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Hymn: The years have turned
Hymn: The years have turned
by Andrew Pratt
The years have turned, the ages passed, millennia run like a stream, and were those words of prophecy a concrete hope, or just a dream? And could a child embody peace, and justice have a human face, could holiness and righteousness inform our grasp of love and grace? Verses 3-4 f…
Hymn: We are the ones! The mirror gives the proof
Hymn: We are the ones! The mirror gives the proof
by Andrew Pratt
We are the ones! The mirror gives the proof, each one of us has need to face the truth. To say we do not sin obscures the fact, and now in honest prayer we need to act. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: QUEDLINBURG; TRISAGION Metre: 10.10.10.10 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 11/7/2012 …
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: God we need to know your mercy
Hymn: God we need to know your mercy
by Andrew Pratt
God we need to know your mercy, feel your grace around our lives, sense the presence of your spirit, loving kindness that survives. Faults that haunt us from our history are eroded by your grace; through your mercy life is lifted to a brighter finer place. Verse 3 follows Tune: S…
Like the marriage of a bridegroom
Like the marriage of a bridegroom
by Andrew Pratt
Like the marriage of a bridegroom Like the marriage of a bridegroom when the banquet is prepared, soon the bride will be arriving, all is waiting to be shared. All may come by invitation, all may share at God’s great feast, all are welcome, none excluded, come, the greatest and t…
Like a mother calms a baby
Like a mother calms a baby
by Andrew Pratt
Like a mother calms a baby, gently held within her arms, God will hold his chosen people, keep them safe from life's alarms. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: ALL FOR JESUS Metre: 8.7.8.7 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 23/6/2013 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.co.uk. Pl…
Mother us, father us, parent all nations
Mother us, father us, parent all nations
by Andrew Pratt
Mother us, father us, parent all nations, carefully, lovingly, listen we pray. Knowing our poverty, sharing humanity, sisters and brothers, we follow your way. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: STEWARDSHIP Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 23/4/2013 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, ww…
Our God will turn the world around
Our God will turn the world around
by Andrew Pratt
Our God will turn the world around, upending expectation: with fear destroyed and dashed to dust, confounding explanation. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: DEGANWY; ST COLUMBA (Irish) Metre: 8.7.8.7 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 29/3/2011 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stai…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Grace Found Noah
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Grace Found Noah
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Grace Found Noah Genesis 6: 5-8 Early in our marriage, we adopted the mantra that the most destructive phrase in the English language was “you should have,” as in “You should have done this or that,” or “You shouldn’t have done this or that.” The phrase “you should,” as in “You s…
Job for Everyone - Is God Not Good or Not Sovereign?
Job for Everyone - Is God Not Good or Not Sovereign?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Is God Not Good or Not Sovereign? Job 34 1-30 A student has been blowing fuses to me about having to read books that are full of words like eschatology and pneumatology and sentences about God’s “ontological revelatory self-communication and self-transcendence” or about “supralap…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Price the Family Begin to Pay
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Price the Family Begin to Pay
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Price the Family Begins to Pay 2 Samuel 12: 15b- 13: 14 At a concert last night a singer was telling us the background to a song about her grandfather. He was French-Canadian, spoke mostly in French, and died when she was a child. For both reasons she feels she never really g…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - You Are What You Eat
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - You Are What You Eat
by SPCK - John Goldingay
You Are What You Eat Deuteronomy 14: 1- 29 Three nights ago I got very sick just for a little while after eating out; what I ate was salad, halibut, rice, and vegetables. I should doubtless have complained to the restaurant or reported the matter to the city, but I was too busy b…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Comment for the Faith
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Comment for the Faith
by SPCK - N T Wright
Contend for the Faith Judah 1-4 In my teens and my early twenties, one of my passions was rock-climbing. I wouldn’t say I was an utterly fearless climber; I had a proper respect for danger, and didn’t try to do things which were too far outside my competence. But I relished the c…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 22 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 22 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 22 Lamentations 1.1–6 2 Timothy 1.1–14 Luke 17.5–10 Paul, in prison, writes about power. Dangerous stuff, we say – tends to corrupt, and all that. Paul’s setting, and the work that got him there, guards him from misunderstanding. Tyrants speak of God’s power to validate th…
Job for Everyone - Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer's Position Worse
Job for Everyone - Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer's Position Worse
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer’s Position Worse Job 33 1-33 A woman came to see me a little while ago to talk about an occasion when she had been given pastoral care by some people, and she said the occasion had left her disturbed for years. I knew her to be an intelligent…
Poem: Passion can distort our judgment
Poem: Passion can distort our judgment
by Andrew Pratt
Passion can distort our judgment, twisting love, distorting fate. Is this Adam's sin returning as endearments turn to hate? In the cold light of the morning, looking back on what we've done, even at the new day's dawning, feeling chill in morning sun. Continues... Also available …
Poem: To dish the dirt we need to know
Poem: To dish the dirt we need to know
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: To dish the dirt we need to know To dish the dirt we need to know the detail of a life, and advocates must understand the truth, to counter strife. Yet knowing all, the Christ of God was willing to defend a remnant, rabble, humankind, to care, to bind, to mend. A paraclete,…
Poem - We read of cultures from the past