Hymn: Total life! Too much to swallow?
Hymn: Total life! Too much to swallow?
by Andrew Pratt
Total life! Too much to swallow? We should all be one with Christ, share the living and the dying: is this challenge over-priced? But if we have grasped the message, life is more than human gain, then perhaps the risk is worth it - never be the same again? Verses 3-4 follow Tune:…
Hymn: Tossed and blown, events can floor us
Hymn: Tossed and blown, events can floor us
by Andrew Pratt
Tossed and blown, events can floor us, spin the world, we lose our grip; circumstances undermine us, yet again we turn and trip. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: WRAYSBURY Metre: 8.7.8.7 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 17/7/2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.co.uk. …
Hymn: When storms and thunder rage around
Hymn: When storms and thunder rage around
by Andrew Pratt
When storms and thunder rage around, disturbing superficial calm, we share unique companionship as love inspires a silent psalm. In table fellowship with God, while foes conspire to break our peace, in breaking bread and drinking wine, our fears diminish, fade, then cease. Verses…
Hymn: Who rules the world just like a king
Hymn: Who rules the world just like a king
by Andrew Pratt
Who rules the world just like a king within our present time and space? Who has the power of life and death, of healing or withholding grace. As politicians seek our votes, exposing or obscuring truth, sometimes their language loses rhyme, while arguments become obtuse. Just what…
Hymn: When sense is damaged, limiting perception
Hymn: When sense is damaged, limiting perception
by Andrew Pratt
When sense is damaged, limiting perception, God's love will not diminish or betray, for we are held in grace and loving kindness, in pain, through grief and hardship, come what may. The love of God defies our understanding, God reaches to the depths of our despair absorbing hate,…
Hymn: When we are living, yet lost and forsaken
Hymn: When we are living, yet lost and forsaken
by Andrew Pratt
When we are living, yet lost and forsaken, held in the balance, both tested and tried, God hear the voice of your people in anguish, drawn from the well of our grief as we cried. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: STREEETS OF LAREDO Metre: 11.10.11.10 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 12/9…
Hymn: Where James and John had asked to stand
Hymn: Where James and John had asked to stand
by Andrew Pratt
Where James and John had asked to stand two criminals would hang, one on the left, one on the right, while passing crowds harangue. They did not know the consequence of what they asked that day, that those who sided with this man might die the self-same way. Verses 3-4 follow Tun…
Hymn: When people are afflicted
Hymn: When people are afflicted
by Andrew Pratt
When people are afflicted, the poor are trodden down, God stands within the midst of them, with neither robes nor crown. Come hear the call of Jesus, in every one we greet; and see the Christ in every face, in every one we meet. The poorest of our neighbours, in spirit or in debt…
Hymn: When Jesus came to Bethlehem there was no worse a day
Hymn: When Jesus came to Bethlehem there was no worse a day
by Andrew Pratt
When Jesus came to Bethlehem there was no worse a day, they say a census had been called, there was no place to stay; this baby who would shake the world, would first lay down his head, not in a royal house or hall, but in a manger bed. When Jesus went to Nazareth his father had …
Hymn: Only with God will the building, the loving
Hymn: Only with God will the building, the loving
by Andrew Pratt
Only with God will the building, the loving, praying and praising bear fruit, or make sense. When we align with divine revelation heaven draws near and love has no pretence. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: STEWARDSHIP Metre: 11.10.11.10 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 19/10/2012 Stain…
Hymn: O Song of Songs, delight in love and beauty
Hymn: O Song of Songs, delight in love and beauty
by Andrew Pratt
O Song of Songs delights in love and beauty, tells of God’s love and we for love were made: no sweeter joy, more depth than human passion, the love of God that will not wane or fade. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: O PERFECT LOVE Metre: 11.10.11.10 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 6/8/…
I don't get it. God has left me
I don't get it. God has left me
by Andrew Pratt
Eighth Sunday after Epiphany Year A Isaiah 49: 14 – 16 Hymn: I don't get it. God has left me ‘I don't get it. God has left me’ hear the peoples’ crude lament. Yet God pleads and makes a promise, I will hold and not relent. God will hear, God will know, God will always he…
Hymn: Our problem God: your enigmatic presence
Hymn: Our problem God: your enigmatic presence
by Andrew Pratt
Our problem God: your enigmatic presence, will challenge who we are and seek to be, you call us through the mists of exploration to follow paths that guide, yet set us free. We seek a deeper focus for our being, while feeling weakness when we should be strong. Great God within ou…
I have a dream that on a day
I have a dream that on a day
by Andrew Pratt
I have a dream that on a day not very long from now, that 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. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: KINGSFOLD Andrew Pr…
In her hungry desperation
In her hungry desperation
by Andrew Pratt
In her hungry desperation, clothed around with loss and grief, one poor widow met a prophet coming to her for relief. Soon together they were sharing meagre rations that she brought, while her son was slowly dying, out of sight, not out of thought. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: BETHANY…
Impossible gifts are with God for the giving