1. Am I my brother’s keeper?
Hymn 16

2. 1
‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’
The muttered cry was drowned
by Abel’s life-blood shouting
in silence from the ground.
For no man is an island
divided from the main;
the bell that tolled for Abel
tolled equally for Cain.

3. 2
The ruler called for water
and thought his hands were clean.
Christ counted less than order,
the man than the machine.
The crowd cried, ‘Crucify him!’
Their malice wouldn’t budge.
So Pilate called for water,
and history’s his judge.

4. John Ferguson 1921- © Stainer & Bell Ltd3
As long as people hunger,
as long as people thirst,
and ignorance and illness
and warfare do their worst,
as long as there’s injustice
in any of God’s lands,
I am my brother’s keeper:
I dare not wash my hands.
John Ferguson © Stainer & Bell Ltd