Category: Song

On a Galilean hillside – hymn inspired by Mark 6: 30-34

On a Galilean hillside – July 21st – Mark 6: 30 – 34

1          On a Galilean hillside
            stood a crowd with wondering eyes,
            captivated by the mystery,
            framed by mountain, sea and skies.

2          Jesus stood, and with compassion,
            met their gaze and understood
            depth of pain, and human anguish,
            evil challenging their good.

3          What he said defied their senses,
            challenged values, yet affirmed
            those whom life had spurned or battered,
            lifted them above the herd.

4          Now we stand, impassioned, waiting
            for a word to cure our ill;
            but he challenges complacence,
            love is ours to share or still.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2002 © 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 Trochaic
Tune: WRAYSBURY (Hymns & Psalms 141)

Hymn on the death of John the Baptist

The death of John the Baptist


1 Evil intention, skilful deception,
devious plotting, bent on revenge;
heart fired by hatred, John is not sacred,
see how Herodias seeks her revenge.


2 Then came the moment, see her opponent,
vulnerable prisoner, she’d seal his fate.
Dancing for Herod opened the scabbard,
offered the victim cold on a plate.


3 Shocking entrapment, scheming detachment,
almost inhuman, are we like that?
When self-deception hides our intention
self-righteous pleading bleeds on the mat.


4 Let us be honest, grace is God’s promise,
no need to earn it, this gift is free.
Yet could I face it? How to live with it:
face in the mirror looking at me.


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.
Metre: 10 9 10 9
Tune: BUNESSAN

Vocation, Ordination, Being Christian after an Election

Last Sunday (30th June 2024) Methodist Presbyters and Deacons were Ordained at the Annual Methodist Conference in the UK. Those in Leeds were able to witness and share in this in person. Some of us followed the preceding service on-line. 

ALL CHRISTIANS have a vocation, a calling to follow Christ and to share God’s love whoever we are and wherever life takes us. This hymn was written FOR US!

1	We are the rainbow's colours,
	the thundering sighs of love,
	the shakers of foundations,
	the seething clouds above.
	We are God's chosen people,
	from exile we are freed,
	our common consecration
	means liberty indeed.

2	A hope for every nation,
	we come to bring God's peace,
	the reconciliation,
	the prisoner's release.
	This is our sole vocation,
	the reason for our birth,
	to offer hope through loving,
	to bring God's peace on earth.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2002, 2006 Stainer & Bell Ltd (alt 2024 by the author)
Metre: 7 6 7 6 D
Tune: PASSION CHORALE

Jesus meets a woman in a crowd – hymn inspired by Mark 5: 21 – 43

Hymn inspired by Mark 5: 21 – 43 Jesus meets a woman in a crowd

1	Within a crowd where we're alone 
	with nothing left to say; 
	when fear has traced our every step 
	and love has gone away;
	God, give us courage, help us step 
	beyond this cage of time 
	to find again the freedom steps 
	to dance with heaven's rhyme.
	
2	God, help us grasp the hem of hope, 
	the garment of your grace; 
	to look again with certain eyes 
	at love within your face.
	God, send us out to live again, 
	to live well and be blessed, 
	to pirouette with steps of love, 
	in every way refreshed.

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.
Metre: CMD
Tune: KINGSFOLD


A perfect storm – hymn Mark 4: 35 – 41

A perfect storm, as Galilee June 23rd Lectionary Mark 4 35 – 41 
Hymn: A perfect storm, as Galilee 

A perfect storm, as Galilee 
became a foaming maelstrom,
the boats were spun and tossed like corks, 
no more a sluggish doldrum.	

And through it all their friend had dozed, 
the chaos found him sleeping
while panic reigned, fear took control, 
as crashing waves were sweeping. 

A desperate cry, 'we perish, Lord', 
they shook him to his senses. 
Then at a word the storm was stilled
disarming their defences.

'What little faith you have, my friends, 
why let such fear possess you? 
See how the wind and waves obey, 
how peace has come to bless you'.

What they had seen disturbed those men, 
it rocked things sure and tested;
to meet with God upon that lake, 
left doubt and fear arrested
Andrew Pratt 
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.
Tune: 8.7.8.7
Metre: ST COLUMBA (Irish); DOMINUS REGIT ME