Treasures abounding, wonders confounding -inspired by Matthew 13: 44-45
1 Treasures abounding, wonders confounding
limits and concepts humanly held;
pearls of great treasure, love beyond measure,
graciously given, never compelled.
2 Yeast for our baking, loaves we are making,
bread for our breaking, wine for our thirst:
here in communion we find a union,
table of feasting, last shall be first.
3 Seed for the sowing, life for the growing,
Jesus is showing how we can live;
smallest beginnings, richest of winnings,
we are receiving all God can give.
Andrew Pratt (born 1948)
© 2011 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: 10 9 10 9
Tune: BUNESSAN
Tag: wealth
Look beyond your life’s horizon – A hymn for Pentecost
Look beyond your life’s horizon – A hymn for Pentecost which echoes Joel 2: 28 & Acts 2: 1-21
Look beyond your life’s horizon,
what will come of life on earth?
God forsaken? Horror stricken?
Or a hope of love’s rebirth?
Look into this unknown future,
ask what actions can we take,
so that peace becomes an option
in decisions that we make.
Placing God right at the centre,
seeing Christ in those we meet,
moving with a gracious Spirit,
could make hopes and dreams complete;
dreams passed down through generations,
where in spite of faith or creed,
people reach to one another,
seek to meet another’s need.
Could it be within our lifetime
that the riches of this earth
might be shared, yes shared out freely,
not by lottery of birth?
Could we learn to be less selfish,
letting go, not grasping wealth,
till the world and all it’s peoples
live in harmony and health?
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
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: 8 7 8 7 D Tune: HYFRYDOL
Created by HymnQuest.com
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
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