prayer – hymnsandbooks

Beware of what you think or say – Jesus and a Samaritan woman – a hymn

John 4: 5-42 v.7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’.

1           Beware of what you think or say,
              our actions give the lie,
              or offer evidence of faith
              for which we sing, or cry.

2           When challenged by a foreigner,
              a woman in her need,
              see Jesus shamed to change and act,
              her challenge sowed a seed.

3           Yes, Jesus heard her call for help
              and recognised her prayer,
              her faith was evident to him,
              as was his need to care.

4           If even Jesus changed his mind,
              when will we grasp the fact
              that scruples that we hold and guard
              mean less than how we act.

5           But faith depends on depths of love,
              compassion, care and grace;
              to see in those we disregard
              a sister’s, brother’s face.

© 2011 Stainer and Bell Ltd., London, England, 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

Metre: 8 6 8 6 Tune: ABRIDGE; BELMON

A hymn for when our certainty is shaken: Sometimes our grasp of life is frail

Prior to one of the Gospel readings for this Sunday (Matthew 17:1-9) Jesus had spoken to his disciples:

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? (Matthew 16)

Every so often our faith can be shaken and we need something to reassure us…hence this hymn which also reflects on what life today is like when our certainties are challenge:

1 Sometimes our grasp of life is frail,
yet through it all love will prevail.
And when it seems things can't get worse,
we feel that every step is cursed.

2 In spite of all, we keep our faith,
held, more than holding onto grace,
we whisper prayer and hope for praise,
we live through grey exhausting days.

3 God's word reminds of how we're held,
when love is hidden, faith is felled;
retelling narratives of pain
from which God's people rose again.

4 This is the hope to which we cling,
when life is raw, we sense death's sting;
yet on beyond this time and place
may we be kept within your grace. Amen

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2011, 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 8 8 8
Tune: GONFALON ROYAL

Created by HymnQuest.com

All the praying, all the pounding – a hymn inspired by Luke 18: 1-8

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

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