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