What would God make of this building? - a hymn about welcoming
1 What would God make of this building,
house of eloquence and praise,
God who walked the earth before us,
Christ of Galilean days?
2 He who left a home and family,
had nowhere to rest his head,
cast his lot with those derided
framed his life with what he said.
3 He who built a human temple
with the ones he sought to lead,
fended off each great temptation:
born of human power and greed.
4 Would he choose a place, more simple,
less ornate, of greater use,
where the hungry and the homeless
could be healed of their abuse?
5 If we follow in his footsteps
then this place must come to be
open to the poor, the homeless
where the richest grace is free;
6 Where our hope will glaze for glory
windows looking on the world,
where the broken will be welcome,
where love's given, never sold.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2001 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 Trochaic
Tunes: GOTT DES HIMMEL; RATHBUN
Matthew 10: 40-42 speaks of how we should welcome people. This hymn questions whether the church mirrors this example, and for ‘church’ you can think of a congregation, a parish, a circuit – buildings or people - or even a denomination…
Category: Bible
The earth pleads for justice – hymn
The earth pleads for justice, the harvest is wanting - While Matthew 9: 37 speaks of a harvest of people, perhaps it is also pertinent today if we think of a harvest of the earth and its care?
The earth pleads for justice, the harvest is wanting,
in fire, flood or tempest our crops are destroyed;
the Spring, once predicted, is desolate, silent,
excuses are hollow, we’ve done all we can?
The mountains have echoed, or is that God’s whisper,
the quiet consternation of one in distress?
A prompting, a question that answers our calling,
is that your defence, that you’ve done all you can?
While continents crumble and ice caps are melting,
you sit on your hands, you do nothing at all.
Wake up to the danger still growing around you,
and do all you can till your passage is through.
And now in the present let’s work for the future,
still others will follow, they wait in the wings:
this planet, its future, its people our neighbours,
join hands, sing our anthem: ‘We’ll do All We Can!’
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2021 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: 12 11 12 11
Tunes: LAREDO; ST CATHERINES COURT
Created by HymnQuest.com
The cosmic cries that sound through all creation – inspired by Psalm 33: 1-12 especially v 8-12.
The cosmic cries that sound through all creation -
inspired by Psalm 33: 1-12 especially v 8-12.
1 The cosmic cries that sound through all creation,
the pain of creatures, birth-pangs of the stars,
the whining of the world upon its axis,
you craft in ways that nothing stains or mars.
2 We cannot fathom each eternal purpose,
or wrap our minds around what is to be.
We only know that, earthed here for a season,
our role is sealing human liberty.
3 Half crazy world in which we nurture children,
where right seems absent, mercy ground to dust;
O God give courage, foster our intention
to love our neighbour, resurrect our trust.
4 So God, as we would seek to follow Jesus,
to mine the depths of wisdom he has shown,
illuminate our task and lead us onward,
until into his likeness we have grown.
Andrew E. Pratt (born 1948)
© 2009 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: LORD OF THE YEARS; HIGHWOOD
Created by HymnQuest.com
Look beyond your life’s horizon – A hymn for Pentecost
Look beyond your life’s horizon – A hymn for Pentecost which echoes Joel 2: 28 & Acts 2: 1-21
Look beyond your life’s horizon,
what will come of life on earth?
God forsaken? Horror stricken?
Or a hope of love’s rebirth?
Look into this unknown future,
ask what actions can we take,
so that peace becomes an option
in decisions that we make.
Placing God right at the centre,
seeing Christ in those we meet,
moving with a gracious Spirit,
could make hopes and dreams complete;
dreams passed down through generations,
where in spite of faith or creed,
people reach to one another,
seek to meet another’s need.
Could it be within our lifetime
that the riches of this earth
might be shared, yes shared out freely,
not by lottery of birth?
Could we learn to be less selfish,
letting go, not grasping wealth,
till the world and all it’s peoples
live in harmony and health?
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2017 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: HYFRYDOL
Created by HymnQuest.com
How can God, condemned, be hanging? – the test of all that deserves to be called Christian…
How can God, condemned, be hanging? – the test of all that deserves to be called Christian… (See Jurgen Moltmann The Crucified God)
How can God, condemned, be hanging?
False messiahs meet such ends,
and the ones then testifying,
have no need to make amends.
Educated folk were laughing,
they foresaw what was to come,
saw disciples hiding, crying,
feeling both distraught and numb.
But that early Easter morning
brought another scene to bear,
Jesus mission had not ended,
he was risen, standing there.
Still the story, more than foolish
soon gave rise to talk and doubt.
‘Surely God could never suffer?’
taunting people tease and shout.
Signs and wisdom are confounded
by that stumbling block, the cross.
Things that we once saw as wisdom
now dismissed as foolish dross.
God had shown such strength in weakness.
Those who shared Christ’s dying breath
now at last could claim dominion,
love defeating hate and death.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
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 7 D Tune: CALON LAN
Created by HymnQuest.com
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