worship – Page 4 – hymnsandbooks

As shorter days prevail – a hymn inspired by Luke 18:9-14

As shorter days prevail – a hymn inspired by Luke 18:9-14

1               As shorter days prevail
                  We know as we are known:
                  We face the truth of our deceit
                  Within God’s judgement zone.

2               We see as we are seen,
                  As God and truth conspire,
                  A panorama of our lives
                  Confronts each wild desire.

3               Then at the darkest hour
                  A laser sears the night,
                  As sharp as any spirit’s sword
                  That cleaves our wrong and right.

4               As we discern ourselves,
                  Deride, despair, regret,
                  Compassion moves God’s love to us:
                  Love will forgive, forget.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)

Words © 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: SM

Tune: CAPEL

All the praying, all the pounding – a hymn inspired by Luke 18: 1-8

All the praying, all the pounding inspired by Luke 18: 1-8

1	All the praying, all the pounding, 
	all the crying at God's door 
	cannot make God more attentive,
	cannot make God love us more.
	
2	Here through our persistent waiting 
	we will find a present grace, 
	grace for patient expectation, 
	till we meet God face to face.
	
3	Then our God will meet and greet us, 
	understand our every need, 
	change our heartache into gladness,
	wake to life faith's dormant seed.
	
4	See the covenant on offer, 
	God will write it in our hearts, 
	from now on we are God's people, 
	this is when our new life starts. 
	
5	All that's broken will be mended, 
	all that's fallen be set right, 
	God will honour every promise, 
	lead us onward into light.

Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2010 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: 8 7 8 7
Tune: ALL FOR JESUS

At the centre of each city…for our nation now

At the centre of each city 
…for our nation now (alluding  to Jeremiah 29: 4 – 7; Luke 17: 11-19)

1	At the centre of each city, 
	here where commerce drowns out tears, 
	hear the cry of Christ, forsaken, 
	people lost in debt or fears.

2	Different languages will mingle, 
	cultures bringing life to light, 
	yet the foreign raise new questions, 
	shaking what we thought was right.

3	Here new neighbours rubbing shoulders, 
	help to make us look anew 
	at the way we live together, 
	testing if our love is true

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: 8 7 8 7
Tune: GOTT WILL’S MACHEN; CROSS OF JESUS

Humanity in harmony?

Humanity in harmony?

Human in harmony?
Yet we have broken peace with our anger, 
best left unspoken.

God, help us share as one in humanity
Cool us, calm us centre our sanity.

One earth: 
our cradle of nature and nurture.

Sharing one goal, 
each neighbour, each searcher: 

home of existence destroyed at our peril: 
Crisis?  Destruction? Goodness or evil?

God, give us the courage to love one another,
sister and mother, 
father and brother;
now hold us in anguish and catch those who fall, 
Ground of our being and parent of all.

© Andrew Pratt 4/10/2025 Please use freely with acknowledgment.

Use for reflection or responsorially.

Lament: When anger is our highest creed

Our news invariably seems to have images of war. For those who grieve, on whatever ‘side’, Psalm 137 may give them, or us, voice. It is often missing from our worship. Some may remember ‘By the rivers of Babylon’ by Boney M. Halfway through the song they change to Psalm 19: ‘May he words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight…’. Perhaps Psalm 137 is seen as too violent, not Christian. But when we have suffered at the hands of others, when we grieve, lament is legitimate. Then it is understandable to use Psalm 137 in its entirety. And so I want to sing in solidarity with people in places of war and degradation…these words were inspired by the spirit of that Psalm.

1 When anger is our highest creed,
revenge the motivating force;
God, understand our depth of hurt,
our need for action, not just thought.

2 Ejected from what makes us safe,
familiar ground and well-known names,
we sicken for the things we've seen,
all sense of hope and courage drains.

3 We cannot celebrate our faith,
and faith lacks meaning, all is lost;
for nothing is as it once was,
we cannot ever bear the cost.

4 So, God, what should we do or say?
What is there left of love or life?
What mitigating cause or plea
will rid us of this pain of strife?

5 Amid our sense of grief and loss
where nothing now can be the same,
stand in the midst of shattered faith;
rebuild, renew, and raise again.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2001 Stainer & Bell Ltd
Words © 2001 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: LM
Tune: PLAISTOW