So tired with the heat and the height of their climbing,
now resting where eagles might shelter their young,
disciples had followed, but Jesus now left them,
to wander yet higher, compelled he went on.
And now in a light that transfigured their vision,
the one they called Master was standing alone,
and yet it appeared that some others stood with him,
in whiteness, in brightness, the clouds like a throne.
The dazzle was blinding for those who were watching,
but then it seemed Jesus was heading back down,
the vision had faded, the moment was passing,
Messiah they’d called him who shunned any crown;
until on a hilltop, mid rubbish and slander,
this ‘king’ was hung out in the sun, set to dry;
crossed out between those others deemed rough and worthless,
the poor and discarded for whom he would die.
To those who had hung him, he offered forgiveness,
a crucified robber was paradise bound;
the poor he exalted, the widow, the stranger,
found love in this preacher who turns lives around.
Andrew E Pratt
Words © 2018 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
Category: Song
We cannot privatise God’s grace – hymn – inspired by Luke 6:27-38
We cannot privatise God's grace inspired by Luke 6:27-38
1 We cannot privatise God's grace
and in our hearts we know it.
The love of God is ours, it's free,
we know that we must show it.
2 The neighbour that becomes a friend
becomes a gift God's given,
the barrier that's broken down,
a clearer path to heaven.
3 So, take my hand and let us dance
the freedom steps from prison,
a choreography of love
where joy is no illusion.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2002, 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: 8 7 8 7
Tunes: DOMINUS REGIT ME; ST COLUMBA (Irish – 8787)
Not pushing for favours – hymn
Not pushing for favours – a hymn reflecting on Luke 6: 20 – 22
Not pushing for favours, nor craving acceptance,
but waiting in line for our moment to come,
and then love exalts us, affirms and promotes us,
yes this is gospel the, the source and the sum.
God raises the humble, the poor and afflicted,
the ones that society longs to despise.
God's values are different from those we might cherish.
God sees the down-trodden and wills them to rise.
And this is our calling, to set the example,
the gospel imperative lived out through grace,
to turn the world over till those who are hungry
can feast at the banquet prepared in this place.
The table is open, all people are welcome,
the children are dancing, the frail have found care.
The world and it's bounty is here for all people,
with no one excluded, where all learn to share.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2013 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: WAS LEBET WAS SCHWEBET
As published in The Seed now https://www.theworshipcloud.com/
The rubble and the language – words for our time, for Gaza
The rubble and the language – words for our time, for Gaza
The rubble and the language,
discarded, damaged lives,
are things that evil scatters;
no hope of love survives
when narcissistic grasping
eradicates all grace,
if protest sinks in silence
love leaves our human race.
Bereft of all compassion,
with empathy stripped bare,
humanity extinguished,
while people suffer there;
this world is desecrated
can we not find a way
to heal and mend relations
to counter this decay.
With hatred running rampant,
while sinking in despair,
is there no other option
to clear this rancid air,
to open doors to trusting,
to take the risk to dare
to find a new beginning,
through action, kindness, prayer.
Alternative last 4 lines:
From warring words and venom
could we at last relent,
or still continue headlong
to hell to which we’re bent?
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 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.
Notes
This is probably best used as a reading. No tune is offered, though, being metrical it could be sung – as a protest song (or a hymn?).
Another hymn for Maundy Thursday from Marjorie Dobson
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.
hymnsandbooks 