The sound of history humming – but what next, ‘a thief within the night’?
Matthew 24: 43
1 The sound of history humming,
as light and matter form,
as galaxies are clustered
within a cosmic storm;
philosophers imagine
while science gathers facts,
we reach for understanding,
yet what we know contracts.
2 We delved beyond the present
through interstellar gas;
we fathom, seek to measure,
a sub-atomic mass.
The God that we conceive of,
a thief within the night,
we cannot gauge this treasure
beyond the scale of light.
3 As yet the mystery blinds us,
confined by birth and death,
but human exploration
will not discard the quest;
as yet we live in tension:
the only earth we know
is where all skill and science
must help our love to grow.
Andrew E. Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 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: 7 6 7 6 D
Tune: AURELIA; VICTORY PARADE (Ian Sharp)
Tag: galaxies
Scientists pick up shock waves from colliding galaxies – a hymn…
‘The observations were made by studying signals from dead stars called pulsars. These rotate and send out bursts of radio signals at extremely precise intervals’. BBC News. This hymn references pulsars and was published 32 years ago. Available in Blinded by the Dazzle, Stainer & Bell.
1 The God of cosmic question Surprises by his birth, Not in some new dimension But on this ravaged earth! 2 In quasars, quarks and pulsars We seek the cosmic truth: The ground of our existence That set creation loose, 3 And human senses lead us, Through all they analyse, From arrogance to wonder, To spiritual surprise. 4 But senses have their limits: Unanswered still there lies The single, deepest question Our intellect supplies. 5 Yet history proffers insight: The Christ of time and space Speaks of a God incarnate Born in a squalid place. 6 Alive within our compass, Upon this ravaged earth, The God of cosmic question Surprises by his birth! Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) © 1991 Stainer & Bell Ltd 7 6 7 6 Iambic
hymnsandbooks 