You don’t need to be our brother
* Dutch priest Henri Nouwen was gently taken to task by a friend, Sue Mostelles: “… most people around you don’t need you to be a good friend or even a kind brother. We need you to be a father who Read More …
Category: Service
Jesus, as you travelled
An unfolding of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus, as you travelled (midi)
Come, Flaming Fire of Divine Love
I made this song – ‘a Priest’s Prayer’ – to mark the ordinations in 2007 of Rosalind Paul in Truro and John Horton in Coventry. The repeat verse uses the first person plural (“Burn up all our deadly wounds”) to Read More …
God, self-fulfilled in diverse ways
* This text from 2002 was my offering to a ‘hymnsearch’ promoted by a church in the USA, who asked for ‘A hymn to call the Church to affirm gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, and to celebrate their gifts and ministries’. During the course Read More …
True servants of the Lord
*** This hymn celebrates the life-affirming power of God’s Word. True servants of the Lord.midi COMMENTARY The searing and intimate encounter that is the basis for this hymn is itself set in a larger context. It provides a reminder that Read More …
You are my servant, whom I uphold
*** Perhaps best offered as a solo, this piece was originally composed to mark a service of Confirmation conducted by Stephen Verney, Bishop of Repton, at St Thomas’ Derby, in November 1982. You are my servant.midi
O God of earth and altar
I first met this hymn, to the great tune KINGS LYNN, as a student, and it moved me to want to serve almost more than any other. For a dramatic presentation in Lent 1974 I intentionally gave Chesterton’s words a Read More …