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A hymn for a time of decision – Two ways or more – Written for Comberbach Methodist Church

Two ways or more to risk or rupture faith, 
this pearl, this gift, entrusted to our care, 
Which way to take, the smooth way or the rough
a challenge and a question hover there.

We wonder and we wander through our thoughts 
as all seems foreign, different from our hope. 
The ground is shaken, all seems insecure, 
where can we sow a seed that fosters hope?

Help us, good God, to see the way ahead, 
to take the risk that leads us from the night.
To plant while not yet knowing what might grow, 
surprising, thrusting, blindly into light.

Andrew Pratt 12/3/2024 For Comberbach Methodist Church at a time of decision.

© 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
Metre10.10.10.10
Tune: MORECAMBE

A troubled soul – a hymn for Lent 5

A troubled soul, the Christ of God – inspired by John 12: 20-33

1	A troubled soul, the Christ of God, 
	humanity exposed, 
	with all the turmoil that we feel, 
	when choices are proposed.
	The monumental choice he faced, 
	the crisis must be met, 
	to take the path of love to death, 
	or turn away, forget.
	
2	The riddle of the grain of wheat 
	was told with fear and dread, 
	yet mention of new fruit gives hope 
	that God might raise the dead. 
	The loss of life, the gain of life 
	are tangled in this game, 
	yet those who live in love of God 
	are held within love's frame.
	
3	So Jesus chose and we must choose, 
	which path we are to take, 
	the one which will deny God's love 
	or cause the earth to quake.
	God give us courage to deny 
	the self that harbours hate, 
	to trust in your eternal grace, 
	before it is too late.

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: DCM
Tune: ELLACOMBE