faith – Page 4 – hymnsandbooks

A hymn in a shattering, divided world…perhaps?

Reflecting on the world in which we live, what can we, should we sing?

Hymns should at least allow for the expression of everything to which the Psalms give voice. And I am including those words over which we tend to be rather squeamish. This interpretation of Psalm 137 was attributed to John Donne but was probably written by Francis Davison (circa 1633-69):

        Happy, who, thy tender barnes

		From the armes

	Of their wailing mothers tearing,

	'Gainst the walls shall dash their bones,

		Ruthless stones

	With their braines and blood besmearing. 
[Donne, J., The Poems of John Donne, Edit. H.J.C. Grierson, Oxford 1912, p426].

And why should I want to sing this or anything even distantly emotionally related to it? Because sometimes that is how I feel and the Psalms testify to the fact that God can cope with us feeling like that.

Not finding such a hymn in my own denomination’s hymn book at the turn of the millennium, and reflecting on the plight of refugees, I wrote these words. And are they, perhaps, redolent of those of opposing opinions, experiencing hatred and fear, in our world, in our countries today?

1	When anger is our highest creed,

	revenge the motivating force;

	God, understand our depth of hurt,

	our need for action, not just thought.



2	Ejected from what makes us safe,

	familiar ground and well-known names,

	we sicken for the things we've seen,

	all sense of hope and courage drains.



3	We cannot celebrate our faith,

	and faith lacks meaning, all is lost;

	for nothing is as it once was,

	we cannot ever bear the cost.



4	So, God, what should we do or say?

	What is there left of love or life?

	What mitigating cause or plea

	will rid us of this pain of strife?



5	Amid our sense of grief and loss

	where nothing now can be the same,

	stand in the midst of shattered faith;

	rebuild, renew, and raise again.



Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)

Words © 2001 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: LM

Tunes: PLAISTOW; KEDRON(Dare)

Where the jackals scratch a living – hymn – prepare the way of the LORD

Isaiah 40:3 A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God”.



1	Where the jackals scratch a living, 

	in this wild, deserted place, 

	springs will bring refreshing water, 

	grass and reeds will sign God's grace. 

	

2	Here our God will build a highway 

	striding out across the land, 

	bringing hope to what was barren, 

	once again the people stand.

	

3	Once again a smile is dawning 

	on the face of every man, 

	all the children play together, 

	women talk, it's time to plan.

	

4	As we tell, recount the story, 

	in this present time and place, 

	may we build in recollection, 

	room for hope and gracious space;

	

5	Space where God can offer comfort 

	through our human words and lives, 

	love that shows in every instance 

	faith can live and hope survives.



© Andrew Pratt  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: 8 7 8 7 

Tune: ALL FOR JESUS

Shaken confidence dismembers

A hymn inspired by Matthew 16: 21 perhaps, also useful in difficult times and when faith is tested.

‘From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and 
undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, 
and on the third day be raised.’

Shaken confidence dismembers 
faith that once had seemed secure, 
things that frighten in this moment, 
at one time had seemed demure.

Love is fractured, hope is fettered, 
grace obscured from sight or sound, 
while we cry in desperation, 
'where is safe and solid ground'.

Through the mist a form is shaping, 
living sign of love and grace, 
God embodied, present, human, 
seen in every neighbour's face.

Hold the truth when doubt is raging, 
when our lives are insecure, 
fold in love each friend and neighbour, 
till that love feels safe and sure.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)

© 2015 Stainer and Bell Ltd. 

Words: Andrew Pratt (born 1948) © 2015 Stainer & 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 7 8 7

Tune: STUTTGART

Easter hymn – We cannot speculate, or glance

An empty tomb is just empty. It took a meeting with Jesus to convince a woman, then a group of men that Jesus, who had died on a cross, was alive. It is still difficult to believe. Yet after two thousand years, whatever we believe, as Geoffrey Best has written on Facebook, ‘…in this (hi)story is the revelation of the very nature of God, a God who takes all that we throw and absorbs and transforms the dead and deadly into life abundant .... if we let it!’ Amen!

1 We cannot speculate, or glance
into the well of history.
Nor can we look beyond this time
with any sense of certainty.
We only have our faith and hope,
to make us stand, to help us cope.

2 Great God we grasp at straws of faith,
of things we hope will point to you.
We read the ancient texts and scan
those distant myths to make them new.
And all the time we live between
these metaphors and what is seen.

3 The past is gone, we cannot hear
more than an echo down the age.
And what is still to come we fear;
we see each other's pent up rage.
Yet what we need is close at hand,
your present love in every land.

4 True resurrection brings to bear
the things that heal, create, unite.
Love launches its triumphant praise
and builds on joy and will delight.
The former things are passed away,
dead night transformed to brightest day.

Metre: 8 8 8 8 8 8 Tune: ABINGDON
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) 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.

Art © Andrew Pratt 2022

Poets struggle, sculptors risk…

One gospel (Mark) doesn’t mention the birth of Jesus. The other three relate it in different ways. This has led me to reflect on the way in which different arts attempt to give expression to the nature of God. 

Poets struggle with the language, 
words both mystic and absurd 
fail to frame the incarnation, 
giving flesh to living Word.

Art constrained by expectation 
will not let the colours go, 
only spreading, mixing media 
emulate the Spirit’s flow.

Sculptors sometimes risk the fracture, 
letting stone dictate the form, 
giving rise to new creation 
chance God shattering our norm.

Even music caged in bar lines 
lacks the freedom to expand,
till in jazz, through improvising, 
rhythms stretch to new demands.

Nothing ever fixed or final, 
way beyond the human mind:
mystery and imagination…
all that we will ever find…
© Andrew Pratt Written 17/12/2022