Tectonic plates beneath the ocean's surface,
uplifted, twisting life and limb and wave.
The landscape that was home has lost its features,
we wonder there are any left to save.
An empty chair amid such devastation
where cars like toys, are lifted, spun about;
and here we wait and pray in helpless anguish;
and 'where is God' we want to cry and shout.
Incarnate God we need your present spirit
to live within your people at this time,
to energise our prayerful words and actions,
to offer grace to life's discordant rhyme.
God offer hope to those who feel forsaken,
to those whose lives have spun and turned around;
to those whose grief defies all consolation,
bring grace and love and hope and solid ground.
Words: Andrew Pratt (born 1948) © 2011 (alt by author 2022) Stainer & 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: 11.10.11.10.
Suggested tunes: Highwood (StF 3; H&P 236); Intercessor (H&P 411)
Tag: Hymn
The Baptism of Jesus – a different hymn
The Sunday after Epiphany, when we mark the coming of the Magi to Jesus, is traditionally used to remember Jesus’ Baptism by John the Baptist. This hymn tells the story:
God is not partial: calls all the people, builds up the broken, comforts the frail, raises the fallen, walks with the outcast, loves without limits, love will not fail.
God joined the people: crowds John was calling, crowds by the river, turning around; turned by his preaching, turned by a conscience, turned by a gospel, suddenly found.
Humbly God joined them: Jesus John's cousin, strange, enigmatic, why would he come? John asked the question, Jesus was forthright, 'You must baptise me. This must be done'.
One with the people, Jesus was rising, out of the water, mission begun; light to the nations, eyes to the blinded, prisoners find freedom, 'this is my son'!
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: 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 4 Tune: BUNESSAN
Hymn in commemoration of Desmond Tutu
This day we have witnessed a man for all people,
a man who was human, held fast what is right,
for this he has lived with profound dedication,
he shone in the world, don't extinguish that light.
And we who are human stand now in remembrance,
frail shadows of all he has shown we can be.
He not only preached, but embodied the values
that showed through his living that all can be free.
The man we remember has died, will be buried,
yet while we live justly his theme will not fall.
His spirit is living, will not be extinguished,
the love he embraced will be ever for all.
Words: Andrew Pratt (born 1948) text originally written for Nelson Mandela alt by the author © 2013/2021 Stainer & 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.
A tension stalked the stage – another Advent/Christmas hymn
The gospel reading of the Fourth Sunday in Advent tells of the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth and Mary’s prophetic song which we know as the Magnificat (Luke 1: 39-55). This Sunday’s hymn reaches further than this. It has for its background an occupied country, a census involving a journey and the song of a young woman which anticipates the birth of a child who will bring radical challenge and change to the world – if only we would hear and follow him… A tension stalked the stage, an occupying force, and in this context Mary sang. The world could alter course. Once humbled by her God, demeaned, yet she felt blessed, her life now mingled joy and pain, from now she'd never rest. And those in every age are challenged by her song, the paupers free to pray again - for those who did them wrong; while princes are appalled, for those who once held power will find their status racked right down, and that within this hour. For where injustice meets with worship lived and prayed, the social order swings around, the powerful are dismayed; and that includes us all, our power is sapped away, while genuine humility at last will have its day. Andrew E Pratt 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: DSM Tune: LEOMINSTER
Hymn responding to Greta Thunberg ahead of and following COP 26 – Blue planet, rising, soaring through the cosmos – Now with a new tune by Frances S. Drake
Blue planet, rising, soaring through the cosmos, was lent in trust for us to tend and care while children, young in wisdom, call in anguish, for all they see now fills them with despair. The wonder of the sky has drawn us upwards, our eyes diverted by the moon and stars, and as we dream we lose our moral compass, and in our greed we grasp creation, call it ours. Time runs away, our life on earth is finite, young prophets calling, needing us to act are crying out, lamenting for our planet, while ‘adults’ sleep, denying fear and fact. Still others stand, immune, ignore the future, absolved from fault for all that comes to pass. When will we grasp the need for urgent action, see clearly, not net curtained, or through frosted glass? While sands of time run down, are gone and finished, in fear of change we hanker for the past, but life on earth is threatened by inaction, as lethargy and greed resist and last. Good God forgive us for each fault and faction, unwillingness to change to save this earth. God give us ears to hear the words of wisdom that we might save this planet, cradle of our birth. Andrew Pratt 29/10/2021 – Responding to Greta Thunberg ahead of and following COP 26. Words © 2021 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, http://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: 11.10.11.10.11.10.11.12 Tune: BLUE PLANET RISING; LONDONDERRY AIR
