What would God make of this building? - a hymn about welcoming
1 What would God make of this building,
house of eloquence and praise,
God who walked the earth before us,
Christ of Galilean days?
2 He who left a home and family,
had nowhere to rest his head,
cast his lot with those derided
framed his life with what he said.
3 He who built a human temple
with the ones he sought to lead,
fended off each great temptation:
born of human power and greed.
4 Would he choose a place, more simple,
less ornate, of greater use,
where the hungry and the homeless
could be healed of their abuse?
5 If we follow in his footsteps
then this place must come to be
open to the poor, the homeless
where the richest grace is free;
6 Where our hope will glaze for glory
windows looking on the world,
where the broken will be welcome,
where love's given, never sold.
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: 8 7 8 7 Trochaic
Tunes: GOTT DES HIMMEL; RATHBUN
Matthew 10: 40-42 speaks of how we should welcome people. This hymn questions whether the church mirrors this example, and for ‘church’ you can think of a congregation, a parish, a circuit – buildings or people - or even a denomination…
Tag: grace
The finest detail of our lives – a hymn as we age… (Matthew 10: 24-39)
The finest detail of our lives – a hymn as we age… (Matthew 10: 24-39)
1 The finest detail of our lives
is held by God with care and grace,
while every chance and change that comes,
our loss of hair, lines on our face,
can signal wisdom time has borne,
within each context, in each place.
2 Yet grace and hope and love remain,
as faith is nurtured till mature.
Though we can know both scorn and hurt,
while held by God we stand secure;
God is the centre of our hope
as long as love and life endure.
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: 8 8 8 D Tune: ABINGDON
Created by HymnQuest.com
Pentecost – a hymn ‘Is this a void, or just a time of challenge?’
Pentecost signalled a time for a new start? A time of change for the disciples. For us? – a hymn ‘Is this a void, or just a time of challenge?’
Is this a void, or just a time of challenge,
a new found joy, beginning or an end?
Yet God has travelled with us on this journey
along with each acquaintance, neighbour, friend.
And will God leave us as we travel onward,
abandon us to all the future holds?
But God, is here, behind us and before us,
as every chance is greeted and unfolds.
So God, we offer thanks for every blessing,
for times of care and gifting, now long past,
and hand in hand we seek a common purpose,
assured that love and grace are sure to last.
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:11 10 11 10
Tune: INTERCESSOR
Created by HymnQuest.com
He stood with scarred and open hands – a hymn of resurrection
He stood with scarred and open hands - a hymn of resurrection inspired by John 20: 19-31
1 He stood with scarred and open hands,
their bloodied, but now risen, Lord,
incomprehension met his words,
their fear had tightened like a cord.
2 His word of peace rang in their ears,
yet they could hardly understand.
Bemused, unsettled, disbelief
meant that the fear they felt was fanned.
3 Yet here he stood, as flesh and blood,
a word of peace upon his lips,
but as they try to grasp at facts
their sense of meaning slides and slips.
4 He knew their need, for doubt and awe
was clouding each and every mind
but here was fish, he took and ate,
his human life was sealed and signed.
5 The path of pain that he had known
was grounded in necessity,
for perfect love was bound to face
self interest and hypocrisy.
6 And now they understood his words,
'come follow' echoed in their ears.
That self-same grace will call us all
and love will cancel out our fears.
Words: Andrew Pratt (born 1948) © 2012 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: LM Tune: BRESLAU
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
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