Tag: war

‘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.

Giver of life, of breath, of bread – a hymn by a friend who describes it as ‘perennially topical’

Giver of life, of breath, of bread - Doug Constable

Giver of life, of breath, of bread,
from whose self-giving souls are fed,
from whom we learn the priceless worth
of every creature born on earth:

hear the poor prayers of aching hearts
weighed down by conscience-piercing darts;
for You command Your love’s good will:
no ifs no buts, Thou shalt not kill.

Self-sacrificing Christ, you grieve
 both for the dead and folks who leave
their hearts at home, who take up guns,
who let bombs fall on helpless ones.

Spirit, whose strength springs fresh from High,
comfort all victims marked to die;
relieve each soul found in distress;
curb all who’d rather curse than bless.

On those, unmoved by war’s alarms,
who profit by the sale of arms,
drop fires of purging faith, to burn
all fears to ash in love’s safe urn.

Merciful God, Beginning, End,
Saviour-Redeemer, sinner’s friend,
war-ending Spirit, breathing peace:
 weep with us till death-dealing cease ...

© Doug Constable  17.9 to 15.6.2024

Suggested tune: RIVAULX

Thank you Doug - sadly needful

A hymn published in 1997 still pertinent in a world torn by war and carnage – with tune by John Kleinheksel

Lives like yours and mine, contorted – as we live in a world contorted by war and hatred, during a week remembering Hamas action of 7th October 2023 and living with Israel’s response, together with war and carnage in so many places on our planet.

1	Lives like yours and mine, contorted:
	Genocide has been reported,
	Wrong seems right, it's all distorted;
	Christ! What would you do?

2	Seeing babies starving, bleeding,
	Hearing mothers' desperate pleading,
	Would you wring your hands, unheeding?
	Christ! What would you do?

3	Watching buildings ruined, burning,
	Hearing tank tracks rumble, churning,
	Would you walk on by, not turning?
	Christ! What would you do?
	
4	Sensing fear that chills the city,
	Families threatened without pity,
	Would you pray your prayers, so pretty?
	Christ! What would you do?

5	We have seen it, all the sorrow,
	We will see the same tomorrow,
	Must this pattern always follow?
	Christ! What should we do?

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)	
Words © 1997 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. Originally published in Blinded by the Dazzle https://stainer.co.uk/shop/b840/ 
Metre: 8 8 8 5
Tune: THERE’S NO GREATER NAME THAN JESUS (Complete Mission Praise)


John R. Kleinheksel Sr has composed the following tune which may be used with acknowledgement. 
This tune is now to be acknowledged as Copyright Stainer & Bell Ltd address as for the text.
An audio file of the tune is at the link below.

Extravagant horror – a world at war with itself

Extravagant horror, beyond our conceiving,

the rain of this terror confounds our believing,

the thunder, war’s lightning, once deaf’ning, then blinding,

has sculpt human madness, to hell we are sliding.

Humanity harbours such hidden aggression,

the need to reap vengeance to counter oppression,

the screams of the innocent, tears of depression,

white noise of the agony, warfare’s obsession.

And now hope is lost, there is no compensation,

no sense of relief for each people, each nation,

some milit’ry folk will admire each citation

while leaving the children in wild conflagration.

                                                © Andrew Pratt 30/9/2024