Easter Resurrection hymn: In the garden, walking, weeping
1 In the garden, walking, weeping,
Mary came at break of dawn.
All the sorrow, all the anguish
made her figure lost, forlorn.
2 All the fragrance of that garden
couldn't take away her fear;
coming through the dancing shadows
sunshine could not calm or cheer.
3 In the corner of the garden
was the tomb where he'd been laid.
Her intention was to hold him,
feel again the love he gave.
4 Now she saw the tomb was empty,
heard a gardener call her name,
turning round she saw him, Jesus,
one who'd reached her through her shame.
5 Sunshine cut through clouds of mourning,
for his death had come and gone,
silencing the dirge of sorrow,
now she'd sing a sweeter song.
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
Tune: OMNI DIE
Used By Permission. CCLI Licence No. 1111
Created by HymnQuest.com - HymnQuest ID: 77131
Category: Theology
Good Friday hymn – Let us pause for recollection
Good Friday hymn – Let us pause for recollection
1 Let us pause for recollection
of a day that shook the earth:
day of gruesome execution,
day of death, yet hope of birth?
Will we turn away, denying
those who show us how to live
lives of sacrificial kindness,
scared to love, afraid to give?
2 Will we wash our hands like Pilate,
let injustice take the stage,
turn our backs on fear and bloodshed
echoes of another age?
Will we watch them from a distance,
humans hanging out to dry,
or will we deride, forsake, them,
leaving them without a sigh?
3 Will we count our gains in secret,
leaving just a sordid kiss?
Will remorse and horror haunt us
selling such a life as this?
This is now our time of crisis
as we stand beneath the cross,
this is now the choice before us:
total gain, or utter loss.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2016 © 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 D
Tune: CALON LAN
Created by HymnQuest.com
Such blasphemous extravagance – a hymn inspired by the raising of Lazarus but pertinent at this time
John 11:1-45 – The raising of Lazarus - Jesus’ assertions that his actions would demonstrate who he was were, to those around him, blasphemous in the extreme…and all this in the context that he was moving nearer to Jerusalem where he would be crucified.
This lyrical poem seems pertinent in the world at this time…
1 Such blasphemous extravagance
as limb is torn from limb;
expense is unaccountable,
is this the final sin?
2 There is no god, yet pain is god,
and God is very real,
amid the carnage and the fear,
the hatred that we feel
3 And did God look through human eyes
and touch with human hands,
and did a human mind discern
love's seed sown in these lands?
4 Yes, Christ is God, incarnate God,
and still his flesh is torn;
and eyes that look on all the world
with tears and cares are worn.
5 And still God hangs with wondering eyes
and all the world seems lost,
and no one dares to face the facts,
while parents count the cost.
6 When will we learn, O can we learn,
the lesson that Christ taught:
that wood and nails can never end
the love for which he fought.
Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
© 2010 Stainer and Bell Ltd., London, England, www.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 6 8 6
Tune: BRISTOL Ravenscroft – ‘Hark the glad sound’
Created by HymnQuest.com
God disarm us from the language – pertinent in a time when language and how it is being used can be utterly damaging
God disarm us from the language
God disarm us from the language
that will harm, or dispossess,
that disparages our neighbour
words that hurt, or bring distress.
God bring love instead of hatred,
tear down barriers we have built,
bring your grace among all nations,
takeaway our fear and guilt.
Take us, use us, in this purpose,
so our actions emulate,
all that brings us peaceful living,
not just tools of chance or fate.
Build between us bonds of friendship,
bridges in the place of lies,
till we’re bound with one another:
held by love that none denies.
Andrew E. Pratt (born 1948)
© 2026 Stainer and Bell Ltd., London, England, http://www.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: SHIPSTON
Thoughts on how we use language – the need for listening and empathy
If we share a common humanity what matters in terms of how language is used is not what we think is affirming or hurtful BUT how those being addressed, or described, receive what is being said.
If I feel affirmed or put down by how I am named or described that is real for me, however the person addressing me feels about what they are saying.
Empathy and listening is needed before we condemn changes in language that we might see as ‘fashionable’ or unnecessary.
All of this ought to apply to our day to day conversation as we recognise the common humanity we share with one another, whatever name, creed, gender, orientation, self-identification or other criteria.
It is equally important in public documents and conversation, politically, in religious worship and in every other sphere
The key word in all of this is simply KINDNESS.
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