God is crying mid the carnage of a thousand broken bones; in the dust and fallen rubble of our long discarded homes. Where our children play out stories of the visions they have seen, God is weeping over losses, knowing just what might have been. What if love instead of horror filled the passion of our lives, could these stories be re-written where humanity survives? God still with us, God among us, sow new seeds of love through grace; help us look at one another building hope in every place. Andrew Pratt (8/1/2023) 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: 8.7.8.7 Tunes: CROSS OF JESUS (Stainer); LAUS DEO (Redhead) Written after listening to the BBC Radio 4 Sunday Service on 8/1/2023 ‘The message that Ukraine is trying to convey to the world as it celebrates its own Christmas Day’. The programme posed the question, 'Where is God' in this war? See also We hear the news in anguish - Thoughts on pacifism - God's on our side
Tag: children
Kyries for Holy Innocents – Herod’s high and mighty stand
1 Herod's high and mighty stand Showed the power at his command, Slaughtered children in the land: Kyrie, Lord have mercy, Kyrie, Lord have mercy, Kyrie, Lord have mercy on us. 2 Mary wept, she understood, Wept as every mother should, Ramah's echo, death to good: Chorus 3 Surely force has had its day, Brutish whim and power's display; Yet our actions hurt betray: Chorus 4 Seen on every paper's page, Words of hate and fists of rage, Signs of greed in every age: Chorus 5 Anger still inflicts the pain, Each excuse is seen as lame, Yet again we bear the shame: Chorus 6 Till through this and every time People cease from heinous crime, Till with peace their actions rhyme: Chorus VERSION IN SONGS FOR A NEW MILLENIUM (7 7 7 D and refrain) 1 Herod's high and mighty stand Showed the power at his command, Slaughtered children in the land: Mary wept, she understood, Wept as every mother should, Ramah's echo, death to good: Kyrie, Lord have mercy, Kyrie, Lord have mercy, Kyrie, Lord have mercy on us. 2 Surely force has had its day, Brutish whim and power's display; Yet our actions truth betray: Seen on every paper's page, Words of hate and fists of rage, Signs of greed in every age: Kyrie, Lord have mercy, Kyrie, Lord have mercy, Kyrie, Lord have mercy on us. 3 Anger still inflicts the pain, Each excuse is seen as lame, Yet again we bear the shame: Till through this and every time People cease from heinous crime, Till with peace their actions rhyme: Kyrie, Lord have mercy, Kyrie, Lord have mercy, Kyrie, Lord have mercy on us. Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) From: Whatever name creed, No.28 (1999) & Songs for the new millennium. Words © 1999, 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. Tune: HOLY INNOCENTS (Ian Sharp) Whatever name creed, No.28
God would not will…a hymn in a world of violence
God would not will what we have seen,
the terror, violence, death;
for God is love, the source of life,
the essence of our breath.
God would not break the damaged reed,
the smouldering wick is fanned;
yet human power, our want and greed
can counter what God planned.
Our will is free, our way we choose,
to act for good or ill,
to offer love, to calm or heal,
to damage or to kill.
God give us courage in the face
of carnage that we see,
to work for life, to live for love,
to set your people free.
Andrew E. Pratt (born 1948) (alt Andrew Pratt 13/8/2021
Words © 2006 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: CM
Rich and poor – So sad that this poem is still pertinent after 174 years?
"How little can the rich man know Of what the poor man feels, When Want, like some dark dæmon foe, Nearer and nearer steals! He never tramp'd the weary round, A stroke of work to gain, And sicken'd at the dreaded sound Telling him 'twas in vain. Foot-sore, heart-sore, he never came Back through the winter's wind, To a dark cellar, there no flame, No light, no food, to find. He never saw his darlings lie Shivering, the flags their bed; He never heard that maddening cry, 'Daddy, a bit of bread!'" William Gaskell (in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton, 1848)
Hymn responding to Greta Thunberg ahead of and following COP 26 – Blue planet, rising, soaring through the cosmos – Now with a new tune by Frances S. Drake
Blue planet, rising, soaring through the cosmos, was lent in trust for us to tend and care while children, young in wisdom, call in anguish, for all they see now fills them with despair. The wonder of the sky has drawn us upwards, our eyes diverted by the moon and stars, and as we dream we lose our moral compass, and in our greed we grasp creation, call it ours. Time runs away, our life on earth is finite, young prophets calling, needing us to act are crying out, lamenting for our planet, while ‘adults’ sleep, denying fear and fact. Still others stand, immune, ignore the future, absolved from fault for all that comes to pass. When will we grasp the need for urgent action, see clearly, not net curtained, or through frosted glass? While sands of time run down, are gone and finished, in fear of change we hanker for the past, but life on earth is threatened by inaction, as lethargy and greed resist and last. Good God forgive us for each fault and faction, unwillingness to change to save this earth. God give us ears to hear the words of wisdom that we might save this planet, cradle of our birth. Andrew Pratt 29/10/2021 – Responding to Greta Thunberg ahead of and following COP 26. Words © 2021 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: 11.10.11.10.11.10.11.12 Tune: BLUE PLANET RISING; LONDONDERRY AIR
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