Logo of The United Reformed Church
I cropped this from a public domain image here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:United_Reformed_Church_General_Assembly_2007.jpg
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We Meet You, O Christ:
https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/we-meet-you-o-christ/
Help Us Accept Each Other:
https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/11/13/help-us-accept-each-other/
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Above: Statue of Reconciliation, Coventry Cathedral
Image Source = Rebecca Kennison
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UK_Coventry_Statue-of-Reconcilliation.jpg)
Hymn Source = The Presbyterian Hymnal: Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs (1990), of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Words by the Reverend Fred Kaan (1929-2009), of the United Reformed Church, a Presbyterian-Congregationalist denomination in the United Kingdom
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1. Help us accept each other
As Christ accepted us;
Teach us as sister, brother,
Each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us
And bring us to believe
We are ourselves accepted
and meant to love and live.
2. Teach us, O Lord, Your lessons,
As in our daily life
We struggle to be human
And search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people,
For all, not just for some,
To love them as we find them
Or as they may become.
3. Let Your acceptance change us,
So that we may be moved
In living situations
To do the truth in love;
To practice Your acceptance
Until we know by heart
The table of forgiveness
And laughter’s healing art.
4. Lord, for today’s encounters
With all who are in need,
Who hunger for acceptance,
For righteousness and bread,
We need new eyes for seeing,
New hands for holding on:
Renew us with Your Spirit;
Lord, free us, make us one!
Christ Pantocrator
Image Source = Wikipedia
Hymn Source = Chalice Hymnal (1995), of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Fred Kaan (1929-2009), author of the hymn, was a British minister and a clergyman of the United Reformed Church. This hymn dates to 1966.
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1. We meet you, O Christ, in many a guise;
your image we see in simple and wise.
You live in a palace, exist in a shack;
We see you, the gardener, a tree on your back.
2. In millions alive, away and abroad;
involved in our life, you live down the road.
Imprisoned in systems, you long to be free;
we see you, O Jesus, still bearing your tree.
3. In human distress we still hear you cry;
for freedom you march, in riots you die.
Your face in the papers we read and we see.
The tree must be planted by human decree.
4. You choose to be made at one with the earth;
the dark of the grave prepares for your birth.
Your death is your rising, creative your word;
the tree springs to life and our hope is restored.
