Category: Uncategorized

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

There are no limits to God’s love

1 There are no limits to God’s love, 
aside from those we put in place 
because of fear, or hate or greed,
then justified by race or creed.

2 The walls that we would seek to build, 
around our nations or our thoughts ,
the borders we patrol and police,
are breached by God’s own grace and peace.

3 The ones we would exclude or hurt 
are fellow children on this earth, 
are sisters, brothers, all of worth, 
and sharing human life and birth.

4 Beyond our earthly thoughts and ways, 
transcending barriers we erect, 
there is not one beyond God’s grace, 
all should be welcome in this place.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2013 Stainer and Bell Ltd.
LM

When nations are healed – a hymn for today

1 When nations are healed and all warfare is banished, 
the hungry are fed and the poor lifted high, 
the vision of glory, God’s presence among us, 
will signify love and all hatred will die.

2 The river of life will flow on unpolluted, 
the language we share will express common wealth, 
all greed and all grasping will vanish forever, 
instead of for warfare, we’ll budget for health. 

3 The light of God’s love will then shine on forever, 
the same light will shine out from each neighbour’s eyes, 
this vision need not be set far in the future, 
through love, in God’s spirit, we can grasp this prize.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2013 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: 12 11 12 11 Tunes: THE ASH GROVE; SAINT CATHERINE’S COURT