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Let earth and heaven combine - A Christmas/New Year Meditation
Let earth and heaven combine - A Christmas/New Year Meditation
by Andrew Pratt
Let earth and heaven combine - A Christmas/New Year Meditation - Use these words to introduce the hymn or as part of a time of contemplation as Christmas becomes 'Christmas past' and we try to make sense of it as the year turns. Extract: Let earth and heaven combine - A Christmas…
A cloak of darkness, like a shroud
A cloak of darkness, like a shroud
by Andrew Pratt
A cloak of darkness, like a shroud, had crawled across the rolling land, and through that darkness people trudged, a weary, wand'ring, pilgrim band. From day to day they marked their route, but when at last all hope had gone, in darkness, deeper than before, some lost the heart t…
Beyond this world of doubt and desperation
Beyond this world of doubt and desperation
by Andrew Pratt
Beyond this world of doubt and desperation the seed of love was cast upon this earth, that all might know that love, before creation, had called all human life to come to birth. At first this love was seen through incarnation, God leaving trails of glory, holding grace, to come a…
Hymn: Now in the face of Christ we see
Hymn: Now in the face of Christ we see
by Andrew Pratt
Now in the face of Christ we see God's living glory shine, no false reflection mirrored here, no metaphor or sign. This is the name above all names, who lived and moved and breathed, who felt our grief and knew our pain, now humanly conceived. Verses 3-4 follow Tune: GRAFENBERG, …
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…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The First Sunday of Christmas Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The First Sunday of Christmas Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Christmas - Year A Isaiah 63: 7-9 Hebrews 2: 10-18 Matthew 12: 13-23 More Isaianic translation problems. Fortunately here the meaning is not in doubt. ‘In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them’? – or is it ‘He became t…
This is God born in a stable
This is God born in a stable
by Andrew Pratt
Philippians 2: 1 – 13 Hymn: This is God born in a stable This is God born in a stable. This is God hung on a cross. This is Christ, our God incarnate, knowing gain and sharing loss. This is God yet fully human, walking down a street in time. This is God yet faulted language makes…
We welcome each other as sisters and brothers
We welcome each other as sisters and brothers
by Andrew Pratt
Hymn: We welcome each other as sisters and brothers Second Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 10: 40 – 42 We welcome each other as sisters and brothers, at one in God's presence and one in Christ's name. Each day we go forward, God's spirit is with us; God's love is eternal, forever …
Whatever gains I once held dear
Whatever gains I once held dear
by Andrew Pratt
Whatever gains I once held dear, the things of earth or heaven above; I now reflect and know their flaws, they fade before abundant love. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: WINCHESTER NEW; WILTON (Stanley) Metre: LM Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 24/2/2013 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, En…
Where is Jesus, where is Mary
Where is Jesus, where is Mary
by Andrew Pratt
Where is Jesus, where is Mary, where is Joseph in this crowd, here where commerce feeds subversion, elevates the rich and proud. Mother, father and, and a baby, shoved by bureaucratic creeds, soon to cross a nation's borders, crowds will denigrate their needs. Lasers beaming, neo…
Deep Church Rising - 5 (part 2) In Defense of the Creed
Deep Church Rising - 5 (part 2) In Defense of the Creed
by SPCK - Andrew Walker and Robin Parry
In Defense of the Creed Creeds often take a fair amount of flack. In the minds of many people they are lifeless sets of “things to believe” that substitute for authentic heart-felt faith; they epitomize outward “religion” obsessed with form and ritual, as opposed to inward devoti…
52 Reflections on Faith - Icons: Looking through a window
52 Reflections on Faith - Icons: Looking through a window
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Icons: Looking through a window Icons can be a very powerful aid to prayer. They’re mostly found in Greek, Russian and other Orthodox churches but in the last few decades they’ve started to appear in the UK in Anglican churches and cathedrals…
The Edge of Glory - Introduction