Category: Uncategorized

I stroll along the forest paths – Pentecost goes on…

I stroll along the forest paths – hymn for 21st June – life in the Spirit!

I stroll along the forest paths, I ride upon the wind.
	I sail across the ocean waves, or feast on tamarind,
	but all the wealth and wonder here is empty, pale and trite
	against the vibrant colours of your spirit’s flaming light.

Your spirit turns me round again when I'm against the wall.
	Your spirit lifts me up again, you will not let me fall.
	And when I lie asleep at night, in incandescent streams
	your love cascades around my life, the goal of all my dreams.

I cast my life into that love, ignited by its flame.
	Since meeting you each day I live can never be the same.
	In concert and in harmony our lives will merge as one,
	in singing, dancing joy until the setting of the sun.

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: 14 14 14 14
Tune: THE LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER

Love’s debt

13: 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

1	Love's debt to each and all we owe, 
	to those who brought us to this day, 
	and how can we return this love? 
	In things we do? In words we say?

2	Some debts seem more than we can bear, 
	to brother, sister, parent, child; 
	for while we give and give again, 
	our love is weak, our sense beguiled.

3	O God where is the purest love, 
	that does not seek for pride or wealth? 
	God give to me, that I might share,
	the love that seeks another's health.

4	God help me love as you love me 
	with selfless, unremitting care. 
	And when I look to those around 
	to see the face of Christ is there.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2014 Stainer and 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: LM
Tune: RIVAULX (StF 735)

Easter Hymn _ Doubt, composed in whispered voices

1	Doubt, composed in whispered voices, 
	nailed their thoughts through waiting days:
	days of shattered expectation, 
	days devoid of love or praise. 
	Boulders blocked imagination  
	like the stone that sealed the tomb, 
	startled, frightened, apprehensive,  
	shut inside an upper room. 
	
2	At the point of desolation, 
	when their conversation stilled, 
	in the midst Christ stood before them, 
	Christ abandoned, tortured, killed.
	'Peace be with you', words now spoken,
	words of grace to cut the air, 
	but those words would burn each conscience, 
	branding hurt already there.
	
3	Jesus eyes and body language, 
	spoke of boundless love and grace, 
	but disciples, eyes averted, 
	hardly looked into his face.
	Yet his voice still echoed softly
	till his friends began to see 
	love renewing, reconciling, 
	love rebuilding, setting free.

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
8 7 8 7 D
Tune: DIM OND IESU


Easter morning hymn – Such shock had greeted women

Easter morning hymn - Such shock had greeted women

1	Such shock had greeted women 
	arriving at the tomb; 
	the place was stark and empty. 
	Was this a stone-cold womb?
	A second life had beckoned 
	the body, come and gone. 
	Yet Mary stood there weeping,
	warmed by the rising sun.

2	Long shadows greeted mourning, 
	the light could trick and turn; 
	a gardener was waiting, 
	she struggled to discern; 
	reality was breaking,
	denying common sense,
	for Jesus offered greeting, 
	there, in the present tense.

3	And others met this Jesus, 
	each heard a different call, 
	two thousand years thereafter 
	God seeks to meet us all.
	The spirit is God’s presence, 
	that spirit meets our need 
	as love is planted in us, 
	a quietly growing seed.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2020 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: PASSION CHORALE