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
Category: worship
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
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
Star strewn garments clothe the heavens – hymn, for harvest or creation season
Hymn inspired by the 1 Timothy. Suitable, perhaps, for harvest or creation season worship or reflection.
A song of creation inspired by 1 Timothy
Star strewn garments clothe the heavens,
robes of beauty, source of awe;
Spirit God transcending hist’ry,
way beyond where pulsars soar.
Mountains rise up from the valleys,
folded like a gathered cloak
seas and rivers, great sierra,
lofty cedar, ageing oak.
God beyond our understanding,
God of wisdom, Lord of days;
God of miracle and wonder,
You deserve our life-long praise!
Metre: 8 7 8 7
Tune: STUTTGART
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2017 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.
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