Tangled in prejudice, lost in presumption – hymn inspired by John 9: 1-41

A hymn inspired by John 9: 1 – 41…As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned

Tangled in prejudice, lost in presumption,
locked in our judgments, so sure of our ground;
others are sinful, but we are the righteous,
this is the truth we are sure we have found.

This is our blindness and now we must own it,
owning suspicion of those we deride;
painting them wrongly, unjustly with hatred,
side-stepping honesty, trying to hide.

For like the Pharisees' we are self-serving,
gaining our wealth from the ones we oppress;
sometimes we bring down the ones who would challenge,
this we have done and now this we confess.

In this confession we seek your forgiveness,
God who has touched both the broken and frail.
We were thought strong, but we plead for compassion,
we, the successful, have found we can fail.

Yet you astound us, 'your sins are forgiven',
words that have echoed down into our time.
How can we warrant such scandalous mercy?
Only through grace can you offer this sign.

Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
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 10 11 10
Tunes: EPIPHANY HYMH; IN THE BEGINNING GOD PLAYED WITH THE PLANETS

When language demeans… poem

When language just demeans ones we should love 
we know that we we have lost our common sense, 
we leave the lost diminished without care,
and hatred permeates the present tense.


And in this moment evil can be felt, 
while silence is an option to avoid, 
a voiceless church denies the life of Christ, 
as neighbours face an unremitting void.

© Andrew Pratt 12/3/2023

Illegal Migration Bill

Methodist News

The “Illegal Migration Bill”

“We are appalled by the proposals in the government’s ‘Illegal Migration Bill’ to detain, punish and reject thousands of people seeking safety. They are completely incompatible with our Christian conviction that all human beings are made in the image of God, and are therefore inherently worthy of treatment which honours their dignity.“

Church Leaders from the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church and the Baptist Union have signed a joint statement expressing opposition to the government’s new ‘Illegal Migration Bill’.

Scarborough UK March 6th 2023

Photo copyright Andrew Pratt 2023

A dramatic reflection on Romans 5: 1 – 11 – Justified by faith?

A scribe is working on the letter to the Romans. The scribe is sitting at a table, muttering while looking over a scroll, pen in hand:

Riddles, riddles, riddles…

‘Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…’

What on earth did he mean, that fall – oops – Paul guy? Freudian!! Sorry!

I mean, what did he mean? That’s the problem with this Greek, no punctuation. I mean you have commas and full stops and what-not. We haven’t. So what did he mean? You don’t get it?

Well let me read it to you. ‘Therefore since we are justified by faith (exaggerated pause) we have peace with God’. Did he mean that, or did he mean, ‘‘Therefore since we are justified (exaggerated pause) by faith we have peace with God’. See what I mean?

No? Ok, let me spell it out to you. You all seem to think that Paul meant to say that we are justified, made right with God if you like, by faith. No problem with that. Consequence, ‘we have peace with God’.

But I just got to wondering. What if Paul reckoned that we are justified. Accept it! Just trust it is so and that’s the way to peace with God? See what I mean? No?

Riddles, riddles, riddles…that old scribe playing with words again? I know what you’re thinking. But words are my stock in trade. I do think about them, not just write parrot fashion – if you’ll pardon me mixing my metaphors?

But perhaps you’re right. I make too much of these details sometimes. I’m a right pedant!

Ok. I’ll get to the point, whatever Paul thinks.

At the end of the day, We have peace with God – don’t we? No beating about the burning bush then?

Wonder what’s next? Think I’ll just make a cuppa (gets up and strolls off).