Thoughts for the Day

O ye Winter and Summer, bless ye the Lord:
praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Dews and Frosts, bless ye the Lord:
praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Frost and Cold, bless ye the Lord:
praise him and magnify him for ever.

O ye Ice and Snow, bless ye the Lord:
praise him and magnify him for ever.

O ye Nights and Days bless ye the Lord:
praise him and magnify him for ever.

O ye Light and Darkness bless ye the Lord:
praise him and magnify him for ever.

O ye Lightnings and Clouds, bless ye the Lord:
praise him and magnify him for ever.

(Lectionary, Book of Common Prayer)

Thoughts

The Benedicite is a Canticle. The word comes from Latin, a short form of 'canticum' meaning "song". We can say they are psalm-like songs with biblical texts often taken from elsewhere than the Book of Psalms. Three of great importance to Matins and Evensong (Morning and Evening Prayer) are The Benedictus (Zechariah's prophecy in Luke 1.68-79), The Magnificat (Mary's Song of Praise in Luke 1.46-55), and The Nunc Dimittis (Simeon's Song of Praise in Luke 2.29-32), all in the New Testament, but others come from the Hebrew scriptures.

As we have seen the words of the Benedicite are from the 'Song of the Three young men' (known by a number of names) who were thrown into the fire on King Nebuchadnezzar's orders, for refusing to bow down before a golden statue. The words that make up the Benedicite come from verses 35-65/66 of their Song and were meant to be inserted into the Book of Daniel after Chapter 3, verse 23. I have put the whole text, which is long, under 'Further Thoughts'.

Today's section of the Benedicite concentrates on Light and Dark and on the Weather, sometimes seeming to go back to subjects already touched upon, eg the Dew/s and Frost/s. Perhaps we can put ourselves into the mindset of those early readers, though. To a society without electricity, dependant on rain for drinking, and reasonable weather rather than frost, ice or snow, in order to grow crops and raise livestock, the weather must have been all important.

May we praise God today for our Seasons and for our climate, while asking His forgiveness for the mistakes we are making in damaging our climate?

Heavenly Father,
we thank You for the way our natural world changes:
for day and night;
for light and darkness;
for spring, summer, autumn and winter;
for heat and cold;
and for rain, frost and snow.
We pray for all trying to stop climate change:
those governments who are working together,
and those who have chosen to opt out.
We also pray that we may be better stewards
of our natural resources,
and play our part in minimising their use.
Amen.