1 Deep in darkness we begin,
dark outside and deep within.
Now ignite a single flame,
shadows form, let light remain.
2 As they gleaned the word of life,
narrative of love and strife,
people through each age have known
yet more light: God's glory shown.
3 John the Baptist spoke out loud,
challenged that discordant crowd,
called each one toward the light,
see it growing, gleaming bright.
4 Mary wondered at her lot,
blessed? Or cursed? Or loved? Or not?
Angels came and glory shone,
feel the love, let light shine on.
5 Look! a star is shining there.
See the stable stark and bare.
Christmas dawns, all darkness gone!
Christ has come, the light shines on!
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
Metre: 7 7 7 7
Tunes: LAUDS (Wilson); ORIENTIS PARTIBUS
Category: Song
Life is tough but God will hold us…
Life is tough, but God will hold - us inspired by Psalm 132: 1 – 12 (13 – 18)
1 Life is tough, but God will hold us
through each hardship of our lives,
when our hope is torn to ribbons
grace is present, love survives.
2 God will feed us bread of heaven,
finest wine to slake our thirst.
Those who grieve will know God's comfort,
those who waited will be first.
3 Hear the faithful offer praises,
here the poor will shout for joy,
grace and hope will give forever
love that nothing can destroy.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
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: 8 7 8 7
Tunes: CROSS OF JESUS; LAUS DEO (Redhead)
This towering edifice – inspired by Mark 13:1-8
Temples now and then – This towering edifice of shining glass – inspired by Mark 13:1-8
1 This towering edifice of shining glass
which speaks of power, of status and of class.
will one day fall, a glittering shower of shards,
will flutter like the children's house of cards.
2 These temples of our vanity and pride
like expectations of the crucified
will lie in dust and rubble that we raze,
not like the Christ who, later, God might raise.
3 We need to hear that sharp prophetic cry
reminding of the ones we would deny.
Self-righteous hypocrites will meet their end.
Neglected people find in Christ a friend.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
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: 10 10 10 10
Tunes: CHILTON FOLIAT; GO FORTH
‘Drones, not angels herald horror’ – a hymn for Remembrance in a new millennium through Advent to Christmas
‘Drones, not angels herald horror’ a hymn for 2024
from Remembrance through Advent to Christmas
Drones, not angels herald horror,
children shelter without hope,
singing now, but hell will follow.
God, through grace, give strength to cope.
Here where human hearts are broken,
all cried out, no tears to shed,
prayers are held, for fear, unspoken,
shrouded now in clouds of dread.
God reach deep through hateful anger
bent on vengeance, recompense;
listen through our warring clangour,
re-enliven common sense.
Guide us through the dust and rubble,
where our blood has stained the earth,
turning fields where all is stubble,
seeding love that signs new birth.
Andrew E Pratt (4/11/2024)
Words © 2024 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
Tune: HYFRYDOL; SCARLET RIBBONS or, perhaps, BLAENWERN
A completely new hymn for 2024 reminding us how different war is now but, nevertheless, with comparable suffering. Suitable, perhaps, for Remembrance and through Advent to Christmas given the continuing situation in the Middle East, Ukraine/Russia and many other places.
A little memento can move us to tears – for the famous or obscure – those we remember – a hymn
A little memento can move us to tears – the saints we remember
A little memento can move us to tears,
a memory can surface along with its fears,
the past is still with us, and scars are so raw,
while hope can seem absent on life's barren shore.
The life that has ebbed has left marks on our lives,
while love is still present some hope still survives.
The treasure of saints in each era and age,
is loving, while living upon the earth's stage.
And these we remember, each person, each life,
the good they engendered, their solace in strife;
the warmth of a hand, or the smile of a face,
their presence a channel of God given grace.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words Andrew Pratt © 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.
Metre: 11 11 11 11
Tune: DATCHET
All Saints Day revolves around "giving God solemn thanks for the lives and deaths of his saints", including those who are "famous or obscure".
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