Category: Art

Historic creativity – a hymn

Historic creativity – a hymn with allusions to Genesis 1 and Matthew 21:43

1         Historic creativity 
           has brought us to this day, 
           the ground of all we have or are 
           has set our present way.

2         When cosmic forces from the past 
           flung stars out into space, 
           the scene was set for human life 
           and super-human grace.

3         The lives we live within this frame 
           give challenge, hope and choice, 
           and how we walk upon this earth 
           will shape the love we voice.

4         God, come and strengthen our intent 
           to work with all our heart 
           in co-creative acts of love. 
           Now is the time to start.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) © 2015 Stainer and Bell Ltd. 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 6 8 6
Tune: WESTMINSTER NEW
Created by HymnQuest.com

And there was light © Andrew Pratt 2026 (iPad art)

Beyond the crime of crippled conversation…in spite of degradation

Beyond the crime of crippled conversation

1	Beyond the crime of crippled conversation, 
	that thunders when diplomacy is dead, 
	a still small voice will whisper in the darkness 
	dispelling what was once a living dread.

2	Here love, like feathers, scatters in a moment, 
	the breeze of war is reaching hatred’s height, 
	yet love is not forgotten or extinguished, 
	still bids us walk within the dying light.

3	And dawn will come again, another morning, 
	to shed its colours on a new found way, 
	and hope will rise in spite of degradation, 
	and still our praise will wake this dancing day.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2016 Stainer and 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.


Watercolour © Andrew Pratt

As we spin on through boundless space – a New hymn for the New Year

As we spin on through boundless space – a New hymn for the New Year

As we spin on through boundless space     
and mark the seasons passing, 
we trust again the Cov’nant grace,
the love that's everlasting.

We carry grief across the years, 
some memories are fading,
while others sharp as broken glass
leave scars beyond evading.

And time will test the strength of loss,
a tensile strand still holds us, 
as love of family, friends and God
are strong, and still enfold us.

So  nothing now that breaks our peace
can once deflect time's arrow, 
that joins us by the grace of God
through every new tomorrow.

Andrew Pratt 21/12/2025
Words © 2025 © 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: DOMINUS REGIT ME

A challenge to the church to change – ‘When the church, afraid of changing’

A challenge to the church to change – ‘When the church, afraid of changing’

Hymn writers sometimes ask questions of the church and then flesh out the consequences of the actions they have described. Fred Pratt Green’s - ‘When the Church of Jesus shuts its outer door’ is one such hymn (perhaps too challenging, or near to the bone, to be in Hymns & Psalms or Singing the Faith?) As we live out the time through lectionary readings from resurrection to Pentecost we have a chance to reflect on what the church is, and what it might be expected to be. Remember that Jesus death was partly a consequence of his challenging people to change their perspectives of faith.

When the church, afraid of changing,
clings to glories of the past, 
holding fast to long lost memories, 
sure that it will always last, 
lost in time, devoid of spirit, 
know this truth, its fate is cast.

When the church no longer welcomes 
people other than it's own, 
when it thinks its understanding 
stands complete, is fully grown, 
love is rarely seen in action, 
grace is only, thinly, sown.

Jesus challenged expectation, 
turning tables upside down, 
those who once were thought as holy 
he confronted with a frown.
When, then, will we learn the lesson,
own that cross, that thorny crown?

Andrew Pratt 3/5/2025
© Words Andrew Pratt © 2025 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: 87 87 87
Tunes: PICARDY; RHUDDLAN