Tag: creed

Look beyond your life’s horizon – A hymn for Pentecost

Look beyond your life’s horizon – A hymn for Pentecost which echoes Joel 2: 28  & Acts 2: 1-21

Look beyond your life’s horizon,
what will come of life on earth?
God forsaken? Horror stricken?
Or a hope of love’s rebirth?
Look into this unknown future,
ask what actions can we take,
so that peace becomes an option
in decisions that we make.

Placing God right at the centre,
seeing Christ in those we meet,
moving with a gracious Spirit,
could make hopes and dreams complete;
dreams passed down through generations,
where in spite of faith or creed,
people reach to one another,
seek to meet another’s need.

Could it be within our lifetime
that the riches of this earth
might be shared, yes shared out freely,
not by lottery of birth?
Could we learn to be less selfish,
letting go, not grasping wealth,
till the world and all it’s peoples
live in harmony and health?

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)         
Words © 2017 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: HYFRYDOL

Created by HymnQuest.com

Thoughts on how we use language – the need for listening and empathy

If we share a common humanity what matters in terms of how language is used is not what we think is affirming or hurtful BUT how those being addressed, or described, receive what is being said.

If I feel affirmed or put down by how I am named or described that is real for me, however the person addressing me feels about what they are saying.

Empathy and listening is needed before we condemn changes in language that we might see as ‘fashionable’ or unnecessary.

All of this ought to apply to our day to day conversation as we recognise the common humanity we share with one another, whatever name, creed, gender, orientation, self-identification or other criteria.

It is equally important in public documents and conversation, politically, in religious worship and in every other sphere

The key word in all of this is simply KINDNESS.

Great prophet of pity – A hymn inspired by Romans 12: 1-8

Great prophet of pity - A hymn inspired by Romans 12: 1-8

Great prophet of pity, subversive in love,
unsettle our comfort, divert and reprove;
that, moved from self-interest, and shielded from pride,
we might yet embody the gifts of your bride.

O raise up your people and fit them to care
for all who are lonely or lost in despair.
The reed that is bending, the wick that burns low,
through grace and persistence, God, help them to grow.

From each generation, race, colour or creed,
Christ, gather together, united by need,
the ones that you value, and God, may we find,
in spite of ourselves that your welcome is kind.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2003  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
Tune: ST DEINIO

‘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



Hymn – Martin Luther King – still for our time – a hymn for today – I have a dream…

 I have a dream that on a day
 not very long from now,
 all war-like weapons will be banned;
 by grace, God, show us how.
 I have a dream that love will hear
 another's crying need,
 that justice will demand we act
 in spite of race or creed.
 
 I have a dream that everyone
 upon this far-flung earth
 will see the Christ in those around,
 affirm a common worth.
 I have a dream that peace will come
 and hunger cease to be;
 within this time, this present age,
 all people will be free.
 
 I have a dream that foolish dreams
 like this might come about
 if you and I go hand in hand,
 in trust instead of doubt.
 I have a dream, come take my hand,
 the risk is worth the chance,
 the world will spin, turn upside down
 if we join heaven's dance.
 
 Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
 
 Words © 2015 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. 
 Hope Publishing in the USA
 From More than hymns 
 Metre: CMD
 Tune: KINSFOLD