HOLY INNOCENTS HYMN DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE KILLED IN CONNECTICUT

For Holy Innocents: Dedicated to those children and adults killed in the school shooting in Connecticut

We wring our hands in hopelessness

while Herod's spirit roams abroad,

the innocent are slaughtered still

as hatred draws a tighter cord.

We lack audacity to face

corruption in our very midst;

humanity is drawn by greed

and power has the final twist.

God bring again your human love,

an innocent and child-like grace

infusing every heart and mind.

Renew the hope of every race.

The children lying slaughtered, dead,

or those abused through life from birth

are signs of lack of care and love

we so much need through all the earth.

God come again and make us hear,

God fuse our ice-cold hearts of stone

until compassion warms each life

and through us grace and love are shown.
Tune: BRESLAU
Metre: LM

© Andrew Pratt 18/12/2012

andrewpratt@btconnect.com

HYMNS POSTED ON THIS BLOG MAY BE USED FREELY LOCALLY WITH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. TO PUBLISH FOR PROFIT PLEASE CONTACT THE AUTHOR.

NEW REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY HYMN - VETERANS' DAY HYMN

Once crimson poppies bloomed

out in a foreign field,

each memory reminds

where brutal death was sealed.

The crimson petals flutter down,

still hatred forms a thorny crown.

For in this present time

we wait in vain for peace,

each generation cries,

each longing for release,

while war still plagues the human race

and families seek a hiding place.

How long will human life

suffer for human greed?

How long must race or pride,

wealth, nationhood or creed

be reasons justifying death

to suffocate a nation's breath?

For everyone who dies

we share a quiet grief,

the pain of loss remains,

time rarely brings relief,

and so we will remember them

and heaven sound a loud amen.

© Andrew Pratt 15/10/2012 Pleas include on your CCL return

andrewpratt@btconnect.com

Tune: LITTLE CORNARD 

HYMNS POSTED ON THIS BLOG MAY BE USED FREELY LOCALLY WITH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. TO PUBLISH FOR PROFIT PLEASE CONTACT THE AUTHOR.
PLEASE INCLUDE ON YOUR CCL RETURN

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Simple faith or ignorance? - a hymn

To simply bask in ignorance,

to shy away from facts,

can masquerade as 'simple faith',

or veil our foolish acts;

and then the world will look at us,

a church so old and stale,

no longer worth a second glance,

a church beyond the pale.

While Jesus chose a simple life

his wits were sharply honed,

he turned the tables on the ones

who'd have a woman stoned.

He argued with some learned men

and beat them at their game,

used intellect, intelligence,

to finely tune his aim.

And in the world we know today

we need that self-same will,

to keep abreast of politics,

of science, art and skill;

to use our words in argument,

while not denying facts,

then backing up the things we say

with faithful, loving acts.

© Andrew Pratt 7/8/2012

Tune: BETHLEHEM (also known as CLAUDIUS [Fink]); NOEL (Sullivan)

Metre: CMD

HYMNS POSTED ON THIS BLOG MAY BE USED FREELY LOCALLY WITH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. TO PUBLISH FOR PROFIT PLEASE CONTACT THE AUTHOR. Andrew Pratt lectures at Luther King House, The Partnership for Theological Education, Manchester as a Methodist Tutor at Hartley Victoria College

Progressive hymn: A cuckoo in the holy nest

A cuckoo in the holy nest,

can I admit to what I see?

A Jesus who is rough and hard,

a normal bloke like you and me,

a Jesus who could moan a bit,

a Jesus who could weep and sigh,

a Jesus who could laugh and joke,

a Jesus who could bleed and die.

Oh sometimes, yes, he's meek and mild,

but never when he ought to be;

forever giving disrespect

to leaders like that Pharisee.

And yet that name, 'how sweet the sound',

masks who he was and gives us pause

to sanctify humanity,

to take away all human flaws.

And what is left for us to praise?

Emasculated God lies dead,

right there beside a human corpse,

was it, I wonder, what I said?

Perhaps I ought to trust the lie

that if I doubt my God is dead?

But faith is possibility:

that hope is latent in my head!

© Andrew Pratt 18/3/2012

Inspired by Sydney Carter’s Rock of Doubt chap 3

HYMNS POSTED ON THIS BLOG MAY BE USED FREELY LOCALLY WITH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. TO PUBLISH FOR PROFIT PLEASE CONTACT THE AUTHOR. For more hymns go to Hymns page For Books by Andrew Pratt follow LINKS on the Links page. Books are available on the following sites: Amazon, Stainer & Bell Ltd, Twelvebaskets, SCM-Canterbury Press. Andrew Pratt lectures at Luther King House, The Partnership for Theological Education, Manchester as a Methodist Tutor at Hartley Victoria College

Worship Songs and Hymns, Drew University, Madison New Jersey

NEW OLYMPIC HYMN WITH MUSIC - PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE USE ON YOUR CCL RETURN - LISTEN TO A PERFORMANCE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE