Tag: Hymn

Christ saw a way so clearly – a hymn inspired by Mark 7: 1-8

Christ saw a way so clearly – inspired by Mark 7: 1-8

1 Christ saw a way so clearly
that others feared to tread;
with those who were discarded
he deigned to rest his head.

2 The poor he suffered gladly,
at hypocrites he’d rant;
his vision was not clouded
by sanctimonious cant.

3 He died, but still those faces
look on with mild disgust;
naivety that’s guileless,
the flaw they could not trust.

4 He’ll whirl and dance before them,
his song will fill the air;
we’ll join the dance he started,
in spite of our despair;

5 For he has spun a rainbow
of singing, shining light;
his leap to love and freedom
defies the darkest night.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2002 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 Iambic
Tune: CHRISTUS DER IST MEIN LEBEN

An ill found peace – Jesus meets the disciples

An ill found peace disturbed the quiet 
the room was locked and shuttered.
The Christ himself had now appeared, 
a wind-blown candle guttered. 

His words, a knife, cut through their fear, 
anticipation shaken, 
no more condemned, a word of peace, 
was quietly, surely spoken.

Yet fear and doubt conspired to foil 
what joy might sweep a nation, 
such peace as might spread through the world 
to shatter consternation.

And so he breathed those words again, 
that peace might sign acceptance 
of those who had denied their Lord 
and now feared his rejection.

The sign he gave, he loved them still, 
a lasting affirmation, 
that those who loved would do his will, 
until love's consummation.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
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: 8 7 8 7
Tune: DOMINUS REGIT ME

Love inspired the anger – hymn

Love inspired the anger: Hymn for Lent 3 – John 2: 13-22

 

1          Love inspired the anger
            That cleared a temple court,
            Overturned the wisdom
            Which their greed had wrought.

2          Love inspired the anger
            That set the leper free
            From the legal strictures
            That brought misery.

3          Love inspired the anger
            That cursed a viper’s brood:
            Set on domination,
            Self with God confused.

4          Love inspires the anger
            That curses poverty,
            Preaches life’s enrichment,
            Seeks equality.

5          Love inspires the anger
            That still can set us free
            From the world’s conventions
            Bringing liberty.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 1993 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 & The Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes

Singing the Faith 253 (also published in 4 other books)
Metre: 6 6 6 5 Trochaic
Tunes: NORTH COATES; TEMPLE COURT

Once transfiguration blinded – a hymn

Some of you will remember the hymn, ‘Stay, Master, stay upon this heavenly hill’.
As the disciples want to continue in the purer air of the mountaintop, to stay eternally, Jesus
rebukes them:


No, saith the Lord, the hour is past, we go;
Our home, our life, our duties lie below.
While here we kneel upon the mount of prayer,
The plough lies waiting in the furrow there.


And the disciples respond:


There we must do it, serve him, seek him still.
The following hymn continues this theme of being lost in such wonder that we forget the needs that
we are called to meet:

Once transfiguration blinded 

1 Once transfiguration blinded 
those who climbed to follow Christ, 
seeing through a mist of glory, 
just a glimpse at once sufficed; 
just a glimpse of holy heaven, 
earth and heaven neatly spliced. 

2 Light can blind us to the sorrow, 
to the pain of poverty, 
light of holy exaltation, 
or the light of being free:
free of fear of want or hunger 
resting in complicity.

3 Lost in thunder, bathed in wonder, 
hands uplifted should we praise, 
while, in destitution, neighbours, 
wait for weeks, not merely days,
for the crumbs dropped from a table
that austerity displays.

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: 8 7 8 7 8 7
Tune: WESTMINSTER ABBEY (Purcell)

Hymn of Seasons

From season to season, 
through death and re-birth,
this world, through its phases, 
shows love has no dearth.

Such love is for sharing, 
to do good to all,
to nurture well-being, 
to echo God's call.

Through sensitive reason 
we fathom the need
of neighbours, of nature;
we subjugate greed.

We offer each other 
the kiss of God's peace,
embracing earth's harmony, 
hatred will cease.

Through summer and autumn, 
through winter's release,
we welcome spring's coming 
with nature's increase.

All praise for the gifting 
of harvest and life,
all power to the ending 
of all human strife.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2002 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: 11 11 11 11
Tune: DATCHET