Strange how we adorn with honours
Strange how we adorn with honours
by Andrew Pratt
Strange how we adorn with honours people doing what they should, while the one we count as master hung upon a cross of wood. Verses 2-3 follows Metre: 8 7 8 7 (Trochaic) Tune: ST OSWALD Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 18/9/2013 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.…
Straining human understanding
Straining human understanding
by Andrew Pratt
Straining human understanding, grace is greater than our flaws, love will reach beyond our folly, breach our hatred, counter wars. Some ignore the call to caring, selfish impulse drives them on, yet our human love in action could avert a greater wrong. Verses 3 follow Tune: MERTO…
Surprising God you come in peace
Surprising God you come in peace
by Andrew Pratt
Surprising God you come in peace, in answer to our prayer, when all is lost, when friends are gone, we find that you are there. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: WILTSHIRE Metre: CM Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 21/3/2013 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.co.uk. Please…
Such an enigmatic promise
Such an enigmatic promise
by Andrew Pratt
Fourth Sunday of Advent year A Isaiah 7: 10 – 16 Hymn: Such an enigmatic promise, Such an enigmatic promise, still we strain to understand how a girl gave birth to God-head in a distant time and land... Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.…
Struck down and blinded by the light
Struck down and blinded by the light
by Andrew Pratt
Struck down and blinded by the light, the sudden realisation, that love is broader than a creed, encompassing each nation. Laid low until grace raised him up, restoring more than vision, this Saul, now Paul, resumed his way while curbing his derision. Verses 3-4 follow Tune: BARB…
Such a scandal, Cyrus chosen
Such a scandal, Cyrus chosen
by Andrew Pratt
Hymn: Such a scandal, Cyrus chosen Proper 24 year A Isaiah 45: 1 – 7 Such a scandal, Cyrus chosen, could he set God's people free? God's anointed they would call him; source of grace and liberty? Who would choose the chief oppressor, tyrant who'd repress and kill, giving him the …
Such blasphemous extravagance
Such blasphemous extravagance
by Andrew Pratt
Such blasphemous extravagance as limb is torn from limb; expense is unaccountable, is this the final sin? There is no god, yet pain is god, and God is very real, amid the carnage and the fear, the hatred that we feel And did God look through human eyes and touch with human hand…
Stunned by sudden revelation
Stunned by sudden revelation
by Andrew Pratt
Stunned by sudden revelation, God is near and God is real. Yet we keep our isolation, choosing who can join our meal. Verses 2-3 follow Metre: 8 7 8 7 Trochaic Tune: SERVANT SONG Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 27/4/2013 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.co.uk. …
Such temptation, human challenge
Such temptation, human challenge
by Andrew Pratt
Such temptation, human challenge: every day and every night, in the desert, feeling hungry – wrong confronted with God’s right. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: SUSSEX Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 23/2/2014 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.co.uk. Please include any …
Tangled in prejudice, lost in presumption
Tangled in prejudice, lost in presumption
by Andrew Pratt
Hymn: Tangled in prejudice, lost in presumption Fourth Sunday in Lent John 9. 1-41 Tangled in prejudice, lost in presumption, locked in our judgments, so sure of our ground; others are sinful, but we are the righteous, this is the truth we are sure we have found. This is our blin…
Symphony of song and colour
Symphony of song and colour
by Andrew Pratt
Third Sunday of Advent Year A Isaiah 35: 1 – 10Hymn: Symphony of song and colour Symphony of song and colour, mountain glories gild the globe, awesome time anticipated, God resplendent, brightly robed... Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.…
The challenge seemed audacious
The challenge seemed audacious
by Andrew Pratt
Hymn: The challenge seemed audacious Proper 17 Year A Exodus 3: 1 – 15 The challenge seemed audacious, impossible to hear: a bush that kept on burning, love’s antidote to fear. A nameless God was calling and freedom was the goal. Could Moses bring redemption for every Hebrew soul…
The buried grain, the hidden seed
The buried grain, the hidden seed
by Andrew Pratt
The buried grain, the hidden seed, that's deep within the earth, though dead to sight, and out of mind, will spring again to birth. And we will stand to lose our lives, the wine skins will be torn: to be a Christian has a cost, through death we are re-born. Verses 3-4 follow TUNE…
Thank God for those who pray for us
Thank God for those who pray for us
by Andrew Pratt
Thank God for those who pray for us Thank God for those who pray for us, as undeserving as we are; thank God for God whose gracious love is reaching to us from afar. Thank God that when we idolise the things that we have bought or made, that grace is greater than our sin. God's l…
The brightest light that dazzles by its power
The brightest light that dazzles by its power
by Andrew Pratt
The brightest light that dazzles by its power is not as great as Christ met in this hour. Within this glory see him pause and stand, as beams illuminate both sea and land. At one with God and God at one with him, this mystic love makes senses skip and swim, too much, it seems, fo…
The Spirit came that breathed across the waters