Category: Bible

The children would follow the peal of your piping – Hymn – Matthew 11: 16 – 17

A hymn inspired by Matthew 11:16-17 Jesus said, “But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn'”.

The children would follow the peal of your piping,
the ring of your reason, the joy of your love,
the children would follow, and none would deter them
from plateaus so barren to mountains above.

And those who are childlike still follow your calling;
a calling to suffer, yet dusted with hope.
The way to fulfilment, to peace and to plenty.
is fissured and rutted but still we will cope.

God's joy is the centre of all that we hope for,
a calling for everyone, not just for some;
the music is moving, can't stop ourselves singing,
still Jesus is piping and still people come!

Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 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: 12 11 12 11
Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO

All of us are valued by God…a hymn…This goal of equality

All of us are valued by God – Matthew records these words of Jesus:
 
10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted.
31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

And a hymn…

This goal of equality laid out before us,
where each one is valued and no-one denied,
is given, through loving, to those who will listen,
yet, while we should welcome, we often deride.

We look at our neighbours and judge by appearance:
the colour of skin or the cadence of voice,
the cut of a jacket or youthful confusion,
while prejudice beckons our ultimate choice.

Yet love would compel to see Christ clothe our neighbour,
the ragged and ugly gain elegant grace;
enabling discernment, refined understanding:
the future is present and all have a place.

Andrew Pratt 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; 12 11 12 11
Tune: ST CATHERINE’S COURT

We are a pilgrim people – a hymn

Methodists in the area in which I live are part of the way through the Methodist Bible Month. Some of our preachers are modelling worship on a sequence of passages from the Book of Revelation. Many of these verses are obscure and difficult to penetrate. Jewish and Christian history has been built on a sequence of revelations. The Book of Revelation is one of those.

Meanwhile, as a nation, a world even, we are living in a time of change. As such we are a pilgrim people, moving forward, guided by the Spirit, reliant on God, dependent on our understanding of what is revealed to us now of how our Christianity can be expressed in our days and time.

We are a pilgrim people, forever moving on, 
each day a new creation, each dawn a brand new song. 
And when our hearts are rooted into one place and time, 
we lose God's moving Spirit, that singing, dancing rhyme.
	
The Hebrews came from Egypt, each turn along the way 
another revelation, another dawning day;
and through this God would teach them to always travel light, 
to trust grace for the future, to calm them or excite.
	
The shepherd of our future, calls us to something new, 
and this may twist and turn us before it can renew. 
But trust and God will take us, will help us realise
beyond imagination the hope that can arise.
	
We must not cage the Spirit, we must not quench the flame, 
we move with God together, are ready for the game. 
Each day a new creation, each dawn a brand new song,
we are a pilgrim people, forever moving on.

Andrew 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: 13 13 13 13
Tune: THORNBURY