Tag: birthright

Genesis Week 3 – Jacob and Esau

Jacob tricked his brother Esau - Genesis week 3

1	Jacob tricked his brother Esau, 
	strange how God deals with this act; 
	Jacob seems to go unpunished, 
	discord sown by this one fact.
	
2	Tasty stew had bought a birthright, 
	hunger had the upper hand, 
	brothers once, two nations forming, 
	bitterness within the land.
	
3	Rancour sometimes deeply rooted 
	acts like cancer in our lives, 
	rifted, riven, torn and twisted,  
	love is lost or scarce survives.
	
4	Youthful envy, words unspoken, 
	rend a nation at its heart, 
	generations pass unnoticed, 
	wonder what had made this start.

Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2011 © 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: 8 7 8 7
Tune: ST CATHERINE (Jones)

The care of our planet, the threat of extinction – Hymn

The care of our planet, the threat of extinction,
alerts us to need to be stewards of the earth:
this place of great beauty, our God given tenure,
the place of our nurture, the globe of our birth.

This place we must guard for each new generation,
to leave as we found it or, better, restored;
to share each resource without greed or pretension,
not barring the needy, not plunder, nor hoard.

The  banquet of God is for all of God’s people,
communion companions are both rich and poor,
our ultimate end will remove all distinctions,
no birthright or creed can obstruct heaven’s door.

God’s common wealth love can encompass all nations,
but here in this place we must all make a start:
a life of acceptance of sister and brother,
the practice of loving, a God given art.

Andrew Pratt 1/5/2019
Words © 2019 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, http://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.
Written for the 140th Anniversary of St John’s Methodist Church Whitchurch, Shropshire.
Tunes: STREETS OF LAREDO; ST CATHERINES COURT