Another hymn for Maundy Thursday from Marjorie Dobson (see also 'A towel and a basin')
1 At the table of communion
Jesus spoke with heavy heart
of the pain of separation,
soon to tear them all apart.
Listening without understanding,
too absorbed with food and wine,
carefree friends could read no meaning
in his simple words and sign.
2 Bread was broken, as his body:
wine, a symbol of his blood.
Yet his call to keep that memory
was not clearly understood.
Judas left, but no one noticed,
thought his business was his own.
Jesus, looking round the table,
knew himself to be alone.
3 As they sang their psalm that evening,
then went out into the night
innocent of apprehension,
unprepared for fear or flight,
how their hopes and dreams were shattered,
confidence was turned to dread
and as chaos ruled around them,
one by one they turned and fled.
4 As they witnessed pain and horror-
trial, cross and guarded tomb-
they remembered Jesus' warning
given in that upper room.
Struggling hard to find the meaning,
in symbolic word and sign.
they would find that same communion
we still share in bread and wine.
Marjorie Dobson (born 1940)
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 7 8 7 8 7 8 7
Tunes: DIM OND IESU; LEWIS FOLK MELODY
From UNRAVELLING THE MYSTERIES, along with poems and other readings.
Tag: struggle
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)
If God is love, then God in love unites us – Christian Unity
If God is love, then God in love unites us If God is love, then God in love unites us, the essence of our being, sense and life, how can we be divided, for our nature is rooted in this Spirit, transcends strife. The ethic by which all our life is driven is grounded in relationship and prayer, for where love joins us, weaving bonds of friendship, be sure to find that God, through grace, is dwelling there. If this is so, then what can separate us: our human ego, hubris or our pride? For when we argue, struggle with each other, like children we are fighting for our side. Without God holding us we’re hollow cymbals, we need to let Love guide our ebb and flow, till entering the stream of love together, the harmony of hope through trust will surely show. Andrew Pratt 15/1/2023 written for Northwich & District Churches Together, with thanks to Robert Bridge for inspiration. Words © 2023 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. Tune: LONDONDERRY AIR
Poets struggle, sculptors risk…
One gospel (Mark) doesn’t mention the birth of Jesus. The other three relate it in different ways. This has led me to reflect on the way in which different arts attempt to give expression to the nature of God. Poets struggle with the language, words both mystic and absurd fail to frame the incarnation, giving flesh to living Word. Art constrained by expectation will not let the colours go, only spreading, mixing media emulate the Spirit’s flow. Sculptors sometimes risk the fracture, letting stone dictate the form, giving rise to new creation chance God shattering our norm. Even music caged in bar lines lacks the freedom to expand, till in jazz, through improvising, rhythms stretch to new demands. Nothing ever fixed or final, way beyond the human mind: mystery and imagination… all that we will ever find… © Andrew Pratt Written 17/12/2022
Incarnation – Watercolour © Andrew E. Pratt
Advent 4 – A hymn – ‘Like many children’
Advent 4 A hymn - Like many children - God with no throne (inspired by Matthew 1: 18-25)...away in a manger? Like many children, mother unmarried, born into hardship, yet not alone Jesus, was valued, Mary and Joseph, nursing the Godhead, God with no throne. Others would name him king of a kingdom, yet God incarnate lay in the straw, God in a manger? Fodder for cattle? Parents uncertain, no sign of awe? Soon they would struggle, hounded to exile, night brought no comfort, only one star; moment of wonder, quietly, no thunder, angels would whisper, heard from afar. Andrew Pratt 11/12/2022 Words © 2022 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: 5.5.5.4D Tune: BUNESSAN (Morning has broken)
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