Reflecting on the Good Samaritan – ‘All the power that fuelled creation’
1 All the power that fuelled creation,
cosmic force that fired the stars,
still leaves people in the darkness
when we grasp for 'us' and 'ours'.
All the emptiness and sorrow
we dispel with just a glance,
eyes averted from our neighbours
giving them no second chance.
2 All we cling to, all we cherish,
stands as nothing in God’s light,
yet our attitudes deny it
holding all as if by right.
All the wealth at our disposal
could bring hope, transfigure care;
even candles lit in darkness
bring new hope when none is there.
3 All we need is love and kindness,
costly kindness to dispel
fear and poverty, while bringing
deepest love to counter hell.
All God’s love, when shared among us
shatters poverty with grace,
even now transfiguration
could be felt within this place.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2016 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 D
Tunes: SCARLET RIBBONS; ABBOTS LEIGH
For another text relating to the Good Samaritan click here
Tag: compassion
Hymn inspired by Romans 5 – God of consistency
Hymn inspired by Romans 5 - God of consistency - Suitable for Aldersgate Sunday
1 God of consistency, love without limits,
ground of all being and all that will be,
compass us round with compassionate kindness,
higher than mountains, as deep as the sea.
2 God of all graciousness, walking beside us,
there at our birthing, yet on beyond death,
God of transcendence, unrivalled, majestic,
God beyond knowledge, yet closer than breath.
3 God in all being, yet ground of existence,
God beyond grasping, unbounded by law,
while we are moved to sing loud alleluias,
here would we worship in silence and awe.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2014 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 10 11 10
Tune: STEWARDSHIP (Ruddle)
Hymn inspired by Mark 7: 24-30 – She felt just like a ragged dog
She felt just like a ragged dog - inspired by Mark 7: 24-30
1 She felt just like a ragged dog
that scratched around for food,
denied, despised and kicked aside
and never any good.
2 Yet now she stood inside the door
and pleaded with this man,
for each taboo had little weight,
her grief had wider span.
3 Her child had need of healing help
and she would make Christ hear,
the urgency of anguished need
had overcome her fear.
4 And in that moment he would learn,
audacity would teach
that human laws and well worn creeds
put no-one out of reach.
5 Compassion ruled and love compelled
to action on that day,
and Jesus' reach was broadened as
he learnt that grace held sway.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2012 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: CM
Tune: ST PETER (How sweet the name of Jesus sounds)
No peace for the Master – a hymn inspired by John 6:1-21 – Feeding of the multitude
No peace for the Master - July 28th John 6: 1-21
1 No peace for the Master, the people would follow,
for he had compassion for those who were lost,
then when he had healed them, and answered their questions,
he saw they were hungry, yet food had a cost.
2 Now Philip computed, they never could manage,
but Jesus was adamant, they must be fed.
What was there to feed them? A boy had come forward,
he offered two fishes and five loaves of bread.
3 The crowd were now seated and Jesus was ready,
he lifted his eyes, blessed the fish and the bread.
Miraculous feeding, five thousand were feasting,
O wonder of wonders, yet more lay ahead.
4 However we see it, God's power over nature;
a sharing of little so all can be fed;
this story still points to the person of Jesus,
for here God is present, God's nature is read.
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:12 11 12 11
Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO; ST CATHERINE’S COURT
A hymn for New Year – Oh where is there love
Oh where is there love in a world that is tired,
across the year's threshold, where hope has expired?
We wait amid movement, to pause and to pray,
to nurture our God at the dawn of each day.
Our eyes have been opened, compassion unlocked,
the road has been cleared, and the future unblocked.
The narrative moment has fractured the storm,
the chill of the moment unfrozen, now warm.
Such newness is waiting with every new day,
the new year is dawning through danger and play.
The dance is still twisting through hate into light,
is spinning and turning creating new light.
We hold in our neighbour the broken and hurt,
those lost within living, God would not desert.
The frail and the fallen, the fraught or the free
are reaching for Jesus, will Christ be in me?
© Andrew Pratt 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: 11 11 11 11
DATCHET; CRADLE SONG (Kirkpatrick)
hymnsandbooks 