Easter hymn – We cannot speculate, or glance

An empty tomb is just empty. It took a meeting with Jesus to convince a woman, then a group of men that Jesus, who had died on a cross, was alive. It is still difficult to believe. Yet after two thousand years, whatever we believe, as Geoffrey Best has written on Facebook, ‘…in this (hi)story is the revelation of the very nature of God, a God who takes all that we throw and absorbs and transforms the dead and deadly into life abundant .... if we let it!’ Amen!

1	We cannot speculate, or glance 
	into the well of history. 
	Nor can we look beyond this time 
	with any sense of certainty. 
	We only have our faith and hope, 
	to make us stand, to help us cope.
	
2	Great God we grasp at straws of faith,
	of things we hope will point to you. 
	We read the ancient texts and scan 
	those distant myths to make them new. 
	And all the time we live between 
	these metaphors and what is seen.
	
3	The past is gone, we cannot hear 
	more than an echo down the age. 
	And what is still to come we fear; 
	we see each other's pent up rage.
	Yet what we need is close at hand, 
	your present love in every land.
	
4	True resurrection brings to bear 
	the things that heal, create, unite. 
	Love launches its triumphant praise 
	and builds on joy and will delight.
	The former things are passed away, 
	dead night transformed to brightest day.

Metre: 8 8 8 8 8 8 Tune: ABINGDON
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) Words © 2015 © 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.
Art © Andrew Pratt 2022

	

Transfiguration – hymn – Three disciples saw God’s glory

TRANSFIGURATION

Three disciples saw God's glory, 
sunlight pouring from Christ's face, 
shielding eyes are almost blinded, 
shaken by God's present grace.
Was it just imagination, 
was that Moses there as well?
Then Elijah stood before them; 
honoured men! Nowhere to dwell!
	
Seize the moment! Peter babbled, 
'should I build a place for you? 
Place of shelter, place of refuge? 
Moses and Elijah too?'
All at once the vision vanished, 
left them all alone again. 
Stunned disciples cowered in horror, 
wondered were they mad or sane?
	
Jesus came and gently touched them, 
'never breathe a word,' he said;
hinted at his human suff'ring 
hope, yet hell were both ahead.
From the mountain's awesome grandeur 
they went stumbling to the town, 
with their friend, this God incarnate, 
set to wear a scornful crown.

Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
© 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 8 7 D
Tune: AUSTRIA

iPad art © Andrew Pratt