wealth – hymnsandbooks

Magnificat challenges the status quo in a topsy–turvy, upturned world

Magnificat challenges the status quo in a topsy–turvy, upturned world

A topsy–turvy, upturned world,
where values are distorted,
the first is last and last is first
with everything contorted.
The rich are begging at the door
while ones they were despising
are given charge of Godly wealth,
in stature they are rising.

Magnificat has come to stay,
the proud have been extinguished;
the humble poor are lifted high,
their poverty relinquished.
The reign of God has come to pass
rebutting our world’s choices,
each one that we would count as last
within this time rejoices.

And will we ever find a place
with pride and wealth rejected,
or will hypocrisy deny
our need to be accepted?
The choice is ours, the crisis dawns,
the time to make decisions,
to stand with God or walk alone
within this world’s divisions.

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: 8 7 8 7 D Tune: CONSTANCE (Sullivan)

One day, I dream, our children will not hunger – hymn – inspired by the story of Zacchaeus

One day, I dream, our children will not hunger – inspired by Zacchaeus 

One day, I dream, our children will not hunger:
when I have put aside my grasping greed,
when neighbours are true friends we love and cherish,
when hand in hand we meet each human need.

I long to greet that day when human crying
is heard no more upon this ravaged earth,
when children grow in hope and not in horror, 
not fearful of food’s scarcity or dearth.

I scan the distance, glimpsing heaven’s embers, 
an afterglow of all that might have been, 
reminding of what still might be before us 
if we can act with love within this scene.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 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
LORD OF THE YEARS
O PERFECT LOVE
Downloaded from  HymnQuest.com

As summer ends a hymn to challenge us – The Christ was a vagabond

As we begin (for Methodists, a new Methodist year this hymn challenges us, not to look at others, but to be honest about our own faithfulness to the example of Jesus.

The Christ was a vagabond, penniless stranger, 
or so some would style him, deriding his call. 
And those who would follow, were they any nearer 
the total self-giving, of giving their all? 

And we at this moment, are we any better? 
Our silver excuses, have we got it right? 
The poor are still with us? Then love of our neighbour 
is vacuous, meaningless, blinding our sight. 

The wealth of this nation is at our disposal, 
yet few hold the purse strings, have power to decide, 
while others are crippled. Iniquitous ‘sharing’ 
will leave them impoverished, nowhere to hide. 

With wages and taxes we barter for people, 
define what is poverty, pity the poor, 
but then, when the homeless and helpless come knocking, 
we bar them from pavements while locking the door. 

We bathe in hypocrisy, claim to be righteous, 
great God will you open our eyes to the plight 
of those we have damaged, derided, diminished: 
the Christ in the other, still hid from our sight. 

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2017 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
Words © 2017 © 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: 12 11 12 11
Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO

Reflecting on the Good Samaritan – hymn – ‘All the power that fuelled creation’

Reflecting on the Good Samaritan – ‘All the power that fuelled creation’

1	All the power that fuelled creation,
	cosmic force that fired the stars,
	still leaves people in the darkness
	when we grasp for 'us' and 'ours'.
	All the emptiness and sorrow
	we dispel with just a glance,
	eyes averted from our neighbours
	giving them no second chance.

2	All we cling to, all we cherish,
	stands as nothing in God’s light,
	yet our attitudes deny it
	holding all as if by right.
	All the wealth at our disposal
	could bring hope, transfigure care;
	even candles lit in darkness
	bring new hope when none is there.

3	All we need is love and kindness,
	costly kindness to dispel
	fear and poverty, while bringing
	deepest love to counter hell.
	All God’s love, when shared among us
	shatters poverty with grace,
	even now transfiguration
	could be felt within this place.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2016 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
Tunes: SCARLET RIBBONS; ABBOTS LEIGH

For another text relating to the Good Samaritan click here

Come follow me – hymn inspired by Mark 10: 17-31

Come follow me – inspired by Mark 10:17-31

1	'Come follow me, come follow fast, 
	and leave the rest behind, 
	reach after realms of mystery, 
	yes, seek, and you will find'.
	What holds us in this human realm? 
	What treasures keep us back
	from giving all we have and are? 
	This confidence we lack!
	
2	The call had seemed impossible, 
	the problem was his wealth.         
	And we deflect the word of God
	avoiding it by stealth.
	Our legs are heavy, steps are slow, 
	it seems we cannot move. 
	The call to trusting seems absurd, 
	in things we cannot prove.
	
3	And so we stay with what is sure, 
	we cling to what is known,
	and through our fear we lose our grip 
	on treasure we might own.
	Then like that man we walk away, 
	each with a heavy heart, 
	or turn to follow in the way, 
	to make a brand new start.

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: DCM
Tune: KINGSFOLD