Category: Art

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Hymns


CHRISTMAS DAY

1	Almighty God has done great things,

	an angel proffers stunning news,

	the news of human hope he brings,

	her baby heaven and earth shall fuse;

	and she will give her life for that,

	O, Mary, sing magnificat.



2	A mother and her unborn child,

	a man who ought to let her go

	to save his face, stay undefiled,

	as love and duty taunt and flow;

	and Joseph will consider that

	as Mary sings magnificat.



3	And all the greatness of a God,

	distilled to love, sets captives free,

	a single liberating Word:

	those born in darkness now can see;

	as human power considers that

	let Mary sing magnificat.



Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)

Words © 2001 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, http://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: 8 8 8 8 8 8 Tune: MELITA 



                   Incarnation © Andrew Pratt



CHRISTMAS DAY


1	We see the eyes of Mary shine,
	for all the pain of birth is past.
	She cradles Jesus in her arms,
	her time of joy is here at last.

2	We look on Joseph's roughened hands,
	his eyes are filled with tender joy
	he gently reaches for the child, 
	this little scrap, this baby boy.
	
3	And can they know? And could they guess 
	at love's responsibility, 
	that hurt would mingle with the joy 
	of human possibility?

4	But on this night a single star 
	is just enough to signal grace: 
	a child is born in Bethlehe
	and offered for the human race. 


Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Singing the Faith 219
Words © 2008 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, http://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: LM Tune: TRURO

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