God we need your holy wisdom – a hymn – pertinent, I fear?

God we need your holy wisdom – a hymn written nearly 20 years ago…still pertinent, I fear.

1 God we need your holy wisdom,
need to know your presence here,
through audacious, fearless living,
and your dying, draw us near.

2 We are failing, needing loving,
so addicted to despair,
come with healing, mend the broken,
with your grace renew, repair.

3 Feed our rich imagination,
let the poets speak again
words of hope, profound redemption,
foil this sharp, systemic pain.

4 Then unleash our lives to follow
Christ our leader, yet our friend,
and through risks of selfless living,
find through love your goal, our end.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2007Stainer & 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: CHAPEL BRAE; ALL FOR JESUS

God surprises us by kindness – a hymn of caring

1         God surprises us by kindness, 
           by another’s healing touch, 
           words that speak with understanding, 
           soothe where once we hurt so much.

2         We can never lose the tether 
           tying us to Godly grace,
           yet through human hands we’re lifted, 
           as we’re meeting face to face.

3         Simple acts of loving kindness, 
           bring us back to life again, 
           ease the burden of each moment, 
           share our sorrow, ease our pain.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)

© 2016 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 7 8 7

Tune: ST OSWALD

As published in http://www.theworshipcloud.com

Created by HymnQuest.com – HymnQuest links this text with Matthew 4:4

God surprises us by kindness – a hymn of caring with assurance and, perhaps, challenge

1 God surprises us by kindness,
by another’s healing touch,
words that speak with understanding,
soothe where once we hurt so much.

2 We can never lose the tether
tying us to Godly grace,
yet through human hands we’re lifted,
as we’re meeting face to face.

3 Simple acts of loving kindness,
bring us back to life again,
ease the burden of each moment,
share our sorrow, ease our pain.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2016 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 7 8 7
Tune: ST OSWALD

As published in http://www.theworshipcloud.com

Created by HymnQuest.com – HymnQuest links this text with Matthew 4:4

‘Jesus’ open love would lead him’ – a hymn inspired by a healing on the Sabbath

Jesus' open love would lead him

The unexpected healing by Jesus on a Sabbath of a crippled, and hence alienated, woman inspired these words:

1 Jesus' open love would lead him
into conflict with the law.
People then, and now, believing,
they know wrong, of this they're sure.

2 Such aggressive condemnation:
not the way we should behave,
we have rules and regulations
plotting how our God can save.

3 These are rules that God has given,
rules that we must strive to keep,
yet it seems that Jesus challenged
norms that made the path too steep.

4 Rules he offered changed perceptions,
moved from punishment to grace,
showed a way of loving, living,
we might risk within this place.

5 Love beyond imagination,
love to heed and to enthral,
love not bounded by rejection,
love that reaches out to all.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2013 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
Tune: ST CATHERINE (Jones)


A hymn by Marjorie Dobson – A woman in a crowd touches Jesus robe

A hymn by Marjorie Dobson - A woman in a crowd touches Jesus robe- The touch was so light that it passed by unnoticed …

The touch was so light that it passed by unnoticed.
The crowd was so dense, who could possibly tell
that there in the crush was a desperate woman,
a woman entombed by her personal hell.

The touch was so light and yet someone had noticed –
the man at the centre; the man in demand;
the healer whose presence was urgently sought for
a child who was needing the power from his hand.

The touch turned his head as he wondered who’d done it.
The poor guilty woman was bowed by her shame.
But power had gone from him, he knew he was needed.
With fear she admitted that she was to blame.

The touch of his robe had already proved healing.
The sound of his voice was a blessing at last.
‘My daughter, take courage, your suffering is over.
Your pain and disgrace are a part of your past.’

One touch in a crowd had seemed pointless to others
and many felt agony at the delay.
But one outcast woman could be well for ever
and others would know that same touch on that day.

Marjorie Dobson (born 1940) based on Mark 5 vs 24-34 and Luke 8 vs 42-48
Words © 2017 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: 12 11 12 11
Tunes: ERISKAY; STREETS OF LAREDO

Published in Hymns of Hope and Healing, Stainer & Bell Ltd

When nations are healed – a hymn for today

1 When nations are healed and all warfare is banished, 
the hungry are fed and the poor lifted high, 
the vision of glory, God’s presence among us, 
will signify love and all hatred will die.

2 The river of life will flow on unpolluted, 
the language we share will express common wealth, 
all greed and all grasping will vanish forever, 
instead of for warfare, we’ll budget for health. 

3 The light of God’s love will then shine on forever, 
the same light will shine out from each neighbour’s eyes, 
this vision need not be set far in the future, 
through love, in God’s spirit, we can grasp this prize.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2013 Stainer and 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: 12 11 12 11 Tunes: THE ASH GROVE; SAINT CATHERINE’S COURT