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Advent 3 Magnificat has come to stay – inspired by the Magnificat

A topsy, turvy, upturned world, 
where values are distorted, 
the first is last and last is first 
with everything contorted.
The rich are begging at the door 
while ones they were despising
are given charge of Godly wealth, 
in stature they are rising.

Magnificat has come to stay,
the proud have been extinguished; 
the humble poor are lifted high, 
their poverty relinquished. 
The reign of God has come to pass 
rebutting our world's choices, 
each one that we would count as last 
within this time rejoices.

And will we ever find a place 
with pride and wealth rejected, 
or will hypocrisy deny 
our need to be accepted? 
The choice is ours, the crisis dawns, 
the time to make decisions, 
to stand with God or walk alone 
within this world's divisions.

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: 8.7.6.7 D
Tune: CONSTANCE

Advent 3 – A hymn based on Matthew 11 vs 2-11

1	God's presence was seen in the person of Jesus 
	where people found healing and wholeness and grac
	miraculous wonders and love without measure, 
	the touch of his hands and the look of his face.
	
2	So this was the answer when John asked the question, 
	was Jesus Messiah, God's chosen, the one 
	ordained to bring peace and God's reign to the people,
	embodying hope for the days yet to come.
	
3	The signs of God's being are seen in the present
	when people are living with Jesus in faith.
	The hope of God's kingdom is real when our actions 
	embody Christ's loving with freedom through grace.  

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: 12 11 12 11
Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO; ST CATHERINE’S COURT

Advent 2 – John the Baptist – a Hymn based on Matthew 3 vs 1-12

3:5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan,
3:6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

1	Searching, seeking, people clamoured,
	heard the noise and saw the crowd. 
	Saw the baptist by the river, 
	calling clear and calling loud. 
	First attracted, then confounded, 
	John would challenge all they knew. 
	Those who listened sensed a crisis, 
	change would question what they do.
	
2	This would be a time of turning, 
	spinning churning, whirling round. 
	John would point to new beginnings, 
	to the God that he had found.
	No deceit would go unchallenged, 
	hypocrites were undermined, 
	each foundation here was shaken, 
	here the love of God defined.
	
3	Fruitful trees would flourish, nurtured, 
	barren branches be cut down. 
	Now our generation hears him, 
	now this God has come to town. 
	How will we respond through living, 
	change our ways, transform our lives? 
	One by one, as minds are turning,
	signs are here that love survives?

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: 8 7 8 7
Tune: BETHANY (Smart)