The world is burning, twinkling lights betray a damaged conscience, we have lost our way. Our neighbours drown, we build on solid ground, as Jesus weeps while songs of praise resound. Within this season darkness clouds each mind, consumption numbs the pain we ought to find when hearing news of hunger and of drought, a stable’s birth should soon erase all doubt: the Christ we claim to know, born in the dirt, while at our doors our neighbours starve and hurt. So put aside this carolling and praise until compassion drives our words and ways. Andrew Pratt 19/11/2021 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. Tune: WOODLANDS Metre: 10.10.10.10
Tag: lament
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
Hymn responding to Dr Cecilia Medupin’s Seminar for Bramhall Methodist Church Climate Change Series
Dr Cecilia Medupin Dept of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester Dry, cracked and crazed the water-bed lies empty, the earth is thirsty, rain is slow to come, this news is hidden, floods have filled the headlines, the prophets now, not heard, might well be dumb. This is the earth the ground of life, our being, our home to share, to nurture and protect, a gift of God for us and all God’s creatures, to use our knowledge, work to good effect. As people wait, the wells of life are barren, how long, O God, before your people learn that we must live and love and work together, to answer needs that science can discern. The brightest light of wisdom dims in sadness, if we ignore the needs of all the earth, if selfishly we dominate creation, deny the love once given at our birth. Great God, earth mother, father of creation, we plead and cry that you will hear each voice, then motivate your people, bring fresh waters, till earth can sing and once again rejoice! Andrew Pratt 18/6/2021 Words © 2021 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 Tune: INTERCESSOR (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX0q8eBGE7A) More information click here
Hymns responding to Dr Tim Gordon’s Seminar for Bramhall Methodist Church Climate Change Series
Dr Tim Gordon Marine Biologist, Exeter University Pre-meeting text Like concrete, coral crumbles, devoid of life and breath, and lifeless it will signal our finiteness and death, until with all creation we find our common place and treasure this our planet and see, in life, God’s face. The reef can be a model: a commonwealth of care, of close cooperation of all that’s living there: yet human beings meddle, bring damage and distress. We need to learn and listen if life is to progress. A deeper understanding that science can provide could bring the restoration our actions have denied; while prayer can open senses to things that are obscure, God’s spirit offers insight to make the world secure. Andrew Pratt 23/5/2021 Words © 2021 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.D Tune: LLANGLOFFAN; AURELIA Hymn responding to Dr Tim Gordon Marine Biologist, Exeter University The song of the sea, once melodious is dying, that song is essential, the calling of home; Great God, we lament, yet the sound of our crying is quieter than breakers, the wash of the foam. What work must we do to restore what is broken, how can we encourage the choir of the sea? The spirit is moving, the waters are wounded, the oceans are anguished for life to be free. You enter our suffering and love in our grieving, you join us in weakness, when frailty is near, God hold us, enfold us when hell overcomes us, stand near to the tomb of our folly and fear. You promise a covenant, both gift and promise. Creation is groaning, still coming to birth. Bring newness, renewal, a hope that is living, from suff’ring bring joy for the whole of the earth. We treasure the symphony, yet we are grieving, we long for the chorus, the song of the sea, bring light in the darkness and sound in the silence, Great God, co-creator let all life be free. Andrew Pratt 24/5/2021 Words © 2021 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 YouTube - Sung and played by Gareth Moore
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Covid-19 hymn of Lament – Through every fighting moment and each breath
Through every fighting moment and each breath,
another burdened person nearer death;
and now we sing our prayer that life might last,
this time might be consigned, be something past.
Great God, we cling to hope when all seems lost,
we never thought that love would hold such cost;
and now our loving feels more like a shroud
to wrap the one we we love: we cry out loud!
How long, O God, must suffering prolong
this tension, is lament so very wrong?
Or is our understanding of your care
corrupt, or incomplete, bereft or bare?
Amid our swirling agony and doubt,
God hold us till the sands of time run out;
when light has gone, and darkness hovers round,
we wait the dawning of Love’s solid ground.
Written on 26th May after watching Clive Myrie (BBC reporter) in a ward with people dying of COVID-19.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-52809201/coronavirus-one-week-in-one-hospital
Words © 2020 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.
Tunes: PEEL CASTLE (Manx Fisherman’s Hymn); EVENTIDE (Abide with me)
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