Crazy, ragged, ranting prophet – John the Baptist
Crazy, ragged, ranting prophet,
least that’s how some people saw him,
eating locusts and wild honey,
sweeping hypocrites before him.
Standing by the raging river,
raging at unrighteous forces,
calling weak and powerful to him,
sending them on different courses.
This is one the prophets spoke of,
one to clear the way for Jesus;
humble, man of God proclaiming
judgment, grace and mercy for us.
Would we wander to that river?
Hear that vagabond still preaching?
Or would we not want that judgment,
plug our ears to his beseeching?
And today and yet tomorrow
will we take that path and follow,
one who lived through joy and sadness
who would suffer pain and sorrow?
Would we shirk the call of Jesus,
tied to selfishness or borrow,
his audacious loving kindness,
setting free to build tomorrow?
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 8 8 8 D
Tune: CLONMACNOISE
A Local Preacher once asked me what hymns there were relation to John the Baptist. Since than I have written a number. This sees John as the forerunner to the Messiah referred to in Hebrew prophecy.
Tag: kindness
A Hymn for International Day of Peace – ‘Here is Peace’
A Hymn for International Day of Peace - Here is Peace
In 1981, the United Nations General Assembly declared the third Tuesday of September as International Day of Peace. This day coincided with the opening day of the annual sessions of the General Assembly. The purpose of the day was and still remains, to strengthen the ideals of peace around the world.
Two decades after establishing this day of observance, in 2001, the assembly moved the date to be observed annually on September 21. So, beginning in 2002, September 21 marks not only a time to discuss how to promote and maintain peace among all peoples but also a 24-hour period of global ceasefire and non-violence for groups in active combat (I am grateful to Rev’d Pat Bilsborrow for drawing my attention to this day).
Hymn: Here is Peace
Here is peace, when grace astounds us
quelling all our wild pretence.
Here is peace, shalom and kindness,
passion ruled by reasoned sense.
Here is peace, when grace engenders
love that neither fades nor ends.
Here is peace when people welcome;
enemies become as friends.
Here is peace, when grace surprises
ignorance with words of hope.
Here is peace, to light our senses:
see, God’s love has boundless scope.
Words: Andrew Pratt written while listening to Mr D. Rutter, preacher, in Comberbach Methodist Church 2004; © 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: ADORATION (Hunt)
A tune can be found here – Traditional Latvian Melody
A commentary on the text and tune (with an out of date biography) can be found here.
Reflecting on the Good Samaritan – hymn – ‘All the power that fuelled creation’
Reflecting on the Good Samaritan – ‘All the power that fuelled creation’
1 All the power that fuelled creation,
cosmic force that fired the stars,
still leaves people in the darkness
when we grasp for 'us' and 'ours'.
All the emptiness and sorrow
we dispel with just a glance,
eyes averted from our neighbours
giving them no second chance.
2 All we cling to, all we cherish,
stands as nothing in God’s light,
yet our attitudes deny it
holding all as if by right.
All the wealth at our disposal
could bring hope, transfigure care;
even candles lit in darkness
bring new hope when none is there.
3 All we need is love and kindness,
costly kindness to dispel
fear and poverty, while bringing
deepest love to counter hell.
All God’s love, when shared among us
shatters poverty with grace,
even now transfiguration
could be felt within this place.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2016 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 D
Tunes: SCARLET RIBBONS; ABBOTS LEIGH
For another text relating to the Good Samaritan click here
When sense is damaged, limiting perception – hymn – inspired by Mark 9: 30-37
When sense is damaged, limiting perception – inspired by Mark 9: 30-37
1 When sense is damaged, limiting perception,
God’s love will not diminish or betray,
for we are held in grace and loving kindness,
in pain, through grief and hardship, come what may.
2 The love of God defies our understanding,
God reaches to the depths of our despair
absorbing hate, discerning fear and anguish,
enabling, healing, wholeness and repair.
3 Our God is patient with our human frailty,
a strength in weakness when we slip or fall,
and so just as we are we come to worship
to offer back to God our all in all.
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.
Metre: 11.10.11.10
Tune: HIGHWOOD
The simplest of words – a hymn inspired by Matthew 18: 15-20
‘The simplest of words have eternal importance’ a hymn inspired by Matthew 18:15-20 The simplest of words have eternal importance, a 'yes' or a 'no' last for more than a day. Be careful in talking and choose your words wisely, then think before speaking of what you will say. How often we utter our words without wisdom. Perhaps we should ask 'Is it true?' 'Is it kind?' And what motivates us, should we be repeating the words that we heard, or the thoughts that we find? In love and compassion, then, let us consider the ways we affirm and the ways we deride the sisters and brothers, the neighbours God brought us, and then in God's harmony stand side by side. 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: 12 11 12 11 Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO
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