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
Tag: compassion
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)
She felt just like a ragged dog – a hymn based on Matthew 15: 21-28
She felt just like a ragged dog - a hymn based on Matthew 15: 21-28 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 loved 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: AULD LANG SYNE
‘With tender conviction’ – Wesley’s Catholic Spirit – a poem (or a song seeking a tune?)
Catholic Spirit
With tender conviction I sense love is calling,
no grace is withheld, nor forgiveness repressed,
all people are held in unfathomable comfort,
this love is eternal, forever expressed.
The judgment some fear is a human construction,
for grace is a scandal for those who would judge,
they see it as fair to condemn, exact hatred,
while mercy is something they want to begrudge.
For me none is distanced from love by an action,
a word or a deed, we might not understand,
yet God’s love is wider, beyond comprehension,
if you share this creed, my friend, give me your hand!
[For me none is distanced from love by an action,
compassionate grace, could not set us apart,
for God’s love is wider, beyond comprehension,
if you share this creed, then we are of one heart.]*
*Alternative last stanza after conversation and critique by Pesky Methodists, thankyou!
© Andrew Pratt 5am 29/11/2021 - 4/12/2021
Link to A version of John Wesley’s sermon
The world is burning – Advent after COVID & COP 26 – hymn
The world is burning, twinkling lights betray a damaged conscience, we have lost our way. Our neighbours drown, we build on solid ground, as Jesus weeps while songs of praise resound. Within this season darkness clouds each mind, consumption numbs the pain we ought to find when hearing news of hunger and of drought, a stable’s birth should soon erase all doubt: the Christ we claim to know, born in the dirt, while at our doors our neighbours starve and hurt. So put aside this carolling and praise until compassion drives our words and ways. Andrew Pratt 19/11/2021 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. Tune: WOODLANDS Metre: 10.10.10.10
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