Category: Song

Emmaus a hymn – Way out beyond the reaches of the cosmos

After Easter some people were walking to Emmaus talking about all that had happened. Jesus, unrecognised, walked beside them. Only when they reached their destination and asked Jesus to join them for a meal did they recognise him – when he broke bread.
This hymn reflects on the all-pervasive nature of the message of resurrection, that of creation and re-creation, only in the last verse bringing us to Emmaus. It is for communion, or any other meal.
Fred Kaan once pointed out that ‘companion’ means ‘with bread’. 

Way out beyond the reaches of the cosmos,
through strands, like smoke, of interstellar cloud, 
our God is moving, forming, re-creating, 
each image speaks the name of God, out loud.

It seems this God will nurture like a mother, 
the power of love embodies life and light.
This love transcends succeeding generations, 
brings comfort in the darkness of death's night. 

Companion God in breaking bread together 
we meet with you as we met on the way, 
a friendly God you still make peace between us, 
as sharing meals we meet with you each day.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2014 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: 11 10 11 10
Tune: O PERFECT LOVE
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One week on from Easter Sunday, a hymn with echoes of the story: ‘Such enchantment, sudden strangeness’

One week on from Easter Sunday, a hymn with echoes of the story: Such enchantment, sudden strangeness...

1	Such enchantment, sudden strangeness,
	Power and love, by God, distilled;
	Then they recognise his presence,
	By his words their fears are stilled.
	'Peace be with you', Simon Peter,
	John, you need not be afraid;
	'Peace be with you', doubting Thomas,
	Don't be anxious or dismayed.

2	In the garden he saw Mary,
	Talked with her, unrecognised;
	Naming her drew back the curtain,
	Opened tear-stained, blinded eyes.
	Others walking to Emmaus
	Talked, depressed, their sadness showed,
	Till at last, their journey ended,
	Broken bread their Lord disclosed.

3	Fishing, from a boat, some saw him,
	They had trawled, had felt forlorn;
	Recognition added savour
	To their breakfast at the dawn.
	As we go about our business
	Bring enchantment to our lives;
	Open eyes that we might know the
	Love from which our peace derives.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)	
Words © 2000 © 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.D
Tune: HYFRYDOL

Easter hymn – We cannot speculate, or glance

An empty tomb is just empty. It took a meeting with Jesus to convince a woman, then a group of men that Jesus, who had died on a cross, was alive. It is still difficult to believe. Yet after two thousand years, whatever we believe, as Geoffrey Best has written on Facebook, ‘…in this (hi)story is the revelation of the very nature of God, a God who takes all that we throw and absorbs and transforms the dead and deadly into life abundant .... if we let it!’ Amen!

1	We cannot speculate, or glance 
	into the well of history. 
	Nor can we look beyond this time 
	with any sense of certainty. 
	We only have our faith and hope, 
	to make us stand, to help us cope.
	
2	Great God we grasp at straws of faith,
	of things we hope will point to you. 
	We read the ancient texts and scan 
	those distant myths to make them new. 
	And all the time we live between 
	these metaphors and what is seen.
	
3	The past is gone, we cannot hear 
	more than an echo down the age. 
	And what is still to come we fear; 
	we see each other's pent up rage.
	Yet what we need is close at hand, 
	your present love in every land.
	
4	True resurrection brings to bear 
	the things that heal, create, unite. 
	Love launches its triumphant praise 
	and builds on joy and will delight.
	The former things are passed away, 
	dead night transformed to brightest day.

Metre: 8 8 8 8 8 8 Tune: ABINGDON
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.

Art © Andrew Pratt 2022

	


	
	






	
	

		
A hymn for Holy Week – Rising gloom surrounds the story
	


	

		

Rising gloom surrounds the story,
Jesus moves towards the cross,
here Jerusalem is waiting,
favour swings from gain to loss.

Crowds had swarmed in adulation,
many came infused with hope.
Every person sought an outcome,
nothing seemed beyond his scope.

Zealots called for liberation, 
sinners waited on his word,
children ran with palms to meet him,
felt affirmed by what they heard.

Other people simply bustled,
thought their lives beyond reproach,
when the Lord came riding humbly,
hardly noticed his approach.

In the temple, tables turning,
those in power were disabused
as he showed the way to worship
for the poor, despised, abused.

Choices faced him in the garden,
prayer was dry, betrayal lurked;
while his closest friends were sleeping,
human evil waited, worked.

What is left? some trumped-up charges?
Self-conceit? Religious hate?
Here the Christ still stands before us -
time for judgement ... crosses wait.

Andrew E. Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 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.
8 7 8 7 
ADORATION (Hunt)



	


	
	






	
	

		
Palm Sunday Hymn – As Jesus came riding
	


	

		

As Jesus came riding along on a donkey, 
the pavement was holy, he hallowed the ground.
The stones will cry out if the people are silent, 
a day filled with joy and with praising is found.
	
Then those who had followed and those who came after
sang loudly while waving their palms in the air;
these palms they laid down on the ground like a carpet, 
some joined celebration, while some stood to stare.
	
Then loud the hosannas that rang round about him, 
this man of humility, heading for death;
and would we sing with them, hosannas and praising,
or cry for the cross that would take his last breath.
	
And now in this moment the trial and the testing
for you and for me, and for each and for all, 
is sharing God's sacrifice, selflessly loving, 
to stand beside Jesus, respond to his call.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 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.
12 11 12 11
STREET OF LAREDO