All the praying, all the pounding inspired by Luke 18: 1-8
1 All the praying, all the pounding,
all the crying at God's door
cannot make God more attentive,
cannot make God love us more.
2 Here through our persistent waiting
we will find a present grace,
grace for patient expectation,
till we meet God face to face.
3 Then our God will meet and greet us,
understand our every need,
change our heartache into gladness,
wake to life faith's dormant seed.
4 See the covenant on offer,
God will write it in our hearts,
from now on we are God's people,
this is when our new life starts.
5 All that's broken will be mended,
all that's fallen be set right,
God will honour every promise,
lead us onward into light.
Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2010 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: ALL FOR JESUS
Tag: prayer
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 inspired by the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42)
Hymn: inspired by the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) - Sometimes when all our busyness
1 Sometimes when all our busyness
is just too much bear
remember Jesus kindly words
with Mary sitting there.
2 The words that Martha felt unfair
gave leave to stop and be,
and those who need the peace of God
have reason to feel free.
3 So when for any one of us
the pressure is too great,
then stop, take stock, and rest awhile,
it never is too late.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2013 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
Tune: BELMONT
Advent in uncertain times – Active love, not fearful frenzy – a hymn
Advent in uncertain times - Active love, not fearful frenzy
1 Active love, not fearful frenzy,
Is the path that we pursue,
Counterblast to alienation,
Struggle making all things new.
Facing up to common conflict,
Meeting arrogance with prayer,
Seeking to be one with Jesus,
Dignified amid despair.
2 Torture, fear and desecration
Paint the canvas of our lives;
But the picture, deeply woven,
Demonstrates that love survives.
Systems that would seek to scar us,
Mould us blindly to their trends,
We will overthrow with kindness,
Not be subject to their ends.
3 We will take the cross of Jesus
Into every sphere of life,
We will stand for peace and justice,
We will not succumb to strife.
We must meet this tribulation,
Live our lives, if need be, die;
Take no refuge in abstraction,
Take the cross and lift it high!
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 1997 Stainer & Bell Ltd
Words Andrew Pratt © 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 7 8 7 D Trochaic
Tune: BETHANY (Smart)
A hymn published in 1997 still pertinent in a world torn by war and carnage – with tune by John Kleinheksel
Lives like yours and mine, contorted – as we live in a world contorted by war and hatred, during a week remembering Hamas action of 7th October 2023 and living with Israel’s response, together with war and carnage in so many places on our planet.
1 Lives like yours and mine, contorted:
Genocide has been reported,
Wrong seems right, it's all distorted;
Christ! What would you do?
2 Seeing babies starving, bleeding,
Hearing mothers' desperate pleading,
Would you wring your hands, unheeding?
Christ! What would you do?
3 Watching buildings ruined, burning,
Hearing tank tracks rumble, churning,
Would you walk on by, not turning?
Christ! What would you do?
4 Sensing fear that chills the city,
Families threatened without pity,
Would you pray your prayers, so pretty?
Christ! What would you do?
5 We have seen it, all the sorrow,
We will see the same tomorrow,
Must this pattern always follow?
Christ! What should we do?
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 1997 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. Originally published in Blinded by the Dazzle https://stainer.co.uk/shop/b840/
Metre: 8 8 8 5
Tune: THERE’S NO GREATER NAME THAN JESUS (Complete Mission Praise)
John R. Kleinheksel Sr has composed the following tune which may be used with acknowledgement.
This tune is now to be acknowledged as Copyright Stainer & Bell Ltd address as for the text.
An audio file of the tune is at the link below.
hymnsandbooks 