No royal robes, but donkey riding
1 No royal robes, but donkey riding,
the Christ, our King, had come to town,
Jerusalem came out to meet him.
Would gold or thorns compose a crown?
2 The people spread their palms before him,
they wondered what this day would bring:
as Jesus, humble, riding quietly
brought contrast to the praise they'd sing.
3 The ones who'd shared these years had answers,
but even they could get it wrong.
So many tensions, tangled, threaded
brought notes of discord to their song.
4 But soon the world would be confounded,
the tables turned, the structures torn,
till only those fired by God's spirit
could meet this crisis, be reborn.
5 And if within imagination
we walked within that crowd today,
would we withstand the world's derision,
to stay with Christ, or turn away?
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.
Metre: 9 8 9 8
Tune: ST CLEMENT
Tag: tension
Hymn for Holocaust Memorial Day – 27th January
1 Deep contradictions, not cosy solutions, come when our faith and experience collide. Pain and its purpose, the holocaust's image, loving and hurting, are found side by side. 2 Here in the tension of unresolved conflict, logic and passion will vie for each heart; here in life's crucible, melting and moulding, God has a purpose and we play a part. 3 Here, where the spirit is forging, transforming lives that are open to challenge and change; God in each paradox fathoms potential, source of the pattern we measure and range. Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 2008 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 Tune: EPIPHANY HYMN
Hymn – Martin Luther King – still for our time – a hymn for today – I have a dream…
I have a dream that on a day not very long from now, all war-like weapons will be banned; by grace, God, show us how. I have a dream that love will hear another's crying need, that justice will demand we act in spite of race or creed. I have a dream that everyone upon this far-flung earth will see the Christ in those around, affirm a common worth. I have a dream that peace will come and hunger cease to be; within this time, this present age, all people will be free. I have a dream that foolish dreams like this might come about if you and I go hand in hand, in trust instead of doubt. I have a dream, come take my hand, the risk is worth the chance, the world will spin, turn upside down if we join heaven's dance. Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) Words © 2015 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. Hope Publishing in the USA From More than hymns Metre: CMD Tune: KINSFOLD
God’s on our side
When will we ever learn…I have posted this hymn before but sadly I return to it without apology.
In 2001 the USA, and with it the world, was shaken with the attack on the World Trade Center in New York. This exacerbated the polarisation of faith traditions and ideologies across the globe. Tensions increased and an ‘us and them’ mentality, already present, was exaggerated by political posturing, understandable, to a degree, in the light of what had happened.
Broken bridges have still not been rebuilt. Walls have been erected. Today those labelled enemies in Western nations are as much within as outside our borders inhabiting postions of influence and leadership. Ideologies are in tension with each other, not diminished by the experience of a global pandemic. International cooperation has never been more necessary. A hymn I wrote in 2001 within 24 hours of 9/11 is perhaps still pertinent…those we label or sense to be enemies inhabit the fabric of our own politics. Their actions are becoming obvious…trust is at a premium…
1 God's on our side, and God will grieve at carnage, loss and death; for Jesus wept, and we will weep with every grieving breath. 2 God's on their side, the enemy, the ones we would despise; God quench our vengeance, still our pride, don't let our anger rise. 3 God's on each side, God loves us all, and through our hurt and pain God shares the anguish, nail scarred hands reach out love must remain. 4 God show us how to reconcile each difference and fear, that we might learn to love again and dry the other's tear. Andrew E Pratt (born 1948) © 2001 Stainer and Bell Ltd., please include any use on your CCL Licence return or contact Stainer & Bell via www.stainer.co.uk. Administered in the USA by Hope Publishing. Tunes: AMAZING GRACE; BASIE (Kleinheksel)
Some of the poetry in Words, Images and Imagination are perhaps pertinent to this situation…
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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