A quiet chill that freezes expectation, the hope of love seems distant and remote as war and hate are whirling all around us, we wait for light of which the prophets wrote. There is no peace, no reconciliation as factions fired by hatred seethe and kill, when will it end, this constant devastation, when will we learn to listen, to be still? [When will we listen to each other, share one will?] This advent season, dawn of love’s foundation is born in darkness of eternal night, and yet a flicker bids us hasten onward, as purple shadows hint at morning light. And in this moment in our preparation let’s put aside our fripperies and fear, to make new space for gracious re-creation. Come God, in love at last, come now, draw near. [Come God infuse your love in us, O come, draw near.] Words Andrew Pratt © 2023 © 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 Tunes: INTERCESSOR, [LONDONDERRY AIR] Note: Using the tune: INTERCESSOR sing as a four verse hymn. Ignore words in [square] brackets. Using LONDONDERRY AIR combine verses 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 to make a two verse hymn using the use the words in [square] brackets for the last line of each verse.
Tag: reconciliation
Peace – a hymn reflecting on Jesus’ words to his disciples
Peace… Easter seems long past, but at a time when our minds are still being drawn to Ukraine, and politics at home feel uncertain, my thoughts have drifted back. When Jesus come to his disciples after his crucifixion he came, not with condemnation, but with peace. Perhaps we still need that assurance of peace in our own, our present time. But step back for a moment to that upper room… He speaks of peace while all inside disciples' minds are churned about; their memories haunt their waking time, while day and night are fused by doubt. He speaks of peace while all the world will clamour at our open door, while shards of music sing and break with light in discord on the floor. Into this chaos spirit spills, a calming notion, 'God is good', and real as life, the Christ was there, the Christ they'd hammered to the wood. This God it is who offers peace to bound disciples held by fear, who breaks impossibilities, who makes the clouded way seem clear. Into this calm we'll step and stay, in love's assurance find God's peace with those whose feet had turned to clay, we'll find that fear will stop, will cease. And in this moment, in this time within a world so torn by death, again we'll try to live out peace, with every lasting, living breath. Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) Words © 2012 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 8 8 8 8 D Tune: YE BANKS AND BRAES
A Cosy Armageddon
When arguments are brewing we don’t notice,
it seems that tension builds with every word,
we say things while not hearing one another,
like children in a playground, quite absurd!
It could have been a cosy Armageddon,
the words had seemed innocuous and bland,
yet hidden in each phrase, each idle sentence
were thoughts designed to undermine each stand.
If we could simply seek a gracious outcome
when others hurt and harass, fault or harm,
a look inspired by love could turn the tables,
could echo hidden need, befriend, disarm.
© Andrew Pratt 3/5/2019
We will not own the words of hate – a plea for mutual humanity
We will not own the words of hate
that lead to horror, carnage, death;
our song is love and only love,
from now until our final breath.
We stand with those who share with us,
humanity and human grace,
and those who own a different way,
another heritage or face.
God, show us how to join our hands,
to value life, to share and pray,
until we break down walls of hate
embodying a different way.
Andrew Pratt 23/4/2019
Tune: RIVAULX
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.
After the bombing of churches in Sri Lanka, at a time when inter-faith tension has a risk of increasing across the globe.
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