December

World AIDS Day

A plague of indiff'rence, leaves nations in poverty
13.10.12.10

A plague of indiff'rence, leaves nations in poverty,
children are dying, have no hope of life.
Now Africa's (all the world's) splendour is tarnished and broken,
love is the victim of blindness and strife.

Oh open our eyes God, bring healing and hopefulness;
open our minds to your purpose and power;
through apathy, laxity, selfish ambition,
drive shafts of sweetness where life has turned sour.

Here Aids is the enemy but through complicity
we have abetted its spread and its scope;
Christ Jesus met suff'ring with love and compassion;
this is our pattern, the way we must cope.

Andrew Pratt © Stainer & Bell Ltd. Available for local use by those having a CCL Licence. Administered in the USA by Hope Publishing
15/3/2003
Reflecting on the continuing spread of AIDS, especially in Africa.

As the darkness grows around us,
Shadows lengthen into night,
God fulfil your advent promise
In the gloom let there be light.

In our childhood's understanding
Life seemed limitless and free,
Now we face the contemplation
Of our own mortality.

Life seemed simple spread before us,
Now, distorted, futile, flawed;
Child-like hope has been extinguished,
Fear, with understanding, spawned.

Here in doubt and dereliction,
Searching for the reason why,
Hoping prayer might kindle kindness,
Hoping you might hear our cry.

Longing for your advent promise,
Light in darkness, joy for pain,
Hoping we might find the pathway
Back to life and love again.

Now we're startled by the stillness,
Stark surprise that you are there,
Then we're blinded by the dazzle
Of the dawning of your care!

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 1995 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
8 7 8 7 Trochaic

Dying of loneliness, Lord, I've no comfort,
Bearing the stresses that life has to give;
Walking in silence, I've no conversation,
Searching in vain for a reason to live.

Join me in solitude, sit down beside me,
Christ, show compassion, bring pardon and peace;
Value my friendship and give my life purpose,
Chains of my sorrow come break and release.

Bless me with joyfulness, shine in my darkness,
Lead me from sorrow out into the light;
Give me new freedom and hope for tomorrow,
Wings of an eagle to soar on love's flight!

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 1992 Stainer & Bell Ltd
11.10.11.10. Dactylic

In our childhood's understanding
Life seemed limitless and free,
Now we face the contemplation
Of our own mortality.

Life seemed simple spread before us,
Now, distorted, futile, flawed;
Child-like hope has been extinguished,
Fear, with understanding, spawned.

Here in doubt and dereliction,
Searching for the reason why,
Hoping prayer might kindle kindness,
Hoping you might hear our cry.

Now we're startled by the stillness,
Stark surprise that you are there,
Then we're blinded by the dazzle
Of the dawning of your care!

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 1995 Stainer & Bell Ltd
8.7.8.7. Trochaic

Keep me from helplessness leading to hopelessness;
Lord, be my guide through the darkness and strife.
Value my being, don't nurture my nakedness;
Lift me and love me, give meaning to life.

Held in a prison house, crippled by prejudice;
Share my captivity, silently care.
Face with me fearlessly folly's shear edifice;
Quietly and calmly, yes, simply be there.

Now, quite explosively, freedom and liberty
Break on my being like infinite light;
Dazzling my senses with love's creativity,
Banishing darkness and ending the night!

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 1994 Stainer & Bell Ltd
12.10.12.10. Dactylic

People think, to be free,
this is how you must be:
Concentrate just on me-
never mind the others-
sisters, friends and brothers!
Set us free, free, free,
Set us free, free, free:
free to love,
free to serve,
free to be God's people.

Jesus said that he came
to set free sick and lame,
said to us, 'Do the same-
then you'll really know me,
and to others show me.'
Chorus

Wheelchair bound, trapped at home,
ill with AIDS, all alone:
knock the door, use the phone,
just a little sharing
means you're really caring.
Chorus

Slaves who work without pay,
those deprived of their say,
innocents locked away:
need us to stand with them,
love and justice give them.
Chorus

Sometimes fear holds us back;
fear of loss, fear of lack,
fear of pain, fear of flack;
as God's love enfolds us
fear no longer holds us.
Chorus

Sheila J Baldock (born 1947)
© 1999 Stainer & Bell Ltd
6 6 6 6 6 and Refrain

When illness meets denial and rejection,
when friends recoil, and faces turn to stone,
Christ of our Sorrows, raise us from dejection,
to travel on, assailed but not alone.

Forgive your Church's searing, numbing silence,
unholy huddles, muddles and delays.
Forgive our zeal to hide the fear that drives us
with harsh, unloving words, unhealing ways.

Help us resist, refuse all vengeful naming
of lepers, plagues, and punishment for sin,
with love's determined power to banish blaming,
shed light and truth, and heal the hurt within.

Show us our hidden strength and human limits.
Free us from guilt, self-hatred and despair,
to celebrate, as flesh-embodied spirits,
our body's beauty, and our Maker's care.

Give us, amid our passion and persistence,
the peace that wishful thinking cannot fake.
Link us in loving circles of resistance,
with love of life that death can never break.

Through summer joys, and winters of dejection,
help us, by faith, to travel, weep and sing,
with hearts that reap the fruit of resurrection,
and hands that bear the loving touch of spring.

Brian Wren (born 1936)
© 1993 Stainer & Bell Ltd
11.10.11.10.

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