Hymn – Page 12 – hymnsandbooks

Lent 4 – Two poems and two hymns

John 3: 1-17

Poem: God so loved …

No complicated creeds,
or self-righteous rituals.
No holy huddles,
or raw judgements.
No insistence on conformity.

Only a call to turn around
to find forgiveness waiting.

For at the heart of all creation
and the core of our existence
there is the love of God
for errant people.

And one special human,
whose presence in the world
changed all our perceptions
of our relationship
with the God who loves us
so much that he gave …
Marjorie Dobson - from Unravelling the Mysteries © Stainer & Bell Ltd 2019; London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns where appropriate. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd

John 3:14-21

Hymn: Trust that God, who lit the cosmos

Trust that God, who lit the cosmos,
source and ground of all we are,
demonstrated love's dimension,
dying like the evening star,
softened, shaded, so diminished,
then extinguished, gone from sight,
yet the third day rose in glory,
bringing hope and shedding light.

From that day the crisis beckoned,
those who saw that light must choose
where to stand: with Christ in suffering?
To accept or to refuse?
Still that challenge stands before us,
God has given love and grace.
Will we take the love that's offered
or deride God in this place?

All our songs are crass and empty,
all our worship hollow praise,
if we do not love our neighbours
that we live with in these days.
Simple acts of loving kindness
signal where we place our trust;
faith without these simple actions
slowly moulders, turns to dust.

Andrew Pratt
Words © 2012 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
Tune: DIM OND IESUS

Poem: Light came …

If light is good
and darkness is bad,
why do we have such a longing
to run to the dark
when we see the light of God
entering the world?

Could it be
that we need to hide
and the darkness
is our only refuge?

Yet God persists
in flooding the world with light
and focusing its intensity
through Jesus.

Is it any wonder
that a new flame
burns in our hearts
and fires our enthusiasm
when we emerge from the shadows,
as we finally recognize
how much God loves us?
©Marjorie Dobson

Ephesians 2:1-10

Hymn: Into darkness and disaster

Into darkness and disaster,
swept along by what we’ve done,
making choices that determined
things we’ve lost and things we’ve won,
sometimes we reflect and wonder
at the people we’ve become.

Sometimes lost, sometimes despairing,
feeling there is no way back
to the way we wish we’d taken,
knowing all the things we lack,
we can feel so God forsaken,
prayer is dry, resolve is slack.

Yet within the depths of sorrow,
when there is no way ahead,
God will reach us, grace will show us
life beyond the tears we’ve shed;
God will lift us, heal, forgive us,
shield us from the things we dread.

God will build a bright tomorrow,
light a dawn of wider scope,
where our human strength has faltered
God will sow the seeds of hope.
Know that, even now, God holds us,
and will show us how to cope.

Wounded Healer

I heard the term Wounded Healer attributed to Ahmed Hankir in a BBC Radio broadcast – Start the Week – today 8th March 2021. I am not sure where the term ‘Wounded Healer’ came from originally but I quoted it in a poem/hymn written before 1993 and published in 1997 in my book Blinded by the Dazzle.

1	Will you join the wounded healer,
	Crucified upon the cross,
	Rising to the human challenge,
	Offering love through utter loss?

2	Will you live for liberation,
	Or, if need be, will you die,
	Not deflected from God's purpose,
	All deceitful art defy?

3	Wounded healers, men and women,
	Offer their humanity,
	Share God's mission: living, loving,
	Lifting, holding, setting free.

3A	Wounded healers, men and women,
	Offer your humanity,
	Share God's mission: living, loving,
	Lifting, holding, setting free.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 1993, 1997 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 Trochaic

Amanda Udis-Kessler has produced two items, one for Palm Sunday, the other for Easter

A Palm Sunday Hymn – Two Processions, by Amanda Udis-Kessler.

An Easter Extravaganzer – Love had a dream, by Amanda Udis-Kessler.

Clicking the links will take you to YouTube to watch and hear her work. More information can be found at here.

An extraordinary new hymn for the Passion/Easter season by Graham Adams – The people wanted soldiers

This hymn, by Graham Adams, arose from an ‘Empire’ module at Luther King House in Manchester last week. Graham says, “feel free to use as you wish!’ It connects with the Passion/Easter season. It was particularly stimulated by a discussion around whether ‘the alternative realm’ (God’s basileia/kingdom/empire) is ‘a quaint dream’ or something more ‘threatening’ – and the destabilising language of poetry spoke to this”.

The people wanted soldiers
so hope might come as curse,
to smash the occupation – 
but change turned up as Verse:
the poetry of yeasting,
the parabolic sword,
no match for Pax Romana* 
and yet this Lamb still roared.
 
Although it claims possession
of mind and heart and soul,
the Empire’s grip has limits – 
it can’t control the whole:
the surplus lives as Poem
for those with ears to hear,
resisting final closure,
declaring what is near:
 
This dream of re-creation,
this threat of life set free,
disturbing tame religion,
confounding how we see:
it won’t succumb to cliché
where purities abound,
but glimpsed in seeds’ potential,
it ruptures solid ground.
 
Where empires grow by violence,
where systems blame the last
and close down other futures
by editing the past,
the Poem can’t be silenced,
though quietly it dies,
and dances through the fissures
to teach us how to rise!
 
Graham Adams (2021) … prompted by the conversations during the Empire module   
Potential tunes: THORNBURY, CRUGER…
*Pax Romana is ‘the peace of Rome’ secured through military violence; if it’s easier to replace this with ‘crucifixion’, the meaning still works.

Lent 1 – Three hymns and a poem

He could have walked the easy road
He could have walked the easy road
to fortune and to fame.
He knew he could work miracles,
to heal the blind and lame.
He could have fed the starving poor
with fish as well as bread.
But Jesus knew that life held more
and chose God’s word instead.
He could have trusted angels’ wings,
up on that Temple tower.
To save him from a fall to death
was well within God’s power.
The people would have marvelled then
and guessed this was God’s son.
But Jesus would not take the test
to prove he was that one.
He could have taken full control,
the world lay at his feet.
He only had to say the word:
his rule would be complete.
The mountain view had caught his breath..
Power was a word away.
But Jesus turned back from it all
and God had won the day.
Marjorie Dobson
Words © 2019 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: CMDTune: KINGSFOLD
Poem: The time has come
As John had said,
‘the time has come.’
So Jesus,
bowing to the Jordan’s waves
and rising to the words
‘beloved Son’
and ‘well pleased,’
was willing to be made ready,
by desert trial,
to take his place
in the unfolding story
of God’s love.
But John
was soon in prison
for speaking out
too loud and long
for the comfort of the king.
And Jesus,
fresh from temptation
and life-changing choices,
set off for Galilee,
knowing that now was his time
to spread good news
and bring the kingdom of God
to the people for whom
it had always been intended.
No more waitng.
No more preparation.
Time to go …
©Marjorie Dobson
Jesus met supreme temptation
Jesus met supreme temptation,
countered subtlety with skill;
ever faithful to one purpose,
still committed to God's will.
With no food he soon was famished,
hunger racked him, filled his mind,
then a voice had come to taunt him,
'bread is there for you to find'.
Each illusion he would parry,
each temptation run to ground;
all the world was for the asking,
yet his faith was strong and sound.
Every miracle and wonder
he was tempted to perform
he rebutted, held the tension;
he would live beyond this storm.
And when we meet with temptation,
save us from each trial and test;
strengthen faith, God, give us courage,
help us strive toward the best.

Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
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: 8 7 8 7
Tune: LOVE DIVINE (Stainer)
As glass will take the light – FOR COMMUNION
As glass will take the light
and focus all its heat;
here in the water, wine and bread
we find God's grace complete.

We met God's presence here,
our promises were sealed;
but all is lost, is null and void,
if love is kept concealed.
So in God's peace we go,
and in the Spirit's power,
to offer love in word and deed
in every coming hour.

Andrew E Pratt
© Words © 1997 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: SM
Tune: CARLISLE