Always looking for a sign - John 6: 24-35
1 Always looking for a sign,
never seeing what is there,
people searching for some proof
fixing Jesus with a stare.
2 Standing lost and so bemused,
hoping for some broken bread,
Jesus meets their ignorance,
people needing to be fed.
3 Not some massive miracle,
simply trusting given grace,
this the message that they heard,
and they saw within his face.
4 And today that look survives,
all our needs are felt and met,
hope is spoken to each life,
love will live and not forget.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2012 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: 7 7 7 7
Tune: BATTISHILL; EMMA
Tag: love
On a Galilean hillside – hymn inspired by Mark 6: 30-34
On a Galilean hillside – July 21st – Mark 6: 30 – 34
1 On a Galilean hillside
stood a crowd with wondering eyes,
captivated by the mystery,
framed by mountain, sea and skies.
2 Jesus stood, and with compassion,
met their gaze and understood
depth of pain, and human anguish,
evil challenging their good.
3 What he said defied their senses,
challenged values, yet affirmed
those whom life had spurned or battered,
lifted them above the herd.
4 Now we stand, impassioned, waiting
for a word to cure our ill;
but he challenges complacence,
love is ours to share or still.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2002 © 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 Trochaic
Tune: WRAYSBURY (Hymns & Psalms 141)
As an election approaches a hymn (poem,song) – If love is foremost in our faith
If love is foremost in our faith
we have a choice to make
on this and every other day,
for all else is at stake;
we see a world that’s broken down,
where poverty and fear
are trampelling the weakest ones,
with hatred lurking near.
‘Today’, God said, I give a choice
where life and death compete.
The chance is now for us to take,
to finish, to complete,
the turning of the tables here
as Christ, one time, had turned
the temple tables, scattering greed,
to free those power had spurned.
Where selfishness can cripple lives,
or love can set them free,
what happens from this moment on
rests now with you and me:
if our audacious words of grace
can frame what we would pray,
then from this moment, in our time,
let love infuse each day.
Andrew Pratt 22/5/2024 on the announcement of a General Election
Words © 2024 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: CMD
Tunes: ELLACOMBE; COE FEN; KINGSFOLD
Love inspired the anger – hymn
Love inspired the anger: Hymn for Lent 3 – John 2: 13-22
1 Love inspired the anger
That cleared a temple court,
Overturned the wisdom
Which their greed had wrought.
2 Love inspired the anger
That set the leper free
From the legal strictures
That brought misery.
3 Love inspired the anger
That cursed a viper’s brood:
Set on domination,
Self with God confused.
4 Love inspires the anger
That curses poverty,
Preaches life’s enrichment,
Seeks equality.
5 Love inspires the anger
That still can set us free
From the world’s conventions
Bringing liberty.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 1993 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 & The Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes
Singing the Faith 253 (also published in 4 other books)
Metre: 6 6 6 5 Trochaic
Tunes: NORTH COATES; TEMPLE COURT
The Space Shuttle Columbia remembered – a hymn
The Space Shuttle Columbia – a hymn written at the time of its launch and explosion – remembered BBC 2 12/2/2024 - They reached for stars, beyond our grasp… written 4th February 2003.
1 They reached for stars, beyond our grasp,
they rode beyond the clouds,
we gazed in wonder, seized by awe,
now friends grasp empty shrouds.
2 A thousand searing fiery shards
had flared across the sky,
as crowds looked up in disbelief,
and framed the question 'Why?'
3 Can God be found amidst this loss?
Is love a present fact
when torn by pain, in misery,
we lack the power to act?
4 O God make known your presence now,
yes, show your boundless love
as through the tears and loneliness
we/they search the skies above.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) written 4th February 2003. Words © 2003 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: CM
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