Gaza – poem – ‘A velvet spiral clothed the earth’
A velvet spiral clothed the earth
where dust and ashes fluttered down.
While tear stained eyes foresaw the dawn:
the shadow of a dearth of love;
and fear is all we own…
© Andrew Pratt 2025.
Hymn inspired by the 1 Timothy. Suitable, perhaps, for harvest or creation season worship or reflection.
A song of creation inspired by 1 Timothy
Star strewn garments clothe the heavens,
robes of beauty, source of awe;
Spirit God transcending hist’ry,
way beyond where pulsars soar.
Mountains rise up from the valleys,
folded like a gathered cloak
seas and rivers, great sierra,
lofty cedar, ageing oak.
God beyond our understanding,
God of wisdom, Lord of days;
God of miracle and wonder,
You deserve our life-long praise!
Metre: 8 7 8 7
Tune: STUTTGART
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.
copyright Andrew Pratt 2024
And is this earth…?
A challenge to the church to change – ‘When the church, afraid of changing’
Hymn writers sometimes ask questions of the church and then flesh out the consequences of the actions they have described. Fred Pratt Green’s - ‘When the Church of Jesus shuts its outer door’ is one such hymn (perhaps too challenging, or near to the bone, to be in Hymns & Psalms or Singing the Faith?) As we live out the time through lectionary readings from resurrection to Pentecost we have a chance to reflect on what the church is, and what it might be expected to be. Remember that Jesus death was partly a consequence of his challenging people to change their perspectives of faith.
When the church, afraid of changing,
clings to glories of the past,
holding fast to long lost memories,
sure that it will always last,
lost in time, devoid of spirit,
know this truth, its fate is cast.
When the church no longer welcomes
people other than it's own,
when it thinks its understanding
stands complete, is fully grown,
love is rarely seen in action,
grace is only, thinly, sown.
Jesus challenged expectation,
turning tables upside down,
those who once were thought as holy
he confronted with a frown.
When, then, will we learn the lesson,
own that cross, that thorny crown?
Andrew Pratt 3/5/2025
© Words Andrew Pratt © 2025 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: 87 87 87
Tunes: PICARDY; RHUDDLAN
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