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Hymn remembered thinking of Tonga and the Pacific

Tectonic plates beneath the ocean's surface,
uplifted, twisting life and limb and wave.
The landscape that was home has lost its features,
we wonder there are any left to save.

An empty chair amid such devastation
where cars like toys, are lifted, spun about;
and here we wait and pray in helpless anguish;
and 'where is God' we want to cry and shout.

Incarnate God we need your present spirit
to live within your people at this time,
to energise our prayerful words and actions,
to offer grace to life's discordant rhyme.

God offer hope to those who feel forsaken,
to those whose lives have spun and turned around;
to those whose grief defies all consolation,
bring grace and love and hope and solid ground.

Words: Andrew Pratt (born 1948) © 2011 (alt by author 2022) Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.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.

Suggested tunes: Highwood (StF 3; H&P 236); Intercessor (H&P 411)

Hymn for Holocaust Memorial Day – 27th January

1	Deep contradictions, not cosy solutions,
	come when our faith and experience collide.
	Pain and its purpose, the holocaust's image,
	loving and hurting, are found side by side.

2	Here in the tension of unresolved conflict,
	logic and passion will vie for each heart;
	here in life's crucible, melting and moulding,
	God has a purpose and we play a part.

3	Here, where the spirit is forging, transforming
	lives that are open to challenge and change;
	God in each paradox fathoms potential,
	source of the pattern we measure and range.
	
Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2008 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

Hymn for Jesus Manifesto – Luke 4: 14 – 21

In Nazareth it happened,
folk heard with bated breath,
the good news Jesus offered 
of life instead of death.

This was the manifesto:
a charter for the poor,      
a welcome for the stranger 
who’d waited at the door.

Within a cell the captive 
would hear the freedom call,
and those who felt injustice
know healing was for all.

Oppression would be banished.
Yet hypocrites recoiled,
drove Jesus from their presence, 
but he would not be foiled.

And in this time and context 
will we still have to wait,
or dare we risk and follow, 
before it is too late?
Andrew Pratt 17/1/2022
Words © 2022 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
Tune: THE CHERRY TREE CAROL (repeat last two lines of each verse)
Based on Luke 4: 14 – 30 (the Lectionary for this coming Sunday is Luke 4: 14 – 21)
An alternative version below follows a slightly different rhythm.

Alternative words:

In Nazareth it happened,
the folk held their breath;
the good news Jesus offered 
was life instead of death.

And this was the promise:
a gift for the poor,      
a welcome for the stranger 
who’d waited at the door.

Within a cell the captive 
would hear freedom call,
and those who felt injustice
know healing was for all.

Oppression would be banished,
hypocrites recoiled,
drove Jesus from their presence, 
but he would not be foiled.

And in this time and context 
we still have to wait;
or dare we risk and follow, 
before it is too late?
Andrew Pratt 17/1/2022
Words © 2022 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,

Water into wine? Hymn

This hymn focusses on the Wedding at Cana in Galilee (John 2: 1 – 11) 

where Jesus turned water into wine.

1 No magic, but a simple need 
was met when Jesus joined a feast, 
a wedding was well underway 
until the wine ran low, then ceased.

2 While Jesus never looked for fame
his mother called him to her side 
to ask that he would help them out,
assuming grace would now provide. 

3 He wasn't such an easy touch
he didn't want to do her will, 
it seemed he wasn't ready yet.
Was this a misuse of his skill?

4 Great jars of water were at hand.
Was this a miracle or sign?
He simply told the stewards to draw. 
This water now had turned to wine

5 The wedding feast was now replete,
and God surprises people still, 
through word or miracle or sign 
God still amazes, always will.

Andrew E Pratt
Words © 2013 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
Tune: NIAGARA