We would be an Easter people
1 We would be an Easter people
living resurrection now,
making all those years of promise
real, as Jesus shows us how.
2 Meeting Mary, Jesus loved her,
calling to her by her name.
Those who need the love of Jesus
we will welcome just the same.
3 'Peace be with you' was Christ's greeting
to the ones who'd let him die.
May our greeting be as gracious
to the ones who'd spurn our cry..
4 Doubting Thomas was confounded;
Jesus loved him in his doubt.
Help us welcome saint and sceptic
as we work your purpose out.
5 Let us live the resurrection
in each time, in every place.
Let us live as Easter people,
true to Jesus' boundless grace.
Andrew E. Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2003, 2006 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: CHARLESTON
Tag: Easter
Easter morning hymn – Such shock had greeted women
Easter morning hymn - Such shock had greeted women
1 Such shock had greeted women
arriving at the tomb;
the place was stark and empty.
Was this a stone-cold womb?
A second life had beckoned
the body, come and gone.
Yet Mary stood there weeping,
warmed by the rising sun.
2 Long shadows greeted mourning,
the light could trick and turn;
a gardener was waiting,
she struggled to discern;
reality was breaking,
denying common sense,
for Jesus offered greeting,
there, in the present tense.
3 And others met this Jesus,
each heard a different call,
two thousand years thereafter
God seeks to meet us all.
The spirit is God’s presence,
that spirit meets our need
as love is planted in us,
a quietly growing seed.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2020 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: 7 6 7 6 D
Tune: PASSION CHORALE
HYMNS – HOLY WEEK TO EASTER BY MARJORIE DOBSON
HOLY WEEK TO EASTER - All these are from UNRAVELLING THE MYSTERIES, along with poems and other readings.
HOLY WEEK – Thursday to Friday
Afraid and alone and worn out with his praying
Afraid and alone and worn out with his praying,
his friends sleeping soundly and all unaware
that out in the darkness arrest was approaching,
and Jesus was frightened and full of despair.
Accused and alone and awaiting the judgement,
surrounded by enemies out for the kill,
with none to defend him and friends who'd betrayed him;
yet Jesus stood resolute, silent and still.
Abandoned, alone and in agony dying,
the torture and pain brought a cry of despair.
For then, as the crisis of death was approaching
for Jesus, it felt as if God wasn't there.
Now dead and alone, they would bury his body,
those friends who found courage to deal with his death.
A stone sealed the tomb and with soldiers to guard it,
his enemies thought they'd seen Jesus' last breath.
Alone in a garden, a woman was weeping.
In spite of precautions, the body was gone.
But then through her tears, she could hear her name spoken
and Jesus is living. The story goes on!
Marjorie Dobson (born 1940)
Words © 2019 © 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: AFRAID AND ALONE 12 11 12 11 (Ian Sharp) or THE ROAD AND THE MILES TO DUNDEE
GOOD FRIDAY
First the cheering, then the jeering
1 First the cheering, then the jeering-
crowds can change their minds at will.
First they hail him, then condemn him;
aim to please, or aim to kill.
2 First the anger, then the whipping,
clearing out the Temple court.
First the traders, then the money-
space for prayer cannot be bought.
3 First the perfume, then the poison-
money should not go to waste.
First anointing, then annoyance-
do not judge her deed in haste.
4 First the trusting, then betrayal-
Judas seeking cash in hand.
First he loved him, then provoked him,
daring him to take a stand.
5 First the kneeling, then the serving,
showing deep humility.
First bread breaking, then wine sharing-
'Do this as you think of me.'
6 First the garden, then the praying-
sweating blood, then traitor's kiss.
First the trial, then denial-
Peter, has it come to this?
7 First the nails and then the hammer
piercing flesh and splitting bone.
First the sighing, then the dying-
Jesus on the cross, alone.
8 First the grieving, then the praying,
agonizing through your death.
First we share your desolation-
while you wait to take new breath.
Marjorie Dobson (born 1940)
© 2005 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: STUTTGART 8 7 8 7
EASTER SUNDAY
No soldiers and no body - (particularly suitable for Mark's gospel account.)
1 No soldiers and no body,
an empty linen shroud
and women with a story
they dare not tell aloud.
So, put away the spices
intended for the dead
and wait with fear, as they did,
to see some way ahead.
2 And did the story end there,
the last words torn away?
No final resolution?
What happened on that day?
What changed the gloom to glory?
What cancelled out their loss?
How could there be a victory
beyond that bloody cross?
3 Before the day had ended
the rumours ran around
that Jesus was still living,
no body could be found.
Authorities denied it,
said that the guards had fled,
but they feared most the story
'He's risen from the dead.'
Based on the break in the writing of Mark 16, where the fragment of writing has been torn away
Marjorie Dobson (born 1940)
© 2008 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: 7 6 7 6 D
Tune: SALLEY GARDENS 7 6 7 6D
Come in the morning
Come in the morning.
Come see the dawning.
Come to the garden -
life has broken through.
1 Jesus, dead and buried.
To his grave they hurried.
Anxious women found that
life had broken through.
Chorus
2 Soldiers could not keep him
for they were found sleeping
and the tomb was open -
life had broken through.
Chorus
3 Peter, unbelieving,
left, still full of grieving.
Nothing would convince him
life had broken through.
Chorus
4 Mary, greatly shaken,
thought he had been taken.
Heard his voice that told her
life had broken through.
Chorus
5 Where there was despairing,
grief and horror sharing,
now there is a rumour
life has broken through.
Chorus
6 So God's word is spoken,
when our hearts are broken
there will come a time when
new life will break through.
Chorus
Marjorie Dobson (born 1940)
© 2008 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: 6 6 6 5 and Chorus 5 5 5 5
Tune: DANCE TO THI DADDY 6 6 6 5 and refrain
Hymn: It seemed as though the Lord lived still
It seemed as if the Lord lived still
It seemed as if the Lord lived still,
expressed his will, the lame could walk,
and all assumed the blind would see,
the silent ones would start to talk!
Yet all they saw when looking round,
were Galilean fisher folk,
a zealot and some other men,
some hazarded it was a joke.
So Peter had to put them right,
the crucified, the buried dead,
the very Christ, their God was raised,
yet now they acted in God’s stead.
And everywhere the spirit blows
the living Christ and God’s own grace
is manifest by human means
in every later time and space.
Plain ignorance and human zeal,
had nailed their God, had knocked love down,
but that could never be the end,
and love still lived to wear the crown.
So everywhere God’s people meet
through prayer and action God is there,
and even in this time and place
our lives can tend and bring God’s care.
Andrew Pratt 17/3/2012
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
Tune: BEFORE THE THRONE StF 717
Metre: DLM
True Resurrection – a reflection
This is the day of resurrection.
In our narrative, just three short days ago, hatred had free reign. And now, as the sun crept over the horizon on yet another day, change was in the air. Heralded by the sound of a voice, the calling of a name, the offering of peace, the breaking of bread, change was waiting in the wings.
Hatred has had free reign through this year since we celebrated this festival last. And now as the sun creeps over the horizon on yet another day change still pervades the air. Silence and fear mix with the calling of a name, candles are lit, peace is hoped for, bread is broken, people pray, change is in the wings.
What do you do after a death?
Lost voices echo over the gulf of death and shake us, for though silenced, they will never be lost.
Actions, simple actions, will make memories real. My father’s hands, those of your mother, the painted nails of your daughter, the knuckles of my son – all familiar – all echoed in our own hands, bringing us up short. And tears, unexpectedly, sometimes inappropriately, flow and we lose control.
Then someone points out the significance of words which still stay with us, the occasions when we heard them informing what we say and how we act.
This is the day of resurrection, of re-creation, of persistent love.
Some hold this as an historic event easily, a matter of faith. Others feel it is beyond belief. Yet what happened in those days, miraculous or not, is mirrored in our own experiences, yesterday, today, perhaps tomorrow. This was a day that changed lives, offered a new perspective. Mary heard her name being called and the disciples walked into a new future. All that Jesus had said and done lived on for and in them. He changed attitudes and informed actions. But he had died.
Love, however, had not been destroyed. If you can have faith in a literal bodily resurrection hold onto it, it is a gift of grace. But whether you can, or not, reflect with me for a moment on how the first disciples kept Christ alive even beyond crucifixion, resurrection, Ascension.
Acts 2
44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds[j] to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home[k] and ate their food with glad and generous[l] hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.
Christ was raised and lived on in the love and kindness of ordinary people like you and me.
Love, real love, cannot be destroyed, for there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from God’s love. That’s what matters and our ongoing love, our persistent loving kindness, is evidence of resurrection NOW!
That is real:
When we greet with loving kindness those who have betrayed us;
When we make peace with those who have let us down;
When we meet apparent strangers, yet learn their names, and call them in loving kindness;
Then Christ is alive.
Christ is alive when persistent loving kindness is alive in your life and mine!
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