Pentecost

PENTECOST - page 2

Deep in the shadows of the past,
far out from settled lands,
some nomads travelled with their God
across the desert sands.
The dawning hope of humankind
by them was sensed and shown:
a promise calling them ahead,
a future yet unknown.

While others bowed to changeless gods
they met a mystery,
invisible, without a name:
"I AM WHAT I WILL BE";
and by their tents, around their fires,
in story, song and law,
they praised, remembered, handed on
a past that promised more.

From Exodus to Pentecost
the promise changed and grew,
while some, remembering the past,
recorded what they knew,
or with their letters and laments,
their prophecy and praise,
recovered, kindled and expressed
new hope for changing days.

For all the writings that survived,
for leaders long ago,
who sifted, copied, and preserved
the Bible that we know,
give thanks, and find its story yet
our promise, strength and call,
the model of emerging faith,
alive with hope for all.

Brian Wren (born 1936)
© 1975, 1995 Stainer & Bell Ltd
CMD

How like the Son's the Father's way
Who, through all time and space
Chose not to overwhelm our will
But kept a loving distance, still
Invisible and patient, till
We freely sought his face.

How like the Father is the Son
Who came to make us free:
And humble and restrained that grace
By which a king took servant place
To turn the death-wish of our race
To life and liberty.

The towel and basin testify
That power and rank must yield;
The scourging, crown of thorns and nails
Mark where sin's force, expended, fails —
Then resurrection death impales
And love commands the field.

For forty days their Lord appears
In transformed quality:
Disciples, doubt, affirm his name,
Confess he's risen, yet the same:
At last their inmost beings claim
Life's changed reality.

Sing — coruscating gifts and tongues
Explode at Pentecost;
Dance — a new Body gives Christ speech
And hands to heal and love's outreach;
Serve — we are one with him to teach
Life to a world once lost.


Ian M Fraser (born 1917)
© 1994 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
8.6.8 8.8.6.

A Stranger, knocking on a door
that opens only from inside,
our withered spirits can restore
if only we will open wide
our hearts, ourselves, and give the key
to love that longs to set us free.

A Shepherd, dying for the sheep,
will gather others to the fold,
with love unstinting, wide and deep
and tales of faith as yet untold.
Each lamb, embraced, shall taste and know
safe pasture, sun, and room to grow,

A Saviour, risen from the dead,
with marks of pain in hands and feet,
is known to us in breaking bread,
and draws us closer when we meet:
majestic love most humbly bends
to raise us up, and make us friends.

The Spirit makes an open door
and calls us, gathered here today,
to praise the past that's gone before,
then go along our pilgrim way:
With Christ alive, and at our side,
we'll take the future in our stride.


Brian Wren (born 1936)
© 1993 Stainer & Bell Ltd
8.8.8.8.8 8.

And are the bread and wine your body, Lord,
Blessed and transformed to food which feeds the soul,
So that, substantially, we're one with you
And broken lives, in union, are made whole?
Come, Holy Spirit, sanctify this tryst
And enter in to make us one with Christ.

And is the total universe held here
Clasped in a web of sacrificial love
Whose pulses weave the atom and the sphere
Into one tapestry, here and above?
Chorus

So frail the symbols, yet in them we see
Through fruit of human labour, bread and wine,
In Christ's own being, ours in mystery,
Bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh entwine:
Chorus

Thus we need live no longer to ourselves:
Indwelling grace gives power beyond our own;
Gifts are unleashed to change the universe
That it attains its end through you alone:
Chorus


Ian M Fraser (born 1917)
© 1994 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
10.10.10.10. & Refrain

Before we knew our mother's womb
you knew and loved and named us there,
as, bathed in water, we took shape,
and came to birth beneath your care.

We take more water, as a sign
of cleansing, drowning, life made new;
of Jesus' life transforming life,
of all your Spirit yearns to do.

Help us to live as Christ would live,
and love so your love may be seen,
that those we nurture come to grasp
what life in you can truly mean.

You promise to be with us now,
to keep beside us day by day;
so drench us with your Spirit's light,
and help us walk the living Way.

Bill Thomas (born 1961)
© 2001 Stainer & Bell Ltd
LM

Come, O Holy Spirit,
set the Church on fire;
strike it as the lightning
hits a posing spire.
Burn away the structures
and consume the sham
of our holy systems:
Come, in Jesus' name!

Blow away the cobwebs
of our stubborn past.
Come, send flying from us
myths unfit to last.
Wind of change, refresh us
and disturb our calm;
teach us what true love is,
take our hearts by storm.

Free us from the babble
of our Babel mind;
spark in us a language
all can understand.
Lighten then our darkness,
come and show us how
all the world lies open:
Pentecost is now!


Fred Kaan (born 1929)
© 1972, 1998 Stainer & Bell Ltd
6.5.6.5.D. Trochaic

Dance, dance, dance, let the spirit move you,
Dance, dance, dance, moving from within,
Dance, dance, dance, open up your heart to
All the treasure that's within.

Spirit, we open up our hearts;
Spirit, we open them to you;
Show us the way you want to go;
Show us what you want to do.
Chorus

Moving the mountains that we face,
Moving the prejudice and fear,
Moving the callousness and hate,
Help us make them disappear.
Chorus

Turning our anger into good,
Turning our hearts to let in love,
Learning to listen to your call,
Be there when we trip and fall.
Chorus

Freeing the bondage that we've found,
Freeing the prisoners around,
Opening doors we thought were locked,
Letting out the scorned and mocked.
Chorus

Spirit within us, be our guide;
Spirit, you know us from inside;
Calling us now to love and care,
Give us courage that we dare
Chorus

Celebrate all the Spirit does!
Celebrate all she does with us!
Dance and sing, join us on the way.
Dance and sing with us today!
Chorus

Judith Driver (born 1965)
© 1993 Stainer & Bell Ltd
8 8. 8 7. and Refrain

Eyes may not see,
Minds can't imagine,
Feet dare not trample the heavenly place;
Yet human souls
Catch in self-giving
Shadows of glory and echoes of grace.
Holy and wonderful, Giver and Gift,
This is your message, Alleluia.

Bethlehem bore,
Nazareth nurtured,
Galilee listened, entranced, to the Word,
Golgotha brought
Darkness and silence,
Yet in that silence God's voice is most heard.
Holy and wonderful, Jesus our Lord,
This is your triumph, Alleluia.

Faith means we trust,
Hope summons courage,
Love finds expression in service and praise;
Christ's church must learn,
Humbly Christ's language,
Raised up with Jesus, proclaiming his ways.
Holy and wonderful, Spirit of God,
This is your mission, Alleluia.

Elizabeth Cosnett (born 1936)
© 2001 Stainer & Bell Ltd
9 10 9 10 10 9

Give us voice, our great Creator,
Voice to praise continually
Your unfailing love and goodness
Welling up incessantly;
Strike within us sparks of glory,
Sparks to set love's joy ablaze
Like a beacon in earth's darkness,
Turning faithlessness to praise.

Risen Christ, our earthly brother,
Sharing our infirmity;
For the joy that lay before you
Facing death's finality;
In your human limitation
Bearing love's authority,
Now remain our joy for ever
In your deathless majesty.

Stay with us, eternal Spirit,
Source of praise and power of prayer;
Perfect stillness, spring of action,
Conqueror of our despair;
In your presence we encounter
All the joy that heaven shares
In the living God, who calls us
As love's witnesses and heirs.

So we join the mighty chorus
Sounding from eternity;
Praising love's eternal glory,
One in joyful trinity;
All creation's expectations
Surging into harmony,
Soaring to their great fulfilment,
Joy increasing endlessly.


Alan Gaunt (born 1935)
© 1991 Stainer & Bell Ltd
8.7.8.7.D. Trochaic

God came in Jesus
Human life sharing;
Gave his life for us,
Suffered and died;
Then, Resurrection!
Death could not hold him;
By love's perfection
Death was denied.

Then as they waited,
All of a sudden,
Strong and elated,
freed of all cares;
With no misgiving,
Joyful apostles
Knew that his living
Spirit was theirs.

So let us greet his
Coming among us;
Let us still meet his
Love with delight;
Through resurrection
Joyfully taking
Love's new direction,
Flooded with light.

He will be coming,
Mighty and glorious,
Universe humming
Loud in acclaim;
Through resurrection,
All of creation,
Brought to perfection
Praising his name.


Alan Gaunt (born 1935)
© 1991 Stainer & Bell Ltd
5.5.5.4.D.

God is good! How God has helped us
Let the living past record!
Generations bear their witness
To the grace of Christ our Lord!
Born to save us,
God incarnate,
Now and evermore adored!

What by faith a few accomplished
We have seen with our own eyes;
How from simple, small beginnings
Strong and caring churches rise.
May the Spirit
Still inspire us
In each aim and enterprise.

Lord, today, when leaders wonder
What to hold and what let go,
May the Church, in love and wisdom,
Strength and stature, daily grow:
May the Spirit
On each member
Every needed gift bestow.

Young and old, give God the glory!
God alone shall be our Guide
In our work for that one Kingdom
Wider than the world is wide.
Lord, in every
New departure,
Grant we never miss the tide.


Fred Pratt Green 1903–2000
© 1989 Stainer & Bell Ltd
8.7.8.7.4.4.7.

God of every changing season,
inner worlds and outer space,
still beyond the grasp of reason,
yielding still to love's embrace,
we, your people, make thanksgiving,
bridging culture, language, race,
for the faith that Christ is living,
for two thousand years of grace.

When, in savage mock–enthronement,
Jesus died on Calvary,
then was made a real atonement,
rooted deep in history.
Partners now in new creation,
sharing all its joy and pain,
pierced with glad anticipation,
we await his final reign.

God, as Holy Spirit working,
help us meanwhile find and clear
all the mines of hatred lurking
in the no–man's–land of fear.
Do not let us worship money,
lost in deserts made by greed,
while your land of milk and honey
waits to satisfy our need.

In the world's ongoing story
now a new page open lies.
Print it, Lord, with grace and glory,
read it with our Saviour's eyes.
Through all trials keep before us
symbols faith will recognise,
cross and crown, to reassure us
God, our source, is God, our prize.

Elizabeth J Cosnett (born 1936)
© 1999 Stainer & Bell Ltd
8 7 8 7 D Trochaic

God with us: Creator, Father,
Bringing everything to birth;
Mother of the whole creation,
Fire of stars and life of earth:
Down the countless years composing,
From the earth's evolving night,
Love's response to love, and forming
Mind and soul to seek your light.

God with us: Redeemer, Brother,
Friend for ever at our side,
Here, in flesh, you walked among us,
Taking up your cross, you died.
Crucified, despised, rejected,
Perfect Love, who shared our shame,
Streaming from the cross, your judgement,
Full of mercy, clears our name.

God with us: Unwearied Spirit,
From the birth of time and space,
Surging through unconscious being,
Joyful, Life-Creating Grace:
Through the centuries you find us;
You, as God, inspire our prayer;
Life and Power at work within us,
Love for ever, everywhere!

God, Transcendent, far beyond us,
Closest Friend, unfailing Guide:
Through the ages, wronged, affronted,
In your poor, still crucified!
God with us: condemn, forgive us;
By your holy love destroy
All that hinders peace and justice:
Fill this aching world with joy!


Alan Gaunt (born 1935)
© Stainer & Bell Ltd
8.7.8.7.D.

Grow, said the Lord: yes — grow!
I'll be like rain and snow
I will — like sun and earth —
Stir hidden life to birth:
Then as your own self grow
I want to see it so.

Watch for my Spirit's sign,
Root your life deep in mine,
Heed what your friends may say
— Then choose a living way
Take a true path and grow:
I love to see it so.

You have a secret name
No other is the same
It mirrors perfectly
What you may one day be:
Into this true self grow
I long to see it so.

Give and receive and share
Risk and explore and dare
In that great company
Of those who honour me
Who to my Son's height grow
And so my glory show.


Ian M Fraser (born 1917)
© 1994 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
6 6.6 6.6 6.

Holy Spirit, come;
Inspire our praying,
That we may touch your life in God
Beyond our saying

Holy Spirit, come;
Inform our knowing,
That we may follow after truth
Beyond our showing

Holy Spirit, come;
Enrich our meeting,
That we may others now include
Beyond our greeting

Holy Spirit, come;
Direct our living,
That we may share a daily grace
Beyond our giving

Holy Spirit, come;
Comfort our sighing,
That we may hope for life renewed
Beyond our dying


Geoffrey Ainger (born 1925)
© 1993 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
5.5.8.5.

Holy Spirit, gift of God,
Like a gentle dove,
Soaring up on mighty wings,
Hovering above;
Calm the raging of the oceans,
Clear the storm clouds from our sky,
With your light of love.

Holy Spirit, calm of God,
Stay for ever near;
Let your healing warmth and peace
Settle on us here;
Wrap your healing wings around us,
Still our restless hearts and minds;
Shelter us from fear.

Holy Spirit, power of God,
Spread your wings, set free
Resurrected souls, to fill
Earth and sky and sea;
There to be, with all creation,
Bonded in eternal love,
God's great family.

Alan Gaunt (born 1935)
© Stainer & Bell Ltd
7.5.7.5.8.7.5.

Holy Spirit, mighty dove,
Soaring up on high:
With your pinions of love,
Reach across our sky!
By your wings, ethereal bird,
Storms are stilled
And storms are stirred;
Watching souls are thrilled!

Now from love's horizon, rise,
Breaking out of night,
As we lift our dazzled eyes,
Blinking at love's light!
Where your shining wings are spread,
Judgement glowers,
But bright clouds shed
Mercy's healing showers.

Soaring over us like doom,
Swooping fearsomely;
Folding round us like a womb,
Shielding tenderly:
As you hover over earth,
Holy dove,
You bring to birth
Children of God's love.

Gather us beneath your wings,
Quietly secure;
Carry us through all life brings,
Confident and sure.
We are challenged and distressed,
Storms increase
But we have rest,
Folded in your peace.

Still appearing, day by day,
Judge us and forgive;
Give us confidence to pray,
Faith and hope to live.
Mother Spirit, keep us true,
Soaring free,
With Christ and you,
God's great family.


Alan Gaunt (born 1935)
© Stainer & Bell Ltd
7.5.7.5.7.3.4.5.

I throw my rejoicing like birds to the heavens.
Their tunes touch the treetops, the slumber awakening
of songs that are locked in the rocks and in crystals,
still sounding through death. And their fragments are breaking
to suns that are merged into God.

My ground for rejoicing is Christ in my inmost.
Creator of worlds, he was born in a stable;
he showed us God's love as from earth he was lifted.
From darkness he leads us to sit at his table
and none is forgotten by God.

My joy and rejoicing are found in the Spirit,
the generous fountain, and tongue beyond speaking.
God's people are one among people and races;
the chalice of blessing and pain we are taking,
we're drinking together in God.


Fred Kaan (born 1929) translated from the Swedish of Anders Frostenson (born 1905) based on a Ghanaian Prayer
English translation © 1976 Stainer & Bell Ltd
12.12.12.12.8.

There's a spirit in the air,
telling Christians everywhere:
"Praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working in our world!"

Lose your shyness, find your tongue,
tell the world what God has done:
God in Christ has come to stay.
Live tomorrow's life today!

When believers break the bread,
when a hungry child is fed,
praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working, in our world.

Still the Spirit gives us light,
seeing wrong and setting right:
God in Christ has come to stay.
Live tomorrow's life today!

When a stranger's not alone,
where the homeless find a home,
praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working, in our world.

May the Spirit fill our praise,
guide our thoughts and change our ways.
God in Christ has come to stay.
Live tomorrow's life today!

There's a Spirit in the air,
calling people everywhere:
Praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working, in our world.

Brian Wren (born 1936)
© 1969, 1995 Stainer & Bell Ltd
7.7.7.7.

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