Another hymn for Maundy Thursday from Marjorie Dobson (see also 'A towel and a basin')
1 At the table of communion
Jesus spoke with heavy heart
of the pain of separation,
soon to tear them all apart.
Listening without understanding,
too absorbed with food and wine,
carefree friends could read no meaning
in his simple words and sign.
2 Bread was broken, as his body:
wine, a symbol of his blood.
Yet his call to keep that memory
was not clearly understood.
Judas left, but no one noticed,
thought his business was his own.
Jesus, looking round the table,
knew himself to be alone.
3 As they sang their psalm that evening,
then went out into the night
innocent of apprehension,
unprepared for fear or flight,
how their hopes and dreams were shattered,
confidence was turned to dread
and as chaos ruled around them,
one by one they turned and fled.
4 As they witnessed pain and horror-
trial, cross and guarded tomb-
they remembered Jesus' warning
given in that upper room.
Struggling hard to find the meaning,
in symbolic word and sign.
they would find that same communion
we still share in bread and wine.
Marjorie Dobson (born 1940)
Words © 2019 © 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 8 7 8 7
Tunes: DIM OND IESU; LEWIS FOLK MELODY
From UNRAVELLING THE MYSTERIES, along with poems and other readings.
Category: Poems
Candlemass Hymn
Candlemass – the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Singing the Faith 229)
1 Mary and Joseph
Came to the temple
Brought the boy Jesus,
Offered him there.
People were waiting
Wanting to greet him,
Long had they sought him,
Solace for care.
2 Anna had prayed there,
Widowed, long waiting;
Worshipping God by
Day and by night.
Now she is praising,
Filled with elation;
Here is God’s promise,
Christ is her light.
3 Simeon sings now
God proffers blessing,
Brilliantly gilding
Dawn of his day;
Light in the darkness,
Never extinguished,
Light of all nations,
Light up our way.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 1997 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: 5 5 5 4 D
Tune: BUNESSAN
The shadow of the Holocaust
The shadow of holocaust
gives no choice,
but to hear the oppressed,
to share each voice
of lament, and pain
and vow that never,
no never again
will we see in another
any less than human,
but the light, the divine.
Andrew Pratt 28/1/2025
Holocaust Memorial Day – Poem
1 As we remember holocaust,
in horror disbelieving
the history of the human race,
we share each other’s grieving;
God purge us of hypocrisy,
of all our self–deceiving.
2 Our language is inadequate,
unfit for the expression
of hatred that we visualise,
humanity’s confession;
we hurry headlong into hell,
we witness love’s regression.
3 The deepest, distant agony
that throbs through all creation,
the silent tears that quietly fall
in every generation,
are signs of our humanity,
our need for re–creation.
4 God give us strength to make a pledge
to move beyond contention,
to see, in each, humanity.
Through greater good intention,
God, move us toward a purer love,
a gracious intervention.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) Words © 2003 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
8 7 8 7 8 7
A towel and a basin? – Marjorie Dobson’s hymn for Maundy Thursday
1 A towel and a basin?
This caused them great unease.
Their Master, now a servant?
The Christ upon his knees?
In washing feet made dirty
out on the city street,
he showed the power of action
where love and duty meet.
2 Yet Peter made his protest
and missed the point again,
till Jesus told him gently
that he must share his pain.
They hardly understood him,
although his words were clear
and soon his wise example
would be wiped out by fear.
3 But later they remembered
and took his words to heart:
in sacrifice and service
they gave the church its start,
and we who follow after
take up the task today,
to show, in love and service,
we also walk Christ's way.
Marjorie Dobson (born 1940)
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: 7 6 7 6 D
Tune: PASSION CHORALE
This hymn is available in Marjorie's most recent collection of worship items: Unravelling the Mysteries and also Hymns of Hope and Healing, both available from Stainer & Bell Ltd - click here
More of Marjorie's hymns will follow here.
hymnsandbooks 