Category: Other People’s Words

The Hardest Part – Studdert Kennedy

At a time when rumours of wars have been replaced by real wars at every turn Studdert Kennedy’s words warrant re-visiting. Written by a man trying to find out what ‘God is like’ in the context of war – The First World War – this is still relevant if only to make us think. The book is widely available in various formats. Take a look here

Extract – pertinent to a time when we elect governments…

God’s will has been a shibboleth for those who wished to bolster up the existing social order. God is Almighty, and God can do no wrong, and therefore, whatever is, is right.


The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate. God made them high or lowly
And ordered their estate.


So we sang with childish lips, and so we were taught and believed until we learned in the school of the world that the rich man often — not always, but often — entered his castle by filthy ways, paved with human miseries and wet with human blood, and that it was often not God but whisky that put the poor man at his gate.


Once the eyes of man are opened to the power and persistence of evil in the world, this pious or impious fatalism becomes impossible ; and when men have learned to hate evil with all their hearts, it becomes not only impossible but repulsive and dis gusting.

Abram set out on a journey – the call of Abram/Abraham – Genesis 12 and onward…

Abram set out on a journey – Inspired by the call of Abram

1	Abram set out on a journey, 
	joined this new, uncertain, game.
	Challenges bring new excitement,  
	no two days will be the same. 
	Life was settled, now it's shaken, 
	preconceptions turned around, 
	every day a new beginning, 
	every place uncommon ground.
	
2	Now it felt God moved the goal-posts, 
	playing by some other rules,  
	life and work had been uprooted, 
	staying home seemed just for fools.
	Still today God calls the dreamers, 
	those with visions charged by grace, 
	those who move and travel onward, 
	bringing hope to each new place.

3	Will you join this pilgrim people, 
	finding new and different ways;
	trusting God will walk beside you
	now and in your future days?
	Will you walk into the darkness, 
	trusting God and trav'ling light, 
	setting out to live the gospel, 
	always keeping God in sight?

Andrew Pratt (born 1948) based on Genesis 12 vs 1-4 
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.
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Tune: BETHANY