When the Church of Jesus

Above:  Church of the Common Ground, Palm Sunday 2011, Meeting at Woodruff Park, Atlanta, Georgia

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

(https://picasaweb.google.com/114749828757741527421/CommonGroundPalmSunday#5596706806709954834)

Words (1968) by Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000), British Methodist minister

Hymn Source = Chalice Hymnal (1995), of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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1.  When the church of Jesus shuts its outer door,

lest the roar of traffic drown the voice of prayer,

may our prayers, Lord, make us ten times more aware

that the world we banish is Christian care.

2.  If our hearts are lifted where devotion soars

high above this hungry, suffering world of ours,

lest our hymns should drug us to forget its needs,

forge our Christian worship into Christian deeds.

3.  Lest the gifts we offer, money, talents, time,

serve to salve our conscience, to our secret shame,

Lord, reprove, inspire us by the way you give;

teach us, dying Savior, how true Christians live.