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Hymn in commemoration of Desmond Tutu

This day we have witnessed a man for all people,
a man who was human, held fast what is right,
for this he has lived with profound dedication,
he shone in the world, don't extinguish that light.

And we who are human stand now in remembrance,
frail shadows of all he has shown we can be.
He not only preached, but embodied the values
that showed through his living that all can be free.

The man we remember has died, will be buried,
yet while we live justly his theme will not fall.
His spirit is living, will not be extinguished,
the love he embraced will be ever for all.

Words: Andrew Pratt (born 1948) text originally written for Nelson Mandela alt by the author      © 2013/2021 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.

Young Mary

1     	Young Mary, survivor, alone in the world, 
	for that’s how it seemed to the mind of this girl. 
	An angel had promised the birth of a son, 
	but Mary just wanted to hide or to run. 

2     	Much less of a blessing, less joy to the earth, 
	the sound to her ears of the promise of birth; 
	unmarried, herself little more than a child, 
	the thoughts in her mind were horrendous, ran wild. 

3     	Would Joseph abandon her now in her need? 
	Would he share the faith of our latter-day creed? 
	More likely to leave her alone to her end, 
	now wounded by bias, no longer her friend. 

4     	That God could conceive to abandon, mistreat: 
	a sordid beginning, a birth on the street; 
	that Mary should taste wrath at such a young age; 
	the cross threw its shadow across the world’s stage. 

5     	Before she could magnify God in her song, 
	she had to confront all the world in its wrong, 
	the things in her mind she could not reconcile, 
	the world’s misconceptions and Herod’s cruel guile. 

6     	We sing of a manger, we tell of a birth, 
	our sentiment colours its moment and worth: 
	as deity seems to collude with the state 
	sing glory, sing Mary… before it’s too late. 

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) 
© 2015 Stainer & Bell Ltd. 
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