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Lent 4 – Two poems and two hymns

John 3: 1-17

Poem: God so loved …

No complicated creeds,
or self-righteous rituals.
No holy huddles,
or raw judgements.
No insistence on conformity.

Only a call to turn around
to find forgiveness waiting.

For at the heart of all creation
and the core of our existence
there is the love of God
for errant people.

And one special human,
whose presence in the world
changed all our perceptions
of our relationship
with the God who loves us
so much that he gave …
Marjorie Dobson - from Unravelling the Mysteries © Stainer & Bell Ltd 2019; London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns where appropriate. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd

John 3:14-21

Hymn: Trust that God, who lit the cosmos

Trust that God, who lit the cosmos,
source and ground of all we are,
demonstrated love's dimension,
dying like the evening star,
softened, shaded, so diminished,
then extinguished, gone from sight,
yet the third day rose in glory,
bringing hope and shedding light.

From that day the crisis beckoned,
those who saw that light must choose
where to stand: with Christ in suffering?
To accept or to refuse?
Still that challenge stands before us,
God has given love and grace.
Will we take the love that's offered
or deride God in this place?

All our songs are crass and empty,
all our worship hollow praise,
if we do not love our neighbours
that we live with in these days.
Simple acts of loving kindness
signal where we place our trust;
faith without these simple actions
slowly moulders, turns to dust.

Andrew Pratt
Words © 2012 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.
8 7 8 7 D
Tune: DIM OND IESUS

Poem: Light came …

If light is good
and darkness is bad,
why do we have such a longing
to run to the dark
when we see the light of God
entering the world?

Could it be
that we need to hide
and the darkness
is our only refuge?

Yet God persists
in flooding the world with light
and focusing its intensity
through Jesus.

Is it any wonder
that a new flame
burns in our hearts
and fires our enthusiasm
when we emerge from the shadows,
as we finally recognize
how much God loves us?
©Marjorie Dobson

Ephesians 2:1-10

Hymn: Into darkness and disaster

Into darkness and disaster,
swept along by what we’ve done,
making choices that determined
things we’ve lost and things we’ve won,
sometimes we reflect and wonder
at the people we’ve become.

Sometimes lost, sometimes despairing,
feeling there is no way back
to the way we wish we’d taken,
knowing all the things we lack,
we can feel so God forsaken,
prayer is dry, resolve is slack.

Yet within the depths of sorrow,
when there is no way ahead,
God will reach us, grace will show us
life beyond the tears we’ve shed;
God will lift us, heal, forgive us,
shield us from the things we dread.

God will build a bright tomorrow,
light a dawn of wider scope,
where our human strength has faltered
God will sow the seeds of hope.
Know that, even now, God holds us,
and will show us how to cope.

Lent 3 – Two hymns a Meditation and a Poem

Lent 3

1 Corinthians 1: 18-25
Poem: One Big Question
When worldly wisdom
and superior knowledge
and intellectual snobbery
and informed atheism
have died the death
of earthly flesh
and fragile brain,
will God be quietly
weeping over the waste,
even as the cross blazes out
its triumphant foolishness?
© Marjorie Dobson. This may be used personally or for local worship, but not published elsewhere without permission.
John 2: 13-22
We play at church
We play at church, one long charade,
a trite religious game,
and all the time the world goes by,
Christ dies again in vain.
The down-and-out wish for our tithes,
the homeless plead and pray,
while we enact our sullen rite,
our crass religious play.
We watch defenceless ones denied,
the ones we should defend,
we keep the best place for ourselves,
self-righteous to the end.
O God forgive our self-deceit,
hypocrisy and pride.
God, bring us down to dine with you
and those we would deride.
God, give us hearts of gracious love,
to look beyond our greed,
to live and love with those you call,
at one in hope and need.

Andrew E Pratt
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.
Metre: CM
Tune: AULD LANG SYNE
Poem: Anger
Whip in hand
and uncharacteristically angry,
Jesus swept through the temple courtyard.
Tables were smashed,
money scattered;
pigeons found freedom in flight
and sacrificial animals fled to safety.
His voice boomed
across the rapidly emptying space –
‘this is desecration!
How can strangers worship here
in a place over-run with commerce and greed?
My Father’s house is for prayer,
not for profit!
How dare you do this to it?’
And traders huddled in corners
and tried to keep their eyes on their vanishing possessions.
And priests flocked
to witness the devastation
and to gather in consultation
and to plot their revenge.
And strangers came out of the shadows
to wonder at the nerve of this man
who had said exactly what they wanted to hear,
but so powerfully
that he was bound to create new enemies for himself.
And as Jesus turned to leave,
the accused robbers spat at his departure;
the opportunists gathered all the loot they could
and disappeared into the shadows;
and the self-righteous Jewish believers
could only ask for proof of authority
for his actions.
They didn’t like his answer.
It was completely unrealistic.
But in the end it proved to be true,
although not in the way they were expecting.
Three days they had succeeded in destroying him,
but in three days he was back.
Indestructible!
© Marjorie Dobson. This may be used personally or for local worship, but not published elsewhere without permission.
Our vulnerable God suffered pain and temptation
Our vulnerable God suffered pain and temptation,
rode lightly to wealth, saw the greedy as flawed.
And we, as disciples, who walk in Christ's footsteps
are challenged to follow, to love, not defraud.

Transparent in action, confronting injustice,
upbraiding the rich, while upraising the poor.
He called us to welcome the outcast, the homeless,
by giving, not taking, by opening each door.

Let taxes revalue the lost and discarded,
ensuring the powerful will equally share;
until all the world is redeemed for all people,
until inequality ends as unfair.

And now as we look to the world let us value,
each person, each neighbour of infinite worth,
through sharing and stewardship to lift up the lowly,
to raise out of poverty all upon earth.

Andrew Pratt
Words © 2019 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 © Stainer & Bell Ltd
Metre: 12 11 12 11
Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO; ST CATHERINE’S COURT

Lent 2 – Two poems and two hymns

Mark 8: 31-38
Challenge
‘You don’t need to do that!
Why do you put yourself through it?
It’s totally unnecessary!’
Wise advice?
Maybe – in some circumstances.
Self-inflicted suffering
doesn’t seem to make sense
in the everyday world.
But there are times
when we have to face the facts –
‘no gain without pain’,
is the old saying.
Yet Jesus,
making his future clear to his followers,
discovered that even the best of them
had no idea of what he had to face.
And, for all the best possible reasons,
Peter wanted to spare his friend
the horror of the predictions
that were being set before him.
‘Don’t tempt me, you devil!’
What a response to give.
One that rocked Peter on his heels
and made him feel hurt and guilty.
Only time would heal that wound,
but only as the wounds that Jesus suffered
were made evident to them all.
The challenge to suffering for the faith goes on.
And when asked,
‘Why do you put yourself through it?’
is our answer tinged with the temptation
to turn and creep away in another direction?
©Marjorie Dobson, This may be used personally or for local worship, but not published elsewhere without permission.
All the pain and hurt and horror
All the pain and hurt and horror,
loss, denial and mistrust,
hovered round as Jesus waited
for his friends to re-adjust.
Lost within misunderstanding:
thought that love was just a dream,
knew that it would be so easy,
they’re confounded by Love’s scheme.
Jesus taught that love would conquer
only through integrity,
that the way his life was pointing
tested his humanity.
Jesus felt that Peter’s challenge
undermined his purpose here,
spoke quite harshly, underlining,
made his need both plain and clear.
Death was now the final payment,
Jesus spelt out to his friends.
To them this was not expedient,
not the way Messiah ends.
Love would be denied if actions
led to violence or defence,
Jesus, lamb led to the slaughter,
death the cost of love’s expense.

Andrew E Pratt
Words © 2012 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: 8.7.8.7D
Tune: LUX EOI

Determination
Nothing could deter him.
Not religious opposition.
Not the wily Herod.
Not the prophetic predictions.
Not the Pharisees with their plotting,
nor the teachers with their testing,
nor the disciples and their doubting.
Nothing could stop him.
For as Jesus wept over Jerusalem,
saw their persecution of prophets
and their future of desolation,
he saw his own destiny of death
at the hands of those
who set out to destroy him.
Yet he moved on.
And those who walked with him
could only fear for his life
and try in vain
to shield him from his enemies,
but knowing deep within their hearts
he was determined to go on.
©Marjorie Dobson, This may be used personally or for local worship, but not published elsewhere without permission.
Infectious faith
Infectious faith we demonstrate by action,
when words are lived and people feel God's grace,
when platitudes are kept in quiet abeyance,
and love expressed through every human face.

This is the witness we are called to offer:
the smile of welcome and the touch of care,
when every neighbour frames the Christ we honour,
the angel that we're greeting unaware.

My friend, we cannot claim to grace the Godhead
when those who stand in tatters at our door
are turned away without a moment's notice,
while others sleep upon a stone cold floor.

Our faith and love are nothing, simply empty,
just words we fling against a cloud filled sky,
when those we see derided, disregarded,
are left, without our protest, just to die.

Are we to be just noisy, clanging cymbals,
or signs of hope upon this cold, dark earth?
Ours is the calling now to re-imagine
the love of God, to sign each person's worth.

Andrew E Pratt
Words © 2016 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: INTERCESSOR

Lent 1 – Three hymns and a poem

He could have walked the easy road
He could have walked the easy road
to fortune and to fame.
He knew he could work miracles,
to heal the blind and lame.
He could have fed the starving poor
with fish as well as bread.
But Jesus knew that life held more
and chose God’s word instead.
He could have trusted angels’ wings,
up on that Temple tower.
To save him from a fall to death
was well within God’s power.
The people would have marvelled then
and guessed this was God’s son.
But Jesus would not take the test
to prove he was that one.
He could have taken full control,
the world lay at his feet.
He only had to say the word:
his rule would be complete.
The mountain view had caught his breath..
Power was a word away.
But Jesus turned back from it all
and God had won the day.
Marjorie Dobson
Words © 2019 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: CMDTune: KINGSFOLD
Poem: The time has come
As John had said,
‘the time has come.’
So Jesus,
bowing to the Jordan’s waves
and rising to the words
‘beloved Son’
and ‘well pleased,’
was willing to be made ready,
by desert trial,
to take his place
in the unfolding story
of God’s love.
But John
was soon in prison
for speaking out
too loud and long
for the comfort of the king.
And Jesus,
fresh from temptation
and life-changing choices,
set off for Galilee,
knowing that now was his time
to spread good news
and bring the kingdom of God
to the people for whom
it had always been intended.
No more waitng.
No more preparation.
Time to go …
©Marjorie Dobson
Jesus met supreme temptation
Jesus met supreme temptation,
countered subtlety with skill;
ever faithful to one purpose,
still committed to God's will.
With no food he soon was famished,
hunger racked him, filled his mind,
then a voice had come to taunt him,
'bread is there for you to find'.
Each illusion he would parry,
each temptation run to ground;
all the world was for the asking,
yet his faith was strong and sound.
Every miracle and wonder
he was tempted to perform
he rebutted, held the tension;
he would live beyond this storm.
And when we meet with temptation,
save us from each trial and test;
strengthen faith, God, give us courage,
help us strive toward the best.

Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2010 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: LOVE DIVINE (Stainer)
As glass will take the light – FOR COMMUNION
As glass will take the light
and focus all its heat;
here in the water, wine and bread
we find God's grace complete.

We met God's presence here,
our promises were sealed;
but all is lost, is null and void,
if love is kept concealed.
So in God's peace we go,
and in the Spirit's power,
to offer love in word and deed
in every coming hour.

Andrew E Pratt
© Words © 1997 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: SM
Tune: CARLISLE

LENT – POEMS AND SONG TO SET THE SCENE – THINK AGAIN; EMPTY WORDS; SPIRITED DANCER

Think again
If the extent
of our sacrificial content
is to give up chocolate for Lent,
what kind of a sacrifice is that?
If the inclination
of our celebration
is for a self-centred commemoration
for the current congregation,
what good is that to God,
or anyone else?
If a Holy Day
becomes a holiday
with the holiness left out,
where has the significance gone?
God sighs for the real sacrifice
of working to eliminate poverty and injustice.
God craves for the genuine celebrations
of people set free and of changed lives.
God holds out hope
for those who make holiness their aim,
however far they still have to travel.
God asks us to think again.
© Marjorie Dobson

Empty words

Empty words
from those who live in luxury
and despise the poor.
Empty words
from those who enquire after the sick,
but never visit them.
Empty words
from those who offer hollow sympathy,
but never weep with those in sorrow.
Empty words
from those who are severely critical
of local and national governments,
but refuse to vote,
or to become involved in politics.
Empty words
from those who proclaim themselves
to be Christians,
but only take care of themselves
and their own kind.
Empty words
from those who preach
of suffering and sacrifice,
but have never challenged themselves
to experience either.
Empty words from those … …
Empty words … …
Empty … …
And God,
who knows our hearts,
looks on
and asks us to look again
at the sacrificial love of Jesus
and to fill our empty words
with love and action.
Marjorie Dobson
Words © 2019 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.

 Spirited dancer

 Spirited dancer, a pantomime figure,
 comic, distorted, misused and abused;
 never expedient, yet working with rigour,
 seemingly foolish yet never confused.
 
 Crying the wilderness down on your shoulders,
 offering pedants the cool time of day;
 I would dance with you, by paths or rough boulders,
 willing to enter the fun or the fray.
 
 Now in my cowardice, fear, apprehension,
 sharing the life that you've given to me;
 help me to put away pride and pretension,
 learn in your footsteps the way to be free.
 
Andrew E. Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2003, 2006 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: WAS LEBET, WAS SCHWEBET; QUEDLINBURG