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
Tag: Hymn
A hymn for a seeking faith inspired by Psalm 19 – The cosmic pulse
A hymn for a seeking faith inspired by Psalm 19 - The cosmic pulse
1 The cosmic pulse that beats through all creation,
two spinning stars, the pulsar's throbbing light;
these wing beats, not a passing aberration,
but angels thronging through the mists of night;
2 The whirling, dancing, trance that brings relation
with all that is and all that is to be;
the mystic, magic prayer, this wild elation
you say will bring the love to set us free;
3 Our language cannot offer a description:
Nirvana, heaven, call it what you will;
this other world that fires our inspiration
is all that conjures up the power to thrill.
4 The God we hymn, through praise and acclamation,
we seek to meet through words or bread and wine;
yet all the world inspires your incantation;
together let us fathom truth's design.
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 10 11 10 Iambic
Tunes: HIGHWOOD; INTERCESSOR
From Whatever name or creed
Hymn inspired by Mark 7: 24-30 – She felt just like a ragged dog
She felt just like a ragged dog - inspired by Mark 7: 24-30
1 She felt just like a ragged dog
that scratched around for food,
denied, despised and kicked aside
and never any good.
2 Yet now she stood inside the door
and pleaded with this man,
for each taboo had little weight,
her grief had wider span.
3 Her child had need of healing help
and she would make Christ hear,
the urgency of anguished need
had overcome her fear.
4 And in that moment he would learn,
audacity would teach
that human laws and well worn creeds
put no-one out of reach.
5 Compassion ruled and love compelled
to action on that day,
and Jesus' reach was broadened as
he learnt that grace held sway.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
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.
Metre: CM
Tune: ST PETER (How sweet the name of Jesus sounds)
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
