A hymn reflecting on Hebrew scriptures – In the silent stillness
1 In the silent, stillness, listen,
God is calling will we hear?
All too often faith has foundered,
grace is muzzled by our fear.
In our rush and haste and hurry
we have lost the time for prayer;
lost the time for conversation,
then we think God is not there.
2 Yet our forebears grasped a promise
of a covenant of grace;
God is faithful to that promise
in this present time and place.
Limitless in application,
boundless in its scope and span;
grace is wide enough for thousands,
here there is no 'also ran'!
3 Spoken to a chosen people
for the nations of the earth,
see God's love is offered freely,
recognising all have worth.
More than milk, than wine or honey,
God has offered, God will give
bread that all may feast, and freely,
all rejoice, that all may live!
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2013 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
Tune: ABBOT’S LEIGH
Tag: Covenant
A hymn for renewing our Covenant – God’s love can never be undone
As Methodists enter a season of renewing their Covenant with God, this hymn is a reminder that, whatever might befall, we cannot be separated from Love.
1 God's love can never be undone,
the covenant be broken,
God's mercy never fades or ends,
the source of grace has spoken.
2 No disobedience demands
a final separation,
whatever we have said or done
brings us no condemnation.
3 Our history shows a God of love,
not one of crass rejection,
audacious love is ours because
of God's divine affection.
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 COLUMBA (Irish)
A Hymn for the New Year – for Covenant
A hymn for the New Year, for Covenant
1 The year is new, do not resist,
for God is moving in our midst
who brings a covenant to birth,
of common wealth throughout the earth.
2 The atmosphere is cold and raw
and yet our God engenders awe:
is kneeling there to wash our feet,
to heal, to love, to kiss, to greet.
3 And in our healing we will find
a wholeness hidden, yet refined,
a God made known in every face,
each neighbour ministers God's grace.
4 And God says all is ready yet;
the meal prepared, the table set.
And will we come? And dare we share
the covenant that sounds God's care?
5 No complicated myth or sign
a simple meal of bread and wine,
speaks of the love that feeds us still:
come all who can, come all who will.
6 And when we rise and go our way,
remember who you met today,
who showed you love, who held, who healed,
who, in each neighbour, is revealed.
Andrew Pratt Words © 2010 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: LM
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