faith – hymnsandbooks

Beware of what you think or say – Jesus and a Samaritan woman – a hymn

John 4: 5-42 v.7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’.

1           Beware of what you think or say,
              our actions give the lie,
              or offer evidence of faith
              for which we sing, or cry.

2           When challenged by a foreigner,
              a woman in her need,
              see Jesus shamed to change and act,
              her challenge sowed a seed.

3           Yes, Jesus heard her call for help
              and recognised her prayer,
              her faith was evident to him,
              as was his need to care.

4           If even Jesus changed his mind,
              when will we grasp the fact
              that scruples that we hold and guard
              mean less than how we act.

5           But faith depends on depths of love,
              compassion, care and grace;
              to see in those we disregard
              a sister’s, brother’s face.

© 2011 Stainer and Bell Ltd., London, England, 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

Metre: 8 6 8 6 Tune: ABRIDGE; BELMON

A hymn for when our certainty is shaken: Sometimes our grasp of life is frail

Prior to one of the Gospel readings for this Sunday (Matthew 17:1-9) Jesus had spoken to his disciples:

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? (Matthew 16)

Every so often our faith can be shaken and we need something to reassure us…hence this hymn which also reflects on what life today is like when our certainties are challenge:

1 Sometimes our grasp of life is frail,
yet through it all love will prevail.
And when it seems things can't get worse,
we feel that every step is cursed.

2 In spite of all, we keep our faith,
held, more than holding onto grace,
we whisper prayer and hope for praise,
we live through grey exhausting days.

3 God's word reminds of how we're held,
when love is hidden, faith is felled;
retelling narratives of pain
from which God's people rose again.

4 This is the hope to which we cling,
when life is raw, we sense death's sting;
yet on beyond this time and place
may we be kept within your grace. Amen

Andrew E 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 8 8 8
Tune: GONFALON ROYAL

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.

Crafted from wood – a hymn on the cross – Luke 9:23

Crafted from wood - a hymn on the cross – Luke 9:23; 14:27

Crafted from wood, the grain of our decision,
where faith was hung, a challenge to God’s love,
the Christ had carried it to execution,
this then our choice – the wing of hawk or dove?

Some made the choice that led to their extinction,
their’s was a loss, but not of love or grace,
accepting in each place of human crisis,
this challenge that each Christian has to face.

Take up your cross each day was Christ’s suggestion,
if you would follow in the path he trod,
yet we would minimise the resurrection,
that love transcending death can lead to God.

Words 2025 © 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
Tune: O PERFECT LOVE (Barnby)

Some thoughts on this hymn to take us further.

I had in mind, as I wrote it:

Luke 9:23;14:27
23 Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised)

14:27Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Also:

Søren Kierkegaard

In Kierkegaard's view, the Church should not try to prove Christianity or even defend it. It should help the single individual to make a leap of faith, the faith that God is love and has a task for that very same single individual. Kierkegaard identified the leap of faith as the good resolution. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard)

And

Dietrich Bonhoeffer ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ – Bonhoeffer stood against Fascism and was ultimately sent to a concentration camp and he was hanged on 9 April 1945 during the collapse of the Nazi regime.

All these point for me to Jesus’ words and how others have seen them and sought to live by them.

A hymn for going out – Now let us go from our praise and our worship

A hymn for going out - Now let us go from our praise and our worship

As the Methodist Conference recognises new Deacons and Presbyters might we all consider our own commitment  to faith, love and justice - a hymn : Now let us go from our praise and out worship'....

Now let us go from our praise and our worship 
out through these doors with the light of the world, 
where we can share with our friends and our neighbours 
love given freely to have and to hold.

There let us reach to the ones who seem distant, 
those we might shun or see pushed to one side, 
people less valued than those set around them, 
those who the world would accost or deride.

Here is God’s grace and the power of God’s spirit, 
here is the love that was seen on the cross, 
these we will offer as our obligation, 
giving our all, never counting the loss. 

Then hand in hand with the neighbours around us, 
seeking companionship all of our days, 
we’ll follow after the one who has named us, 
sharing our bread as we offer God praise.

Andrew Pratt, Words © 2014 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.
Metre: 11 10 11 10
Tune: EPIPHANY HYMN