The finest detail of our lives – a hymn as we age… (Matthew 10: 24-39)
1 The finest detail of our lives
is held by God with care and grace,
while every chance and change that comes,
our loss of hair, lines on our face,
can signal wisdom time has borne,
within each context, in each place.
2 Yet grace and hope and love remain,
as faith is nurtured till mature.
Though we can know both scorn and hurt,
while held by God we stand secure;
God is the centre of our hope
as long as love and life endure.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2015 © 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 8 8 D Tune: ABINGDON
Created by HymnQuest.com
Tag: care
Beware of what you think or say – Jesus and a Samaritan woman – a hymn
John 4: 5-42 v.7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’.
1 Beware of what you think or say,
our actions give the lie,
or offer evidence of faith
for which we sing, or cry.
2 When challenged by a foreigner,
a woman in her need,
see Jesus shamed to change and act,
her challenge sowed a seed.
3 Yes, Jesus heard her call for help
and recognised her prayer,
her faith was evident to him,
as was his need to care.
4 If even Jesus changed his mind,
when will we grasp the fact
that scruples that we hold and guard
mean less than how we act.
5 But faith depends on depths of love,
compassion, care and grace;
to see in those we disregard
a sister’s, brother’s face.
© 2011 Stainer and Bell Ltd., London, England, 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
Metre: 8 6 8 6 Tune: ABRIDGE; BELMON
Filled with fear may love surround us
Filled with fear may love surround us
Filled with fear may love surround us,
spirit ground us, in that love,
drench us with this expectation
here on, earth not just above.
May each day extend a welcome,
open hands and open hearts,
open homes that offer shelter,
love that never more departs.
God enfold us, always hold us,
may our human love extend
’til all people, every nation
know your love can never end.
Words: Andrew Pratt (born 1948) © 18 August 2026 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.
Metre: 8.7.8.7 Tune: ALL FOR JESUS
Great prophet of pity – A hymn inspired by Romans 12: 1-8
Great prophet of pity - A hymn inspired by Romans 12: 1-8 Great prophet of pity, subversive in love, unsettle our comfort, divert and reprove; that, moved from self-interest, and shielded from pride, we might yet embody the gifts of your bride. O raise up your people and fit them to care for all who are lonely or lost in despair. The reed that is bending, the wick that burns low, through grace and persistence, God, help them to grow. From each generation, race, colour or creed, Christ, gather together, united by need, the ones that you value, and God, may we find, in spite of ourselves that your welcome is kind. 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: 11 11 11 11 Tune: ST DEINIO
Can perfect love cast out the fear and hate – a hymn inspired by a text suggested by Gordon Taylor
Can perfect love cast out the fear and hate Words inspired by a text suggested by Gordon Taylor at a hymn workshop of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland in Lincoln July 2023. The theme is a response to the Government’s Illegal Immigration Bill. Can perfect love cast out the fear and hate that festers in a hardened, ravaged heart, when lives abandoned to a savage sea, have hope denied, grace drowned out from the start. As cold officials act with callous power we sing the words that plead and pray for care, to see humanity in each new face to wipe away the tears of rank despair. How long, O God, will we discard the lives, that you have birthed that we should seek to save, who caught by circumstance, or course of life, we destine to a swirling, watery grave. Yes perfect love can cast out fear and hate that festers in each hardened, ravaged heart, when we reach out to others in their need. Through gracious words, new hope has power to start. © Andrew Pratt 19/7/2023 Words © 2023 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: 10.10.10.10 Tune: YANWORTH
hymnsandbooks 