Tag: love

One day, I dream, our children will not hunger – hymn – inspired by the story of Zacchaeus

One day, I dream, our children will not hunger – inspired by Zacchaeus 

One day, I dream, our children will not hunger:
when I have put aside my grasping greed,
when neighbours are true friends we love and cherish,
when hand in hand we meet each human need.

I long to greet that day when human crying
is heard no more upon this ravaged earth,
when children grow in hope and not in horror, 
not fearful of food’s scarcity or dearth.

I scan the distance, glimpsing heaven’s embers, 
an afterglow of all that might have been, 
reminding of what still might be before us 
if we can act with love within this scene.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2023 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
LORD OF THE YEARS
O PERFECT LOVE
Downloaded from  HymnQuest.com

At the centre of each city…for our nation now

At the centre of each city 
…for our nation now (alluding  to Jeremiah 29: 4 – 7; Luke 17: 11-19)

1	At the centre of each city, 
	here where commerce drowns out tears, 
	hear the cry of Christ, forsaken, 
	people lost in debt or fears.

2	Different languages will mingle, 
	cultures bringing life to light, 
	yet the foreign raise new questions, 
	shaking what we thought was right.

3	Here new neighbours rubbing shoulders, 
	help to make us look anew 
	at the way we live together, 
	testing if our love is true

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2014 Stainer and 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: GOTT WILL’S MACHEN; CROSS OF JESUS

Humanity in harmony?

Humanity in harmony?

Human in harmony?
Yet we have broken peace with our anger, 
best left unspoken.

God, help us share as one in humanity
Cool us, calm us centre our sanity.

One earth: 
our cradle of nature and nurture.

Sharing one goal, 
each neighbour, each searcher: 

home of existence destroyed at our peril: 
Crisis?  Destruction? Goodness or evil?

God, give us the courage to love one another,
sister and mother, 
father and brother;
now hold us in anguish and catch those who fall, 
Ground of our being and parent of all.

© Andrew Pratt 4/10/2025 Please use freely with acknowledgment.

Use for reflection or responsorially.



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.