Tag: Hymn

Hymn in respect of those who affected by the Nepalese mud slide disaster

A flood of degradation sweeps life and limb away – hymn in respect of those who affected by the Nepalese mud slide disaster

A flood of degradation
sweeps life and limb away.
Is God within this carnage
of death by night and day?
A stream of mud pours downward
that nothing can resist;
no reason and no purpose
behind this fatal twist?

Is this another symptom, 
like avalanche and fire, 
made worse by global warming, 
by greed and our desire; 
desire for domination, 
regardless of the cost, 
with ecosystems damaged, 
and earthly balance lost

Great God is there no answer, 
no justifying plea, 
no easy explanation 
for all we sense and see?
And while our minds still struggle 
to come to terms with grief, 
help us to go on loving, 
to try to bring relief?

Beyond our understanding 
creation screams and turns, 
God hold us and enfold us 
as faith decays and burns.
Yes, hold us in our anguish 
when reason quakes and sighs, 
bring light to lead us forward 
when all creation cries.

Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2026 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

These words written at the time of the recent Nepalese mud slide also raise questions that resurface at other times of natural disasters. They are a reflection, not an answer. What we see raises questions for me. What can we do at such times that can have any relevance at all? At the least, perhaps, giving to relief organisations. I intend to give to BRITISH RED CROSS on this link. If you can help in this or any other way, please do.

Another mountain on the road – a hymn for Transfiguration Sunday

Another mountain on the road – a hymn for Transfiguration Sunday

1         Another mountain on the road 
           that led them to Jerusalem, 
           a rising path, a stony way, 
           the climb towards a brighter day.
          
2         They broke through mist, looked down on clouds, 
           the earth below now veiled to sight. 
           Above, the summit, time to rest, 
           a place of blessing for the blessed.
          
3         And as they waited Christ had gone, 
           a cloud of light was all they saw. 
           Then as the mist had cleared away, 
           he stood and shone as bright as day.
          
4         Confused and dazzled, stunned they stood, 
           his closest friends looked on in awe.
           But soon they’d see his utter loss, 
           beneath the shadow of a cross.
          
5         The heights of heaven, depths of hell, 
           still mirror all we know on earth:
           this brief oasis soon had passed, 
           and only grace and love would last.

Andrew Pratt (born 1948) © 2012 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 8 8 8 Tune: WINCHESTER NEW
Created by HymnQuest.com

Photo © Andrew Pratt 2026

A hymn written for World AIDS Day and used nationally by CTBI when first published

1	When life's crippled, flawed or faulted,
	Filled with fear, with folly strewn;
	God is here, yet never thwarted,
	Loving in dark sorrow's womb;
	God is in each widow's anguish,
	God is queuing unemployed,
	God will in the prison languish,
	God will love, not be destroyed.

2	When work's clamour, noise and chaos
	Brings the stress that drags us down;
	God is here identifying,
	Praying with us as we groan.
	When our love and life are battered,
	When our strength is all but sapped,
	When the way ahead is shattered,
	Still within God's love we're wrapped.

3	Love and folly, cross and kindness,
	Echo all we know within;
	Jesus challenges the blindness;
	Penetrates deception's din;
	Builds again where all seemed shattered, 
	Holds us when we fear or fall,
	Takes what's left of life, though tattered,
	By His love renews it all.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 1991 © 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.
8 7 8 7 D Trochaic
Tune: BETHANY; ABBOTS LEIGH; COMFORTER

Hope is built in present moments – hymn inspired by Isaiah 65: 17 – 25 (now with tune)

Hope is built in present moments – hymn with tune - inspired by Isaiah 65: 17 – 25 

1	Hope is built in present moments, 
	times of visions, times of dreams, 
	times when love transcends the present, 
	long outlasting human schemes.
	
2	Hope will open gates of promise, 
	herald dawns of glorious light, 
	help us live within this moment, 
	lead us onward from the night.
	
3	Hope is more than mists of fortune, 
	hope is more than fear or fate, 
	here through faith's imagination, 
	love transforms our present state.
	
4	We will find a new beginning 
	built on truths instead of lies, 
	built on love of every neighbour,
	love that will confound the 'wise'.

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
Tunes: LAUS DEO; ST OSWALD

New tune written by Frances S. Drake reproduced with permission -

Enquiries for use of music to Hymncat@gmail.com

I stroll along the forest paths – Pentecost goes on…

I stroll along the forest paths – hymn for 21st June – life in the Spirit!

I stroll along the forest paths, I ride upon the wind.
	I sail across the ocean waves, or feast on tamarind,
	but all the wealth and wonder here is empty, pale and trite
	against the vibrant colours of your spirit’s flaming light.

Your spirit turns me round again when I'm against the wall.
	Your spirit lifts me up again, you will not let me fall.
	And when I lie asleep at night, in incandescent streams
	your love cascades around my life, the goal of all my dreams.

I cast my life into that love, ignited by its flame.
	Since meeting you each day I live can never be the same.
	In concert and in harmony our lives will merge as one,
	in singing, dancing joy until the setting of the sun.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2003 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: 14 14 14 14
Tune: THE LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER