Tag: greed

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…