hell – hymnsandbooks

If God in love invests us with a voice – a Christian response to war?

At at a time of continued war in Israel/Palestine and Ukraine/Russia as people seek, or fear, to protest what might our Christian response be?

If God in love invests us with a voice, 
and given hell on earth, a human choice,
we cannot cry our tears into this night 
if we are silent with our people’s plight.

Don’t  say that they are foreign, not our own,
these faces greeting rocket, tank or drone, 
for as these people flee towards our shore 
they seek for care and safety, nothing more.

Humanity, the common life we share,
is all that’s left that we can hold and bear, 
so as we look into each human face, 
see Christ and through God’s Spirit offer grace.

Andrew Pratt 7/9/2025
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: 10.10.10.10
Tune: EVENTIDE; ST AGNES (Langran)

The sunlight on the water – Hymn

The sunlight on the water – inspired by Luke 12: 13-21

1           The sunlight on the water
              Sets singing in our eyes
              A single glance of wonder,
              A shimmering first surprise;
              But dusty practicalities,
              The thorn within our flesh,
              That recommend obedience
              Just will not let us rest.

2           The landfall at a haven,
              Our solitude replete,
              A foretaste of God’s heaven,
              Serenity complete,
              Is tempered by reality
              With feet firm on the ground.
              We recognise a call to live
              In this world’s sight and sound.

3           We turn again from wonder,
              From spiritual surprise,
              From laser light and thunder,
              Through dazzled, dancing eyes
              We see the grinding poverty,
              We smell the stench of death,
              And only sacrificial love
              Will lead through hell to rest.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2000 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 8 6 8 6 Tune: CHRYSOSTOM Published in Whatever Name or Creed

Reflecting on the Good Samaritan – hymn – ‘All the power that fuelled creation’

Reflecting on the Good Samaritan – ‘All the power that fuelled creation’

1	All the power that fuelled creation,
	cosmic force that fired the stars,
	still leaves people in the darkness
	when we grasp for 'us' and 'ours'.
	All the emptiness and sorrow
	we dispel with just a glance,
	eyes averted from our neighbours
	giving them no second chance.

2	All we cling to, all we cherish,
	stands as nothing in God’s light,
	yet our attitudes deny it
	holding all as if by right.
	All the wealth at our disposal
	could bring hope, transfigure care;
	even candles lit in darkness
	bring new hope when none is there.

3	All we need is love and kindness,
	costly kindness to dispel
	fear and poverty, while bringing
	deepest love to counter hell.
	All God’s love, when shared among us
	shatters poverty with grace,
	even now transfiguration
	could be felt within this place.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2016 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 D
Tunes: SCARLET RIBBONS; ABBOTS LEIGH

For another text relating to the Good Samaritan click here

We dare not risk forgetfulness

We dare not risk forgetfulness,

the eyes where light has been extinguished,

the gathered limbs and shattered bones,

that hone the memory, shatter hope.

The shadows lengthen, colour fades.

What now?

The choice is ours.

This turning of the year:

forgiving fault

can we renew relationships

or, festering, lurch onward into hell?

The choice is yours, is ours, is mine…

choose life…perhaps?

Now hell is here

Now hell is here, and words are cheap,

a bloodied sheet, a shattered bed…

as women, men and children weep,

while prayer is silent, felt not said.

With seeds of vengeance sown not sought,

while roots in hearts of flesh, not stone,

bring carnage traced with quiet thought

as guilt will fester none will own.

And distantly, in muffled sighs,

of deep regret and dark despair

we wring our hands and harbour lies,

dare not admit the blame we share.

Suggested tune: ROCKINGHAM