The Space Shuttle Columbia – a hymn written at the time of its launch and explosion – remembered BBC 2 12/2/2024 - They reached for stars, beyond our grasp… written 4th February 2003.
1 They reached for stars, beyond our grasp,
they rode beyond the clouds,
we gazed in wonder, seized by awe,
now friends grasp empty shrouds.
2 A thousand searing fiery shards
had flared across the sky,
as crowds looked up in disbelief,
and framed the question 'Why?'
3 Can God be found amidst this loss?
Is love a present fact
when torn by pain, in misery,
we lack the power to act?
4 O God make known your presence now,
yes, show your boundless love
as through the tears and loneliness
we/they search the skies above.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) written 4th February 2003. 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: CM
Category: Song
Jesus casts out an unclean spirit from a man in a synagogue – Mark 1: 21 -28 – a new hymn
A man convulsed and crying
was turning to and fro’,
but Jesus reached to meet him
to bid the spirit go.
The language of this story
sounds foreign, to our speech
yet still our health can test us,
when faith seems out of reach.
Great God, in Christ you show us
that love can cast out fear,
the fear that can assail us,
or those that we hold dear.
In times of desolation,
or times of deep distress.
mid loneliness bring friendship
bring love to lift and bless.
If hearts and thoughts are twisted,
when nothing is secure
may ones like Christ stay near us,
to show that love is sure,
to hold us through disturbance,
as we will hold them too
when shadows cloud your presence
we’ll see each other through.
Andrew Pratt 20/1/2024
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: 7.6.7.6.D
Tune: CRUGER; PENLAN
What happened to the Covenant – a hymn for a time of storms and floods
What happened to the covenant,
the rainbow in the sky,
that signed an end to flood and storm?
Still people stand and cry.
The floods still come, the waters rage,
while homes are swept away,
the covenant, of which God spoke,
seems of another day.
And yet amid experience,
a mystery remains,
a sense in spite of all we see
that love survives, sustains.
The rainbow arch still signs a truth,
God’s covenant of care
will never leave us without love,
in turmoil God is there.
For nothing now in all the earth
below, or heaven above
will separate us from Christ’s grace
or tear us from God’s love.
© Andrew Pratt 7/2/2012
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
Tunes: RODWELL; OSWALD’S TREE; NOX PRAECESSIT
Christ netted fishermen – the first disciples
Christ netted fishermen, called them to follow,
challenged them squarely, called each one by name;
hearing the carpenter they would be joiners,
lives changed forever, they’d not be the same.
On down through ages the people have wondered,
wandered, exploring then what it might mean
if they could risk it, to mirror this hist’ry
joining the narrative, sharing each scene.
Now in this moment, then, let us consider:
dare we love freely the outcast, despised,
reach out with kindness to those now rejected,
in them see Jesus, though lost or disguised.
Andrew Pratt
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: 11.10.11.10
Tune: EPIPHANY HYMN
We strain to hear the voice of God – hymn Epiphany 2
Hymn: We strain to hear the voice of God
We strain to hear the voice of God,
this God who knows us inside out,
a whispered voice of gentleness
that never seeks to force or shout.
Christ's voice was heard in Galilee
by those who had the ears to hear,
he challenged hypocrites with truth
while sinners, sensing love, drew near.
His crazy, crafted way of life,
gave little hint where it might lead,
and yet the people followed him,
each word of Christ met hidden need;
for he addressed with present sense
a desert way of wilderness,
or else the intellectual task
within the city's busyness.
'Come follow me', hear Jesus say,
to those who answered to his call;
and in our present time and place
may we respond and give our all. Amen.
Andrew Pratt Words © 2011 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 8 8 8
Tune: GONFALON ROYAL
Second Sunday after Epiphany, 1 Samuel 3: 1-10 (11-20), Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; John 1:43-51
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