The Beatitudes - A contradictory blessing
The gospel reading appointed for this coming Sunday, Matthew 5:1-12, is known as the Beatitudes. The following hymn was inspired by this passage:
1 A contradictory blessing
of those who feel unblessed,
when life is torn and twisted
for this to be redressed;
a time of reparation
and yet a time for grace
when those who feel forsaken
will meet God face to face.
2 And in that time of meeting,
the hurt will find new joy,
the poor will welcome riches,
more than they could deploy;
the mourning will find comfort,
the lost will see God's light
to bring them to the dawning,
beyond their darkest night.
3 The ones who ache with hunger
will share a glorious feast,
and those reviled and hated
will find they are released.
The gentle will inherit
the greatest gift of all,
while rafters ring with laughter
where crying filled the hall.
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.
Metre: 7 6 7 6 D
Tune: THORNBURY
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