Welcome to St Mary's the Virgin
When summer began to get hot (remember then?) there were a number of different reactions: from “At last! – oh, how we’ve waited for this!” to “Oh no, nextcomes the hose pipe ban.” At the time, all these were relatively jocular responses;how times have changed.One of the great and greatly underused resources of the Church of England isthe Book of Common Prayer. Whilst often referred to as ‘the 1662’ its firstpublications were in print in 1549, fifteen years before Shakespeare was born, andquite apart from its huge historical and literal influence and value, it remains a richseam of spiritual guidance. I tell you this, gentle reader, because after the servicesfor Morning and Evening Prayer there is a section entitled ‘Prayers andThanksgivings upon Several Occasions’. The first prayer is called ‘For Rain’:
O God our heavenly Father, who by thy Son Jesus Christ hast promised to allthem that seek thy kingdom, and the righteousness thereof, all things necessary totheir bodily sustenance; Send us, we beseech thee, in this our necessity, suchmoderate rain and showers, that we may receive the fruits of the earth to ourcomfort, and to thy honour; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I hope this prayer has featured in the public worship of every parish in the land, but the Prayer Book has not been fashionable for around three centuries now, and as mentioned above is an underused resource.
As so frequently happens with Prayer Book prayers, not only is it all there – and a good deal more poetically than my own oft repeated ‘Good grief it’s hot, please Lord, let it rain…’ – but we are reminded as we pray it why we need rain and what for. “That we may receive the fruits of the earth,” the prayer says – that not just our gardens would look nice, but that we would harness the planet’s provision properly such that all – ‘our bodily sustenance’ refers to all of humanity - are nourished. And more than this, that when we do this as it ought to be done, we will be honouring the Almighty’s gift of creation to us.
I hope by the time you read this, it has rained, in which case simply replace ‘Send us we beseech thee’ with ‘We thank thee for sending us’, but either way, find five minutes, ponder all the good that can be done with water and spend time asking God for what is so plainly needful. It is easy to forget to do so.
Fr Neil.
