A sacramental union - Inspired by Mark 10:2-16
A sacramental union
that none can put apart,
and those who sought to fudge the law,
were challenged from the start.
The Pharisees were undermined,
the laws would stay in place,
with subtle ways of subterfuge
destroyed without a trace.
Then learning from this interchange
should we condemn and judge,
or take a wider view of Christ,
his spirit and his touch?
When questions of adultery
were set to catch him out,
he turned a mirror on the crowd
and none were left to shout.
Hypocrisy and judgment were
things that Christ condemned,
and so we need to judge ourselves
before we charge a friend.
To love as we would love ourselves
a child can understand,
and we must unlearn prejudice,
give grace the upper-hand.
Words Andrew Pratt © 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:
Metre: CMD
Tune: ELLACOMBE
Inspired by Mark 10:2-16; May also be used as a poem.
Category: Song
Hard sayings of Jesus- hymn
Hard sayings of Jesus that challenge and test – Inspired by Mark 9: 38 – 50
1 Hard sayings of Jesus that challenge and test,
that bring us to crisis, will not let us rest.
Confronted by holiness, righteousness, light,
our lives are exposed whether wrongful or right.
2 When salt loses savour its purpose is gone,
a life lacking goodness is soon over-run.
Our way is to nurture with God given grace,
to baulk at this calling is soon to lose face.
3 So let us affirm every neighbour with care,
while joining in partnership, willing to share
all gifts God has given, throughout this wide earth,
with those all around and those yet to find birth.
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: 11 11 11 11
Tune: DATCHET
When sense is damaged, limiting perception – hymn – inspired by Mark 9: 30-37
When sense is damaged, limiting perception – inspired by Mark 9: 30-37
1 When sense is damaged, limiting perception,
God’s love will not diminish or betray,
for we are held in grace and loving kindness,
in pain, through grief and hardship, come what may.
2 The love of God defies our understanding,
God reaches to the depths of our despair
absorbing hate, discerning fear and anguish,
enabling, healing, wholeness and repair.
3 Our God is patient with our human frailty,
a strength in weakness when we slip or fall,
and so just as we are we come to worship
to offer back to God our all in all.
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.
Metre: 11.10.11.10
Tune: HIGHWOOD
A hymn for a seeking faith inspired by Psalm 19 – The cosmic pulse
A hymn for a seeking faith inspired by Psalm 19 - The cosmic pulse
1 The cosmic pulse that beats through all creation,
two spinning stars, the pulsar's throbbing light;
these wing beats, not a passing aberration,
but angels thronging through the mists of night;
2 The whirling, dancing, trance that brings relation
with all that is and all that is to be;
the mystic, magic prayer, this wild elation
you say will bring the love to set us free;
3 Our language cannot offer a description:
Nirvana, heaven, call it what you will;
this other world that fires our inspiration
is all that conjures up the power to thrill.
4 The God we hymn, through praise and acclamation,
we seek to meet through words or bread and wine;
yet all the world inspires your incantation;
together let us fathom truth's design.
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: 11 10 11 10 Iambic
Tunes: HIGHWOOD; INTERCESSOR
From Whatever name or creed
Hymn inspired by Mark 7: 24-30 – She felt just like a ragged dog
She felt just like a ragged dog - inspired by Mark 7: 24-30
1 She felt just like a ragged dog
that scratched around for food,
denied, despised and kicked aside
and never any good.
2 Yet now she stood inside the door
and pleaded with this man,
for each taboo had little weight,
her grief had wider span.
3 Her child had need of healing help
and she would make Christ hear,
the urgency of anguished need
had overcome her fear.
4 And in that moment he would learn,
audacity would teach
that human laws and well worn creeds
put no-one out of reach.
5 Compassion ruled and love compelled
to action on that day,
and Jesus' reach was broadened as
he learnt that grace held sway.
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: CM
Tune: ST PETER (How sweet the name of Jesus sounds)
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