O child within the Christmas scene
Come play with us today.
Melt all the ice within our hearts
And warm us as we play.
Look behind the festive scene
Both to factory and land;
Contemplate the labour force
Using both the mind and hand.
In nature as in Jesus,
All life is truly one,
But we divide Christ’s mantle
And drown Creation’s song,
The world within and world outside
Both rest within God’s caring.
When inner streams unite with seas
They herald total sharing.
Come, let us think like mountain rocks,
Come breathe the song of scented breeze;
Come join the atoms’ quantum dance,
Come weep with all the fallen trees.
Can bread and wine transform our minds
With all their complex modes?
Can sharing festive liturgies
Unlock empowering codes?
All life’s many cycles
Rest within God’s circle
And reveal Earth dying and yet living.
Who claims to own this piece of land?
Who holds its title deeds?
Who thinks it is their private space
To meet their selfish needs?
Autumn comes in all its fullness
Harvesting both land and hearts.
Autumn has its birth in Winter
In the stillness where life starts.
If you want to be happy
Love life more than things
Finding the joys which sharing brings.
If you want to end grieving
For dying or loss
Cry till your tears dissolve your cross.
Within the shadows of our thinking
Dwell glimpses of an ancient past;
Dark tales of vengeance and of terror
Beyond what gentle hearts can grasp.
What can we learn from war?
Gazing at ancient graves;
Name upon name preserved,
Marking the battle’s phase;
The lives of those who gave their all
That we should not be tyrants’ slaves.
We thank you God for history’s tales
But which version should we tell?
The story of the powerful rich
Or the poor’s oppressive hell?
The mass in a form that you can interact with. Each individual musical segment has both an audio file (mp3) and a musical score (pdf).
read moreWho maims life today?
We maim life today
When we see the wood and not the tree,
When we fail to dream of what could be,
We maim life today.
Spirit’s golden fire,
God’s life-force in our depth, *
Fan within our hearts
Your just and caring warmth.
Deep in the human heart
The fires of justice burn;
With visions of a world renewed
Through radical concern.
What can the prophet Jesus teach us?
Where shall the mystic Christ lead us?
His Way is wonder, the path compassion,
And through letting go we shall find life.
