October

ONE WORLD

Come, leave your work, your daily toil and worry,
Come, leave the chores, forego domestic care,
This is a day for worship and rejoicing.
The Lord of earth and heaven,
The Lord, the Lord of earth and heaven is here,
The Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord of earth and heaven is here.

Come, heal the wounds, the daily wounds of suffering,
Come, use your life, to stay another's tear.
Chorus

Come, speak your mind, rebel against injustice,
Let not your greed deny another's share.
Chorus

Bernard Braley (1924-2003)
© 1980 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
11.10. & Refrain

VERSION WITH CHORUS (11 11 11 11 and chorus)

Divided by cultures, traditions and speech,
yet one in the Spirit, and caring for each,
we come for the love of the One who creates
our hope of reunion, who frees and unites.
Hallelujah, harambee;
praise the Lord, and join in one.
Maranatha, kyrie;
pray that Jesus will return.
Sing a new Magnificat;
sing that God is great today.
Dance and sing, the news is glad;
halleluiah, harambee!

Together, we look at our lives and confess
our motives of greed, our reluctance to bless,
and pray for new wills to replenish the earth,
that life may be whole, free from hunger and dearth.
Chorus

God's generous presence in human events
redeems us from shelters of selfish defence;
He gives us the courage with others to build
one home for the future: a gentle new world.
Chorus

We come and we go with the Spirit that blows
and, following Jesus wherever he goes,
we revel in Easter, rise up in His name
to fight against powers that stifle and maim.
Chorus

Our coming and going are rhythm and rhyme
for singing and service, for living in time.
Adeste fideles! - and dance into night,
disperse in the city as bearers of light!

VERSION WITHOUT CHORUS (11 11 11 11)

Divided by cultures, traditions and speech,
yet one in the Spirit, and caring for each,
we come in response to the One who creates
our hope of reunion, who frees and unites.

Together, we look at our lives, and confess
our lack of compassion, our slowness to bless.
We pray for the will to re-plenish the earth
that life may be fair, free from hunger and dearth.

God's generous presence in human events
redeems us from shelters of selfish defence,
and gives us the courage - with others - to build
one home for the future: a gentle new world.

We come and we go with the Spirit that blows
and, following Jesus wherever he goes,
we rise against forces that torture and maim;
the peace that is God's we pursue and proclaim.

Fred Kaan (born 1929)
© 1985, 1999 Stainer & Bell Ltd

Wealthy man, you are imprisoned,
riches are your cell and chain;
by your selfish will arrested,
trapped by your pursuit of gain.
Lazarus who once was poor,
lives with God and dies no more.

To the man, at banquet's doorway,
after years of need and shame,
holy angels came and carried
him to be with Abraham.
But the Man, who did so well
is rejected now in hell.

If not in the human conscience
God's redeeming work is done,
owners soon become possession
of the things they gained and won.
All who freedom's gift deny
unremembered they will die.

For the God of great creations,
who is wealthiest of all,
in the likeness of a poor man,
whom the people caused to fall,
he has made the world to see
how we can be truly free.

He came down to servant level,
sharing people's need and stress,
and his kingly coming gave to
poverty its righteousness.
But appearances of gain
will dissolve in loss and pain.

Rijke mav gij zit gevangen by Willem Barnard (born 1920) translated by Fred Kaan (born 1929)
English translation © 1968 Stainer & Bell Ltd
8.7.8.7.7 7.

Your love, O God is broad like beach and meadow,
wide as the wind, and an eternal home.
You leave us free to seek you or reject you,
you give us room to answer 'yes' or 'no'.
Your love, O God, is broad like beach and meadow,
wide as the wind, and an eternal home.

We long for freedom where our truest being
is given hope and courage to unfold.
We seek in freedom space and scope for dreaming,
and look for ground where trees and plants can grow.
Chorus

But there are walls that keep us all divided;
we fence each other in with hate and war.
Fear is the bricks-and-mortar of our prison,
our pride of self the prison coat we wear.
Chorus

O judge us, God, and in your judgment free us,
and set our feet in freedom's open space;
take us as far as your compassion wanders
among the children of the human race.
Chorus

Fred Kaan (born 1929) translated from the Swedish of Anders Frostenson (born 1906)
English translation © 1974, 1989 Stainer & Bell Ltd
11.10.11.10. and chorus 11.10.

O Source of many cultures,
of lives, beliefs and faith;
you brought us all together
to share one world in space;
now show us how to honour
each vision of your way,
to live within the tension
of difference you display.

The colour and the culture,
that kept us all apart,
are gifts that we can offer,
a means for us to start
a journey with each other,
'til hand in hand we show,
through mutual understanding,
respect and love can grow.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2000 Stainer & Bell Ltd
7.6.7.6.D. Iambic

Warm is the word we shall speak to our neighbour,
offering the love that has come from the heart.
Bridges we're building to span gulfs of hatred;
now is the time we must make a new start.

Follies have threatened our task from the outset,
words have been shallow and actions misplaced.
Help us to listen with care to our neighbour,
then may our answers disarm by their grace.

Let us avow by our words and intentions
never to stultify love at its source,
but by our dialogue, here and hereafter,
always to value and never to force.

Then as we utter each fond acclamation,
joined as if sisters and brothers from birth,
let us continue to break down dissension,
working for peace and renewal on earth.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2000 Stainer & Bell Ltd
11.10.11.10. Dactylic

Round the one table, one body gathering,
sharing as equals the same bread and wine,
drawn from all languages, races and peoples,
compassing space and time.

Not to the taste of those in authority;
threatening, subversive, a dangerous feast:
everyone equally loved and of value,
greatest no more than least.

'This is my body, broken for all of you',
says God-in-flesh, who must then pay the price;
those who will follow will also know suffering,
share in Christ's sacrifice.

We need not fear: the One who raised Jesus will
bring resurrection to those on the Way;
love will enfold us, unite and empower us,
strength for the coming day.

Come to us now, one God-in-community,
touch us, remake us and send us to be
signs of your glory, your radical people,
Christ's new humanity.

Bill Thomas (born 1961)
© 2000 Stainer & Bell Ltd
11.10.11.6.

If our God had only called us,
Called us out to be his people,
And not mentioned giving service,
Dayeinu!*
Da-dayeinu, da-dayeinu,
Da-dayeinu, dayeinu,
Dayeinu, dayeinu!
Da-dayeinu, da-dayeinu,
Da-dayeinu, dayeinu, dayeinu!

If our God had let us serve in
Pious forms of prayer and worship,
And not made us care for others,
Dayeinu!
Chorus

If our God had done the caring
Without using human aid, or
If those humans hadn't been us -
Dayeinu!
Chorus

Or if God had only told us,
'Care for others' in the abstract,
And not said, 'Right, there they are then!'
Dayeinu!
Chorus

If our God had made the world
Obey the rules of loving kindness -
We'd have helped the genteel needy -
Dayeinu!
Chorus

If we could have met their need by
Running jumbles in our spare time:
Gentle doves dispensing favours -
Dayeinu!
Chorus

If our God had never told us,
'You must be as wise as serpents':
Innocence would do us nicely -
Dayeinu!
Chorus

If we could have kept our hands clean,
Worked within our holy huddle,
And not face to face with Mammon,
Dayeinu!
Chorus

But our God has given us a
Call to serve in the real world.
Where is he in all this chaos?
Dayeinu!
Chorus

* 'Dayeinu' (pronounced 'Die-yea-noo') is a Hebrew word meaning 'enough'.
Janet Wootton (born 1952)
© 1996 Stainer & Bell Ltd
8.8.8.3. Trochaic & Refrain

At the table of the world,
some have plenty, some have none.
At the table of our God,
all are plentifully fed.
Blow among us, Spirit of God,
fill us with your courage and care!
Hurricane and Breath,
take us on a journey of love!

At the table of the world,
some have honour, some have scorn.
At the table of our God,
all are welcomed and acclaimed.
Refrain

Set the table of our God
in the Church and in the world,
till the children, fed and loved,
taste and see that life is good.
Refrain

Brian Wren (born 1936)
© 1989 Stainer & Bell Ltd
7.7.7.7. and Refrain 8.8.5.8.

Great Lover, calling us to share
your joy in all created things
from atom-dance to eagles' wings,
we come and go, to praise and care.

Though sure of resurrection-grace,
we ache for all earth's troubled lands
and hold the planet in our hands,
a fragile, unprotected place.

Your questing Spirit longs to gain
no simple fishing-ground for souls,
but as life's story onward rolls,
a world more joyful and humane.

As midwives who assist at birth,
we give our uttermost, yet grieve
lest folly, greed or hate should leave
a spoiled, aborted, barren earth.

Self-giving Lover, since you dare
to join us in our history,
embracing all our destiny,
we'll come and go with praise and care.

Brian Wren (born 1936)
© 1989 Stainer & Bell Ltd
LM
Completed 15th July 1986. Dedicated to Kara and Jack Hosterman.

Half the world is hungry, Lord.
Christian people, sleekly fed,
Christian comforts can afford -
Worship, faith, and heavenly bread.
Others crave for earthly food;
Starving, have no strength to pray.
Glib, we sing how God is good -
We shall eat and drink today.

Wealthy, white, and selfish lands,
Hurling spaceprobes at the sky,
Give, then take with eager hands,
Buying cheap and selling high;
Proud of aid that's merely loaned
(crumbs from tables rich with food)
They will fight to keep their own:
Half the world is hungry, Lord...

We your well-fed people, Lord,
Blind and deaf have lived too long.
By the love that burst the tomb
Men must fight a man-made wrong.
Wealth and comfort are our chains;
Full, we fear to pay your price.
By your suffering set us free -
Free to love and sacrifice.

Brian Wren (born 1936)
© 1971 Stainer & Bell Ltd
7.7.7.7.D.

In Great Calcutta Christ is known.
Soweto thunders with his voice.
In Salvador his friends rejoice.
He rises in the Spirit's power
among the poorest of the earth,
and calls the nations to rebirth.

The suffering churches sing his grace
and pray that we may hear and live
the gospel that they long to give.
Beset by hunger, fear and death,
their hopes miraculously thrive:
they know that Jesus is alive!

And all the powers that wreck and rule
must lose their glamour, strength and skill
to dazzle minds or crush the will.
The waking hopes of God's oppressed
will not be beaten, bowed and awed:
they tell the world that Christ is Lord.

Where money glitters in our streets,
applauding honour and success,
their prophets come, in ragged dress.
In them we hear our Saviour's voice,
like them discarded and despised,
who calls the weak to save the wise.

They bring a promise old, yet new,
of food and freedom for the slave,
and joyous life beyond the grave.
'Repent, and Christ will set you free',
their faithful missionaries cry,
and call us through the needle's eye.

Christ Jesus, love us through and through,
until our wakened hearts receive
your glorious gospel, and believe.
From barrio,* bustee,* and slum,
with Asian and Hispanic voice,
our Saviour comes! Sing and rejoice!

* Spanish and Hindi for shanty towns.
Brian Wren (born 1936)
© 1986 Stainer & Bell Ltd
8.8 8 D.

The following hymn includes words and music and is available as a PDF file. To view it, you will need Acrobat Viewer from Adobe.

Copyright
Copyright information is given below each text and MUST be included in any hymn sheets produced. The texts may be copied and used if your church has a current CCLI licence and its use recorded in the workbook.

Churches within the United Kingdom without a CCLI licence may copy the texts for use on a 'one-off' basis only, and all copies destroyed after use. For subsequent use, please contact us:

Churches outside the UK wishing to use any of the material, please contact our copyright department before using texts. Copyright may be administered or owned by others in certain territories, and our Copyright Department will be pleased to advise.

No commercial use whatsoever may be made of these texts without prior permission from Stainer & Bell or the administrators/owners of the copyright.

Your attention and observation of the above points is much appreciated.

This site is sponsored by