A quiet chill that freezes expectation, the hope of love seems distant and remote as war and hate are whirling all around us, we wait for light of which the prophets wrote. There is no peace, no reconciliation as factions fired by hatred seethe and kill, when will it end, this constant devastation, when will we learn to listen, to be still? [When will we listen to each other, share one will?] This advent season, dawn of love’s foundation is born in darkness of eternal night, and yet a flicker bids us hasten onward, as purple shadows hint at morning light. And in this moment in our preparation let’s put aside our fripperies and fear, to make new space for gracious re-creation. Come God, in love at last, come now, draw near. [Come God infuse your love in us, O come, draw near.] Words Andrew Pratt © 2023 © 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 Tunes: INTERCESSOR, [LONDONDERRY AIR] Note: Using the tune: INTERCESSOR sing as a four verse hymn. Ignore words in [square] brackets. Using LONDONDERRY AIR combine verses 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 to make a two verse hymn using the use the words in [square] brackets for the last line of each verse.
Tag: Darkness
Covid-19 hymn of Lament – Through every fighting moment and each breath
Through every fighting moment and each breath,
another burdened person nearer death;
and now we sing our prayer that life might last,
this time might be consigned, be something past.
Great God, we cling to hope when all seems lost,
we never thought that love would hold such cost;
and now our loving feels more like a shroud
to wrap the one we we love: we cry out loud!
How long, O God, must suffering prolong
this tension, is lament so very wrong?
Or is our understanding of your care
corrupt, or incomplete, bereft or bare?
Amid our swirling agony and doubt,
God hold us till the sands of time run out;
when light has gone, and darkness hovers round,
we wait the dawning of Love’s solid ground.
Written on 26th May after watching Clive Myrie (BBC reporter) in a ward with people dying of COVID-19.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-52809201/coronavirus-one-week-in-one-hospital
Words © 2020 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.
Tunes: PEEL CASTLE (Manx Fisherman’s Hymn); EVENTIDE (Abide with me)
Ash Wednesday & Lent Hymn
A calendar will call us to share with Christ in Lent,
to walk within the darkness: some drawn, yet others sent;
and here we sense contrition, an ashen cross we bear,
reminder that the fire of love of God is everywhere.
In many different places God’s people bear the strain
of human expectation as cruel norms constrain;
for each convention sealing another person’s fate
forgive, release, give freedom before it is too late.
We witness acts of hatred dressed up as self-defence,
where vengeance is the motive hid deep in self-pretence;
great God forgive those moments, when hate and human pride
leads to the domination of those we might deride.
As Christ you suffered torment, the torture and the hate,
yet on the cross forgave them, the ones who sealed your fate,
so as we kneel confessing complicity, we pray,
great God forgive humanity when selfishness holds sway.
Andrew Pratt 15/2/2020
Words © 2020 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: CRUGER (Thy hand, O God has guided)
Deep in darkness – Advent Candle Lighting Hymn
1 Deep in darkness we begin,
dark outside and deep within.
Now ignite a single flame,
shadows form, let light remain.
2 As they gleaned the word of life,
narrative of love and strife,
people through each age have known
yet more light: God’s glory shown.
3 John the Baptist spoke out loud,
challenged that discordant crowd,
called each one toward the light,
see it growing, gleaming bright.
4 Mary wondered at her lot,
blessed? Or cursed? Or loved? Or not?
Angels came and glory shone,
feel the love, let light shine on.
5 Look! a star is shining there.
See the stable stark and bare.
Christmas dawns, all darkness gone!
Christ has come, the light shines on!
7 7 7 7 Suggested Tune: LAUDS (Wilson)
Andrew E Pratt, taken from Reclaiming Praise
Words © 2003 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.
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