Inspired by Psalm 84
God who walked this earth before us
God who walked this earth before us,
over mountains, by cool springs,
pictured in the poet's image:
soaring high on eagles’ wings:
we can never cage or capture
such a Spirit in her flight,
yet within a vaulted temple
people seek to praise your might.
'Neath its eaves, in arching timbers,
birds are nesting, swallows fly,
here where choirs will praise Your glory,
priests and people sing or cry.
While we worship in closed buildings,
shuttered from the world outside,
far beyond our tethered spirits,
Love is soaring, free to glide.
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.
Tune: RUSSIAN AIR (Hymns for the People, 43; Jubilate); DIJON
Metre: 8.7.8.7
Category: Bible
No peace for the Master – a hymn inspired by John 6:1-21 – Feeding of the multitude
No peace for the Master - July 28th John 6: 1-21
1 No peace for the Master, the people would follow,
for he had compassion for those who were lost,
then when he had healed them, and answered their questions,
he saw they were hungry, yet food had a cost.
2 Now Philip computed, they never could manage,
but Jesus was adamant, they must be fed.
What was there to feed them? A boy had come forward,
he offered two fishes and five loaves of bread.
3 The crowd were now seated and Jesus was ready,
he lifted his eyes, blessed the fish and the bread.
Miraculous feeding, five thousand were feasting,
O wonder of wonders, yet more lay ahead.
4 However we see it, God's power over nature;
a sharing of little so all can be fed;
this story still points to the person of Jesus,
for here God is present, God's nature is read.
Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 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:12 11 12 11
Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO; ST CATHERINE’S COURT
On a Galilean hillside – hymn inspired by Mark 6: 30-34
On a Galilean hillside – July 21st – Mark 6: 30 – 34
1 On a Galilean hillside
stood a crowd with wondering eyes,
captivated by the mystery,
framed by mountain, sea and skies.
2 Jesus stood, and with compassion,
met their gaze and understood
depth of pain, and human anguish,
evil challenging their good.
3 What he said defied their senses,
challenged values, yet affirmed
those whom life had spurned or battered,
lifted them above the herd.
4 Now we stand, impassioned, waiting
for a word to cure our ill;
but he challenges complacence,
love is ours to share or still.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2002 © 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
Tune: WRAYSBURY (Hymns & Psalms 141)
Jesus meets a woman in a crowd – hymn inspired by Mark 5: 21 – 43
Hymn inspired by Mark 5: 21 – 43 Jesus meets a woman in a crowd
1 Within a crowd where we're alone
with nothing left to say;
when fear has traced our every step
and love has gone away;
God, give us courage, help us step
beyond this cage of time
to find again the freedom steps
to dance with heaven's rhyme.
2 God, help us grasp the hem of hope,
the garment of your grace;
to look again with certain eyes
at love within your face.
God, send us out to live again,
to live well and be blessed,
to pirouette with steps of love,
in every way refreshed.
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.
Metre: CMD
Tune: KINGSFOLD
Hidden mysteries amaze us Mark 4: 26 – 34
Hymn: Hidden mysteries amaze us June 16TH Lectionary Mark 4: 26 – 34
Hidden mysteries amaze us,
seed is sown then grows up high,
swelling seas form mighty mountains,
stars adorn the evening sky.
Jesus saw in life a story,
parables of love and grace,
things of God and revelation,
rooted, grounded in each place.
Yet for some the grace stayed hidden,
clouded, shrouded from their eyes,
others read the words more clearly,
God unmasked, not in disguise.
Here in Christ they saw the God-head,
emptied now of all but love;
God now grounded, standing with them,
not in cosmic space above.
© Andrew Pratt 31/5/2012
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.
Tune: GOTT WILL’S MACHEN
Metre: 8.7.8.7
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