Tag: Pentecost

A spark exists within us all – alludes to John Wesley’s experience of a strangely warmed heart on the 24th May 1738 as we approach Pentecost

A spark exists within us all - Richard Rolle wrote of the fire of love - this hymn reflects that theme but also alludes to John Wesley’s experience of a strangely warmed heart on the 24th May 1738.

1	A spark exists within us all
	that, fanned, will form a flame of love;
	so let cold embers warm and glow
	then, flickering, dancing, leap above.

2	This sign of pre-existent power,
	the ground of all enlightenment,
	the blaze of which we share a part
	is love that shimmers heaven bent.

3	So let that universal flame,
	that fire which cannot be confined,
	ignite a spirit in the world
	transcending bounds of space and time.

4	Then all the earth consumed by love;
	awakened, warmed, and fused as one,
	will know a single sense of joy
	as all rejoice beneath the sun. Amen!

Words Andrew Pratt © 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 LM
Tune: GONFALON ROYAL
Created by HymnQuest.com

Pentecost – a hymn ‘Is this a void, or just a time of challenge?’

Pentecost signalled a time for a new start? A time of change for the disciples. For us? – a hymn ‘Is this a void, or just a time of challenge?’

Is this a void, or just a time of challenge, 
a new found joy, beginning or an end?
Yet God has travelled with us on this journey 
along with each acquaintance, neighbour, friend.

And will God leave us as we travel onward, 
abandon us to all the future holds? 
But God, is here, behind us and before us, 
as every chance is greeted and unfolds.

So God, we offer thanks for every blessing, 
for times of care and gifting, now long past, 
and hand in hand we seek a common purpose, 
assured that love and grace are sure to last.

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:11 10 11 10
Tune: INTERCESSOR

Created by HymnQuest.com

Look beyond your life’s horizon – A hymn for Pentecost

Look beyond your life’s horizon – A hymn for Pentecost which echoes Joel 2: 28  & Acts 2: 1-21

Look beyond your life’s horizon,
what will come of life on earth?
God forsaken? Horror stricken?
Or a hope of love’s rebirth?
Look into this unknown future,
ask what actions can we take,
so that peace becomes an option
in decisions that we make.

Placing God right at the centre,
seeing Christ in those we meet,
moving with a gracious Spirit,
could make hopes and dreams complete;
dreams passed down through generations,
where in spite of faith or creed,
people reach to one another,
seek to meet another’s need.

Could it be within our lifetime
that the riches of this earth
might be shared, yes shared out freely,
not by lottery of birth?
Could we learn to be less selfish,
letting go, not grasping wealth,
till the world and all it’s peoples
live in harmony and health?

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)         
Words © 2017 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 D Tune: HYFRYDOL

Created by 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

I stroll along the forest paths – Pentecost goes on…

I stroll along the forest paths – hymn for 21st June – life in the Spirit!

I stroll along the forest paths, I ride upon the wind.
	I sail across the ocean waves, or feast on tamarind,
	but all the wealth and wonder here is empty, pale and trite
	against the vibrant colours of your spirit’s flaming light.

Your spirit turns me round again when I'm against the wall.
	Your spirit lifts me up again, you will not let me fall.
	And when I lie asleep at night, in incandescent streams
	your love cascades around my life, the goal of all my dreams.

I cast my life into that love, ignited by its flame.
	Since meeting you each day I live can never be the same.
	In concert and in harmony our lives will merge as one,
	in singing, dancing joy until the setting of the sun.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
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: 14 14 14 14
Tune: THE LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER