hidden, yet refined,

	a God made known in every face, 

	each neighbour ministers God's grace.

	

4	And God says all is ready yet;

	the meal prepared, the table set. 

	And will we come? And dare we share 

	the covenant that sounds God's care?

	

5	No complicated myth or sign

	a simple meal of bread and wine, 

	speaks of the love that feeds us still: 

	come all who can, come all who will.

	

6	And when we rise and go our way,       

	remember who you met today,

	who showed you love, who held, who healed,

	who, in each neighbour, is revealed.



Andrew Pratt  Words © 2010 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: LM

A hymn for New Year – Oh where is there love

Oh where is there love in a world that is tired, 
across the year's threshold, where hope has expired?
We wait amid movement, to pause and to pray, 
to nurture our God at the dawn of each day.

Our eyes have been opened, compassion unlocked, 
the road has been cleared, and the future unblocked. 
The narrative moment has fractured the storm, 
the chill of the moment unfrozen, now warm.

Such newness is waiting with every new day, 
the new year is dawning through danger and play. 
The dance is still twisting through hate into light, 
is spinning and turning creating new light.

We hold in our neighbour the broken and hurt, 
those lost within living, God would not desert.  
The frail and the fallen, the fraught or the free 
are reaching for Jesus, will Christ be in me?

© Andrew Pratt  Words © 2011 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: 11 11 11 11
DATCHET; CRADLE SONG (Kirkpatrick)