Dr Richard Baker is a Local Preacher and, as a lay Pastor of Bramhall Methodist Church, in 2021 he organised Seminars and Discussion Groups relating to Climate Change. In a previous series he had addressed the interface of Science and Faith.
He has written material for continuing development of Preachers entitled – Worshiping Biblically in the context of the climate emergency.
Recently he has written some thought-provoking Hymns which are available here, on his web-site.
Great prophet of pity - A hymn inspired by Romans 12: 1-8 Great prophet of pity, subversive in love, unsettle our comfort, divert and reprove; that, moved from self-interest, and shielded from pride, we might yet embody the gifts of your bride. O raise up your people and fit them to care for all who are lonely or lost in despair. The reed that is bending, the wick that burns low, through grace and persistence, God, help them to grow. From each generation, race, colour or creed, Christ, gather together, united by need, the ones that you value, and God, may we find, in spite of ourselves that your welcome is kind. 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: 11 11 11 11 Tune: ST DEINIO
She felt just like a ragged dog - a hymn based on Matthew 15: 21-28 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 loved 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: AULD LANG SYNE
Hiroshima Day is marked every year on 6 August, the day in 1945 on which the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. The film Oppenheimer explores some of the ethical questions related to this event. Others have questioned its rights and wrongs since 1945. The following poem/hymn was written in response to the photo of a little boy rescued from a bombed building in Allepo in Syria. Equally it is evocative of children everywhere suffering whenever we settle our disputes through war or violence. It speaks as much to our vision of a destroyed city as to the cries of a single child: A bloodied child foreshadowed by a cross, both share their taste of evil and of loss, and when will people ever live and learn that hurt and harm is all that war can earn? We hold our breath in horror as we view this scene forever old, forever new; amid the dust and rubble strewn around a child cries out and parents can’t be found. How long, O Lord we cry, each hollow word, our pleas of peace increasingly absurd? Good God, forgive us when inaction’s voice speaks loudly of our violent, hurtful choice. Words: Andrew Pratt (born 1948) © 18 August 2016 Stainer & 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: 10.10.10.10. Suggested tunes: these words were written with the tune EVENTIDE (StF 141) in mind. Singing the Faith plus suggests these alternatives: THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP (StF 640) and – perhaps surprisingly – WOODLANDS (StF 186)
hymnsandbooks 