Tag: harvest poem

A hymn about work

church resources, hymns

A hymn about work (Tune: Melita – Eternal Father, strong to save)
This is one of those hymns that will be useless on almost every occasion except for the tiny few occasions when it’s useful. 

For all with heavy loads to bear,
with calls to serve, protect and care,
Whose work and life bring hard demands,
With others’ welfare in their hands.
Lord, help them thrive in all they face,
Upheld by your all-loving grace.

For all who find their work to be
A test of their integrity,
in contracts brokered, deals secured,
In choices faced and stress endured,
Lord, grant to them the strength they need,
To follow you in word and deed.

For all who long for work and pay
To buy enough to live each day.
When skills are offered yet ignored,
And patience reaps no real reward,
Lord, where we only see despair
send purpose, hope and justice there.

For all whose work is never done,
Whose call is answered in the home,
Frustration, tiredness, love and care
Combine to build the kingdom there.
Lord, give to all whose work is love
Your inspiration from above.

In all that we will do this day
Be near us, Lord of all, we pray,
In words and actions, work and rest,
May all our moments be so blessed
That when our years and days are done
We’ll find our life has just begun.

Harvest festival poem

church resources, poems, random thoughts

I posted a version of this poem rather after all the harvest festivals last year, so I thought I’d post this shorter version again in case it’s any use to anyone planning harvest songs-of-praise type services in which you need multiple readings!

We bring the spare we do not really need
(for surely God will honour all we bring
although it cannot make up for our greed).
And place into Christs’s hands our offering:
“Turn water into wine again,” we say,
“and multiply my token loaves and fish
to feed another hungry crowd today.”
Our gifts, we know, will put some flesh
on words of charity. Then into those
twelve empty baskets, let us place the gifts in us
that need to be increased and shared
with greater generosity than we may be prepared
to offer on our own account.
For we are God’s most rich and splendid bounty,
sown as seeds in every place
the human race:
the crowning glory
of the ever-evolving creation story.
We thank God that he does not only separate the wheat from tare,
but takes our very best then turns us into far more than we are.

A harvest poem? Halfway through October? Isn’t that a bit late?

church resources, hymns, Other cool stuff, poems, random thoughts

Had a request for a harvest poem. Not sure this really works, but hey, it’s a work in progress.

We bring our gifts:
The first-fruits of our labour,
or perhaps the spare we do not need,
(an offering to mitigate against our greed).

To the church we bring them,
and into the hands of Christ we place them,
and we say, ‘Take this,
and do with it some miracle:
Turn water into wine again,
or multiply my loaves and fish
to feed a crowd again.’

And Jesus takes them from our hand,
this fruit of the ocean, this product of the land,
and blesses them, accepting back
what always was the Lord’s.
Our gifts will fill the lack
of hungry people,
putting flesh on words
of charity, and making folk
in our small corner of the world
more equal.

We know there is enough for everyone.
But once the leftovers are gone –
taken to the homeless, hungry poor –
what of those twelve empty baskets standing idly by?
Can there yet be more
that we can ask our Lord to multiply?

Into those baskets therefore let us place ourselves,
those parts of us that need transforming,
grace and strength and healing,
the gifts in us that need to be increased and shared
with a greater generosity than we may be prepared
to offer on our own account.

For we are God’s rich and splendid bounty,
seeds, sown and scattered by the Lord in every place.
the human race:
the crowning glory
of the ever-evolving creation story.
We thank the Lord
that he does not just separate wheat from tare,
but takes our very best
then turns us into far more than we are.