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Prayer at Lent, 2021

O God as we enter Lent

May we remember we are walking with you on a journey towards Holy Week –

May we pause and pray and meet with you.

Your teaching has been about the kingdom or community of God,
A way of life and a community that goes up against the empires of domination –

As relevant now as it ever has been.
The empires of greed favouring the rich and
powerful,
Instead of your way reflecting justice for all.

As you head to Jerusalem you are witness to this
on Palm Sunday
As you ride in with non-violence,
From one side of Jerusalem gentle and riding on a donkey –
From the other side the army of empire, injustice, greed and oppression.

As you turn the tables of oppression,

So the empire wants you killed

The powers who rule, crucify you: the sinfulness of the world kills you.

But on Easter Sunday God affirms you

And all you have done –

It is a rising again –

God’s community of love continues forever.

May we be in the community of love –
The community that is never silent
And so a community of the Gospel bringing justice and hope to all.

It witnesses to the wounded God –
It whispers of the generous God of love
We walk with the activists on the way
And we are encouraged to become communities
That are just and loving –

Communities that make a difference
Communities that reflect the light of the Gospel –

Do justice, show mercy, and walk humbly with God.

Let the healing fountains start

God of the just heart
In the challenging words of the Sermon on the Mount
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice
They shall be satisfied”
You remind us that satisfaction does not lie where we might expect it,

In the security of wealth and privilege,
But in the joy of doing what is right

And in working to assert the value and dignity of other people.

So may liberation and justice rise

Because this is the calling of your community
This builds relationships and just societies

May equality rise
May apartheid fall
This will bring deep satisfaction as all are made welcome

And as all are treated as made in the image…
So keep us hungering and thirsting
And campaigning
For the values that make us all whole
And then we know the healing fountains will start.

Garth’s farewell to Amos Christmas concert

17th December 2020 – Garth’s farewell to Amos Christmas concert

you can view it on Vimeo here

Garth’s online events in December, and why Dave Bilbrough says Garth is like a stick of rock

December 6th, 7pm GMT – Garth Hewitt, Troubadour for Justice, concert and conversation
Commemoration of UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Presented from Fort Worth, Indiana, by Indiana Center for Middle East Peace – a full concert with Garth in conversation and song

December 6th – December Fest, presented by Zephaniah Trust

Starting at 2pm, this event will be streamed on YouTube

Garth’s contribution will be two or three songs during the last hour of the festival, between 7.30 and 8.30pm

December 7th – Amos Trust’s Bethlehem Big Give Christmas event

with special guest and host Sami Awad from Bethlehem – free event but registration required so follow this link for that

December 10th, 7pm – Come And See Bethlehem This Christmas – Virtual Tour of Bethlehem – presented by United Stockport Circuit on Zoom – Garth will be speaking and singing
Entry £5, proceeds go to the justice and peace initiatives of Alternative Tours Group, Palestine
for details contact:

December 17th, 7pm – presented by Amos Trust – Against the Grain, Garth Hewitt’s Christmas Retirement Concert
A full concert with Garth singing some favourites including seasonal songs, interspersed with anecdotes from Garth and tributes from around the world. Follow this link to register for the free event.

What Amos Trust is saying about this concert –
Part celebration of Garth Hewitt’s 35 years with Amos Trust, part online Christmas concert — Garth founded Amos Trust in 1985, to tell the unheard stories of the inspirational people he had met as he performed around the world and to raise awareness of their work and the issues they were responding to. Since that point, the vision and the songs have been interwoven within Amos.
Garth stepped back from a full-time role in 2012 and for the last 8 years as founder has sung, and played, written and recorded and provided wisdom and guidance. Please join us, and some special guests from around the world, as we celebrate his journey with Amos and those who have accompanied him on it here in the UK.
Please join us as we say a very very fond farewell from Amos to our founder and friend.

December 19th, 4pm – Sabeel-Kairos Advent Service 2020!
An online Advent service featuring a live address by Revd Naim Ateek (Founder of Sabeel Jerusalem and leading Palestinian Liberation theologian) and a time of Christmas-themed songs and prayer with Garth.
Click the link in the title to register for this free Zoom event.

“Garth, you are like a stick of rock,” says Dave Bilbrough

in his interview with Garth,

which you can listen to here

Dave and Garth discuss widely,

from the journey to find direction in life

and some of Garth’s early experiences,

the world of a troubadour or storyteller,

to prophecy, the Hebrew prophets and Jesus,

the challenging Christian community, the power of a song –

and what it means to be made in the image of God.

Let Nothing Disturb You

Garth tells the background to the song:

“‘Let Nothing Disturb You’ was inspired by some words of Teresa of Avila, also known as St Teresa of Jesus (1515 – 1582). She was a Prioress and Carmelite nun, a central figure in a movement of spiritual and monastic renewal.

And she wrote these words as a poem, translated here:

All things are passing

God alone never changes

Patience gains all things

If you have God

You will want for nothing

God alone suffices

These words were taken by musicians at Taizé and turned into a short four line song – suitable for times of worship, and the song is repeated again and again. Taizé music is beautiful and very suitable for Lent. I heard the Taizé song from friend and guitarist Dave Perry who played it to a group of us one evening – Dave was the guitarist on my new album My Name Is Palestine, which includes this song.

I liked this chorus, and thought that for a song on an album it needed a bit more progression so I wrote three other verses and then a chorus section. The words are picking up on the original theme of Teresa and also Taizé, where again the song is normally sung in Spanish so I end the song with the Spanish words “Nada te turbé”. Read more…