Tag: life

A hymn for the reality of Jesus’ birth –  Christmas Day

1         Bloodied baby, cradled gently
           at a manger birth.
           Bloodied saviour, injured, dying,
           taking leave of earth.
           Love incarnate demonstrating
           all the depth of human worth.

2         In each death a resurrection
           hidden yet from sight;
           in our life’s humiliation,
           healing, softened light.
           Hope has risen, death no prison,
           love has banished endless night.

3         Slightest light then burning glory
           sets the earth ablaze,
           morning light of love’s own story,
           kindles all our praise;
           in the garden, quietly waking,
           see the Lord of years and days.

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 5 8 5 8 7 Tune: ANGEL VOICES

A hymn for Christmas Day - Bloodied baby, cradled gently at a manger birth

1 	Bloodied baby, cradled gently
	at a manger birth.
	Bloodied saviour, injured, dying,
	taking leave of earth.
	Love incarnate demonstrating
	all the depth of human worth.

2 	In each death a resurrection
	hidden yet from sight;
	in our life’s humiliation,
	healing, softened light.
	Hope has risen, death no prison,
	love has banished endless night.

3 	Slightest light then burning glory
	sets the earth ablaze,
	morning light of love’s own story,
	kindles all our praise;
	in the garden, quietly waking,
	see the Lord of years and days.

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 5 8 5 8 7
Tune: ANGEL VOICES



We dare not risk forgetfulness

We dare not risk forgetfulness,

the eyes where light has been extinguished,

the gathered limbs and shattered bones,

that hone the memory, shatter hope.

The shadows lengthen, colour fades.

 

What now?

 

The choice is ours.

 

This turning of the year:

forgiving fault

can we renew relationships

or, festering, lurch onward into hell?

 

The choice is yours, is ours, is mine…

 

choose life…perhaps?

Copyright Andrew Pratt 2023

 

Great God, your love has held our lives – Remembrance Hymn

1	Great God, your love has held our lives
	through all the years down to this day.
	Your constant presence held us fast:
	remain with us we plead and pray.
	We've seen the ruins left by war,
	the tumbled buildings, street by street;
	some heard the voices that they loved
	and cried for those they'd no more meet.
	
2	As time moves on some memories fade,
	some griefs we shared lie in the past;
	for others pain is just as sharp,
	we know their hurt will always last.
	Some human acts have swept away
	our partners, parents, children, friends,
	some people we had never known;
	the memory lives and never ends.
	
3	Beyond this day we try to live:
	a sinew of each life survives,
	but where is God in hurt and hate?
	The questions stay to haunt our lives.
	Help us to build a better world
	not fuelled by vengeance, fed by greed;
	a world in which we all can live,
	what ever colour, race or creed.

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: LMD
Tune: JERUSALEM

Other resources: Worshipcloud

Easter hymn – We cannot speculate, or glance

An empty tomb is just empty. It took a meeting with Jesus to convince a woman, then a group of men that Jesus, who had died on a cross, was alive. It is still difficult to believe. Yet after two thousand years, whatever we believe, as Geoffrey Best has written on Facebook, ‘…in this (hi)story is the revelation of the very nature of God, a God who takes all that we throw and absorbs and transforms the dead and deadly into life abundant .... if we let it!’ Amen!

1	We cannot speculate, or glance 
	into the well of history. 
	Nor can we look beyond this time 
	with any sense of certainty. 
	We only have our faith and hope, 
	to make us stand, to help us cope.
	
2	Great God we grasp at straws of faith,
	of things we hope will point to you. 
	We read the ancient texts and scan 
	those distant myths to make them new. 
	And all the time we live between 
	these metaphors and what is seen.
	
3	The past is gone, we cannot hear 
	more than an echo down the age. 
	And what is still to come we fear; 
	we see each other's pent up rage.
	Yet what we need is close at hand, 
	your present love in every land.
	
4	True resurrection brings to bear 
	the things that heal, create, unite. 
	Love launches its triumphant praise 
	and builds on joy and will delight.
	The former things are passed away, 
	dead night transformed to brightest day.

Metre: 8 8 8 8 8 8 Tune: ABINGDON
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.

Art © Andrew Pratt 2022