As we spin on through boundless space – a New hymn for the New Year

As we spin on through boundless space – a New hymn for the New Year

As we spin on through boundless space    
and mark the seasons passing,
we trust again the Cov’nant grace,
the love that's everlasting.

We carry grief across the years,
some memories are fading,
while others sharp as broken glass
leave scars beyond evading.

And time will test the strength of loss,
a tensile strand still holds us,
as love of family, friends and God
are strong, and still enfold us.

So  nothing now that breaks our peace
can once deflect time's arrow,
that joins us by the grace of God
through every new tomorrow.

Andrew Pratt 21/12/2025
Words © 2025 © 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: DOMINUS REGIT ME

Three men by a manger – Epiphany

Three men by a manger, the camels are spitting;
the inn keeper proffers a flagon of ale.
The strangers are weary, the passage was dreary,
this ship of the desert, has furled up its sail.

The stars had moved slowly, they’d hoped to be early,
our Christmas had placed them right there at the birth,
but Herod had waited, his anger not sated,
two years rambled slowly till wrath seared the earth.

It all seems a muddle, and yet we will huddle,
repeating the story from long, long ago;
what matters the timing when love sets bells chiming,
and just for this season our time can run slow.
Andrew Pratt 22/12/2019
Words © 2019 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.