Tag: Remembrance

When evil gathers in the wings – A hymn for Remembrance at a time of international tension

When evil gathers in the wings  - A hymn for Remembrance at a time of international tension

1	When evil gathers in the wings 
	the time of crisis offers choice: 
	to rise with courage and resist 
	or keep our silence, still each voice. 
	What shall we do when chaos reigns, 
	act out God’s love? Submit to chains?

2	As history echoes from the past, 
	while memories can tend to fade, 
	‘lest we forget’ let us recast 
	the hard decisions others made: 
	to live the love that Christ had shown, 
	self-sacrificial, Spirit blown.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2019 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 8 8
Tune: ABINGDON



‘Drones, not angels herald horror’ – a hymn for Remembrance in a new millennium through Advent to Christmas

‘Drones, not angels herald horror’ a hymn for 2024
from Remembrance through Advent to Christmas

Drones, not angels herald horror,
children shelter without hope,
singing now, but hell will follow.  	
God, through grace, give strength to cope.
Here where human hearts are broken, 
all cried out, no tears to shed, 
prayers are held, for fear, unspoken,
shrouded now in clouds of dread.

God reach deep through hateful anger 
bent on vengeance, recompense;
listen through our warring clangour, 
re-enliven common sense.
Guide us through the dust and rubble,
where our blood has stained the earth,
turning fields where all is stubble, 
seeding love that signs new birth.

Andrew E Pratt (4/11/2024)
Words © 2024 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: HYFRYDOL; SCARLET RIBBONS or, perhaps, BLAENWERN 

A completely new hymn for 2024 reminding us how different war is now but, nevertheless, with comparable suffering. Suitable, perhaps, for Remembrance and through Advent to Christmas given the continuing situation in the Middle East, Ukraine/Russia and many other places.

A little memento can move us to tears – for the famous or obscure – those we remember – a hymn

A little memento can move us to tears – the saints we remember

A little memento can move us to tears, 
a memory can surface along with its fears, 
the past is still with us, and scars are so raw, 
while hope can seem absent on life's barren shore.

The life that has ebbed has left marks on our lives, 
while love is still present some hope still survives. 
The treasure of saints in each era and age, 
is loving, while living upon the earth's stage.

And these we remember, each person, each life, 
the good they engendered, their solace in strife; 
the warmth of a hand, or the smile of a face,
their presence a channel of God given grace.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
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: 11 11 11 11
Tune: DATCHET

All Saints Day revolves around "giving God solemn thanks for the lives and deaths of his saints", including those who are "famous or obscure".

The Space Shuttle Columbia remembered – a hymn

The Space Shuttle Columbia – a hymn written at the time of its launch and explosion – remembered BBC 2 12/2/2024 - They reached for stars, beyond our grasp… written 4th February 2003.



1	They reached for stars, beyond our grasp,

	they rode beyond the clouds,

	we gazed in wonder, seized by awe,

	now friends grasp empty shrouds.



2	A thousand searing fiery shards

	had flared across the sky,

	as crowds looked up in disbelief,

	and framed the question 'Why?'



3	Can God be found amidst this loss?

	Is love a present fact

	when torn by pain, in misery,

	we lack the power to act?



4	O God make known your presence now,

	yes, show your boundless love

	as through the tears and loneliness

	we/they search the skies above.



Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) written 4th February 2003. 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: CM

Great God, your love has held our lives – Remembrance Hymn

1	Great God, your love has held our lives
	through all the years down to this day.
	Your constant presence held us fast:
	remain with us we plead and pray.
	We've seen the ruins left by war,
	the tumbled buildings, street by street;
	some heard the voices that they loved
	and cried for those they'd no more meet.
	
2	As time moves on some memories fade,
	some griefs we shared lie in the past;
	for others pain is just as sharp,
	we know their hurt will always last.
	Some human acts have swept away
	our partners, parents, children, friends,
	some people we had never known;
	the memory lives and never ends.
	
3	Beyond this day we try to live:
	a sinew of each life survives,
	but where is God in hurt and hate?
	The questions stay to haunt our lives.
	Help us to build a better world
	not fuelled by vengeance, fed by greed;
	a world in which we all can live,
	what ever colour, race or creed.

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: LMD
Tune: JERUSALEM

Other resources: Worshipcloud