Blessed be our journey as we make our way,
Reaching forward to that timeless day
When God’s mighty hand will unite in loving bond
All creation in new life beyond.
So the hymns in this collection are my attempts to express aspects of a positive progressive theology. They are not meant to give a systematic statement of that theology; there are plenty of topics unaddressed here, and there’s plenty of room for a sequel. These hymns are, in the old sense, occasional pieces. They were written for particular occasions in my spiritual journey.
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Who 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.
“Knock, knock, knock and the door will surely open, *
Seek, seek, seek and the questing heart will find,”
All that only seems to lie outside us
Also dwells within our heart and mind.
When we find beauty in our depths,
When we find love within our heart,
When we find dance within our toes,
God will form our sail and chart.
There’s a beautiful place in our minds,
Deeper than hatred or fear;
There’s a beautiful space in our hearts
Filled with God’s wisdom and care.
I’m on the road to nowhere
A place that I can find
Beyond my measured thinking,
Beyond my structured mind.
We go forward and around
In the cycles of the Earth;
The seasons in their sequence
With death that leads to birth.
Sowing limits what we harvest;
Giving shapes what we receive;
Words send out our hurts and loving
And define what we achieve.
O God of sky and God of Earth,
We honor your presence
Within us and beyond.
God of sky and God of Earth
Your bright presence we explore
Deep within us and beyond
All our reason’s structured lore.
1. How liberated are those who have learnt to let go;
They shall experience the mystery of God.
(i) How happy are those who have learnt to let go;
They shall discover the Christ within.
We come from the Cosmos that birthed our Earth;
Each part of that process still nurtures Earth.
Our home is this planet that we call Earth.
For Earth is God the Presence adorned in cosmic flesh,
The shadow of the mystery who is both host and guest.
When skin becomes the surface of the earth
And veins the braided rivers’ strands;
When breath is soft as tender forest moss
Our hearts reflect the Spirit’s spacious lands.
