The Gospel according to John says nothing about Jesus’ birth. It talks of ‘The Word’ becoming flesh. We can translate that today as ‘the energy, the source of all creation becoming human’. In shorthand God becoming human. This hymn echoes John Chapter 1. 1 The logic, the life-blood, the source of creation, the word that had spoken when all came to be; the ground of existence, of love and emotion, this God is incarnate, the light is set free. 2 This light in the darkness could not be extinguished, it shone through the cosmos, was coming to birth; the great conflagration of stars in their forming condensed to humanity, born on the earth. 3 The person of Jesus who walked in the desert, who argued and struggled, who hungered and wept, was one with that God-head, yet totally human, was growing and learning, could know or forget. 4 So here in this person our God is illumined, the word that is spoken, the love that is lived, are clues to the nature, a window beyond us to things we have doubted, to One we believed. Andrew Pratt (born 1948) based on John 1 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: 12 11 12 11 Tunes: ST CATHERINES COURT; STREETS OF LAREDO
Tag: creation
Our responsibility to be stewards of the earth – Hymn – The care of our planet
In between All Souls, All Saints and Remembrance Sunday we are witness to COP 27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, beginning on the Sunday 6th November. This is an international meeting which the UK has chaired. We are handing the Chair to Egypt and for various reasons our Prime Minister has indicated he will not attend it. King Charles has been advised not to attend. This hymn, written in 2019 and used last year in Durham Cathedral emphasises our responsibility to be stewards of the creation (Psalm 8: 6-8). 1 The care of our planet, the threat of extinction, alerts us to need to be stewards of the earth: this place of great beauty, our God given tenure, the place of our nurture, the globe of our birth. 2 This place we must guard for each new generation, to leave as we found it or, better, restored; to share each resource without greed or pretension, not barring the needy, not plunder, nor hoard. 3 The banquet of God is for all of God's people, communion companions are both rich and poor, our ultimate end will remove all distinctions, no birth right or creed can obstruct heaven's door. 4 God's commonwealth love can encompass all nations, but here in this place we must all make a start: a life of acceptance of sister and brother, the practice of loving, a God given art. Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) Words © 2019 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: STREETS OF LAREDO; ST CATHERINE'S COURT Used at Durham Cathedral on Climate Sunday, 17th October 2021.
Creator God: in lightning, clouds and thunder – a new hymn
Creator God: in lightning, clouds and thunder,
I hear your voice, I sense the mountains shake.
But love is greater, causes me to wonder,
and in this moment faith begins to wake.
So I will sing in praise of all I see,
and in God's grace, I place my trust;
and through our lives may love confound our fear.
Sing praise to God, for God is love.
I look to stars, foundations of creation,
reflections gleam from streams as I pass by,
from mountain pass to shingle by the ocean,
the breath of God is moving with each sigh.
Within this world a human once embodied
a depth of love beyond what had been known,
a love that gave forgiveness once in dying,
that we could find in life, that all could own.
And when my breath is ceasing as I’m dying
may grace confirm the hope that faith has given,
this human love that I have known in living
grows firmer, deeper in the love of heaven.
© Andrew Pratt 29/9/2022
Searing incandescent spirit – A hymn reflecting on John 13: 34 – 35
A hymn reflecting on John 13: 34 – 35 takes us, perhaps, toward Pentecost… I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Searing incandescent spirit, melting rock and churning foam, turning chaos into comfort formed the planet where we roam. Now we recollect the story of the cosmic photo-call when the universe was forming earth, the cradle of us all. By this spirit prophets speaking challenged power and brought down thrones, pointed people to the Godhead, moved them from their comfort zones; turned their minds from selfish pleasure, marking wrong and putting right, led them from each ego's desert, from their introspective blight. Now the spirit doused all people, no-one could escape this shower; sons and mothers, fathers, daughters, felt this rhythmic, dancing power; soon all nations heard the clamour, every language known on earth called to every nation living, join with love and find new-birth. Andrew E Pratt; 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 7 8 7 D Tune: LUX EOI
Such a fragment, just a remnant – On hearing John A Bell preaching at Comberbach Harvest
Such a fragment, just a remnant, nothing wasted, nothing lost; all creation has its value, has its purpose, place or cost. Things we count of little value have inestimable worth; every grain of soil we’re tilling, in each land upon this earth. We must treasure earth’s resources and each moment of our time, life and all we have for living, bound in loving’s endless rhyme. On hearing John A Bell preaching at Comberbach Methodist Church Harvest Andrew Pratt 26/9/2021 Words © 2021 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 composed by Frances S. Drake (USA) in the week following the composition of the text. Frances can be contacted by emailing – hymncat@yahoo.com
Hear the tune at –
hymnsandbooks 