1 God's presence was seen in the person of Jesus where people found healing and wholeness and grac miraculous wonders and love without measure, the touch of his hands and the look of his face. 2 So this was the answer when John asked the question, was Jesus Messiah, God's chosen, the one ordained to bring peace and God's reign to the people, embodying hope for the days yet to come. 3 The signs of God's being are seen in the present when people are living with Jesus in faith. The hope of God's kingdom is real when our actions embody Christ's loving with freedom through grace. Andrew Pratt Words © 2010 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 Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO; ST CATHERINE’S COURT
Tag: hope
Advent 1 – hymn – This is the time of waiting
Advent – a time of waiting – more than a calendar with sweets, more than an extra candle lit each Sunday, perhaps a time to move from darkness into light, from penitence to praise? A hymn inspired by Isaiah 2:2 2:2 In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 1 This is the time of waiting, the calm before the storm, the time of Advent judgement, the coming of the dawn; a time of recollection, of Christ's audacious hope, beyond imagination, outside our human scope. 2 The nations will be gathered, the age will be fulfilled, the judgement be enacted, as Christ had hoped and willed. But for this consummation such birth-pangs will be felt, like rupturing of wine-skins, the earth will heave and melt. 3 For love to be exalted, for hatred to be banned, our human goals must shatter, division must be spanned. A change of mind is needed as we are turned around, to move from desecration, to find love's solid ground. Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) Words © 2018 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
Hymn at a time when people feel excluded – God, save us from the platitudes
God values all – Joel 2: 28 – 29 – hymn at a time when people feel excluded. The prophet Joel said: 28 Then afterwards I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.
1 God, save us from the platitudes,
the empty prayers and hollow praise
that blind us to hypocrisy
of every thoughtless word or phrase.
O take us, mend us, make us one
until your work on earth is done.
2 When pride and selfishness demand
our rights when others suffer hurt,
when greed and use of wealth exploit
and push our neighbours in the dirt
yes, take us, mend us, make us one
until your work on earth is done.
3 Within a world of fear-built walls
of colour, social class or creed,
God, help us look with Christ-lit eyes
for Christ within another's need;
O, take us, mend us, make us one
until your work on earth is done.
4 O God of fundamental grace
in which your church has grown and stands,
great God of self-denying love
may hatred die in every land.
Yes, take us, mend us, make us one
until your peace on earth is won.
5 Then graceful hospitality
may welcome angels unaware,
until your all inclusive love
spans through all time, is everywhere,
for by your grace we now are one,
your hope is gained, your work is done.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2011 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 8 8 8
Tune: ABINGDON
Broken buildings, flooded rivers – a hymn for Pakistan amid the floods
1 Broken buildings, flooded rivers
foaming like a liquid hell;
jagged rocks and raging waters,
currents twisting break the swell
into such a tortured maelstrom;
people reach and lives are saved;
human beings loved and treasured
where the waters heaved and raved.
2 Devastation, ruined farmland,
crops destroyed compound the threat,
images assail our conscience,
sights we never will forget;
here where homes had offered comfort
degradation meets our eyes,
while the thunder of the waters
drowns the sound of human cries.
3 God, we cry, as lives are wasted,
hold us when all else is lost;
where the floods have brought destruction
hold us, help us share this cost.
Lift us out of dereliction,
help us reach to those in need,
love them till all fear has foundered,
till they know they’re safe and freed.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Metre: 8 7 8 7 D
Tune: HYFRYDOL
Words © 2022 © 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., adapted from ‘Swirling winds and raging oceans’ © 2017 Stainer and Bell Ltd.
We hear the news in anguish – hymn at time of Russian invasion of Ukraine with a link to a recording of the hymn with lyrics made by Gareth Moore
We hear the news in anguish to know what has been done,
the cameras and recordists show hatred being spun,
the sound of rockets falling fill broadcasts round the earth,
Great God, what are we doing while children come to birth?
Our aspirations shudder, our hopes become as dust,
through war machines are broken, dismembered, turned to rust.
Our conversations stutter, our talks of peace – hot air,
Great God, may acts of justice grow from the seeds of prayer.
No place is ever neutral when hatred fuels the fire,
humanity unites us, let love be our desire.
Join hands across the barriers that other hands have made,
until your world is mended and violence has been stayed.
Andrew Pratt 28/2/2022 Written while watching the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
Words © 2022 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.
Tune: KING’S LYNN; O SACRED HEAD SORE WOUNDED has also been suggested by Judy Ford.
A video prepared for SUNDAY NIGHT LIVE is available here with thanks to Pam Rhodes and Gareth Moore (to be broadcast Sunday 20th March 2022 at 1800 hours UK)
Listen to reflections for Ukraine based on some of my texts on Premier Christian Radio is available on Freeview channel 725. Sunday 13th March 2022 0800 hours (UK)
A video recording of the hymn by Gareth Moore is available here
Other resources also available at Singing the Faith plus
hymnsandbooks 