An Anglican High Altar

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Hymnal 1940, of The Episcopal Church

Words by Josiah Conder (1789-1855), in 1824

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1.  Bread of heaven, on thee we feed,

For thy flesh is meat indeed;

Ever may our souls be fed

With this true and living Bread;

Day by day with strength supplied,

Through the life of him who died.

2.  Vine of heaven, thy supplied supplies

This blest cup of sacrifice;

Lord, thy wounds our healing give,

To thy cross we look and live:

Jesus, may we ever be

Grafted, rooted, built in thee.

A Farm

Image Source = Wikipedia

Words by the Reverend Frank von Christierson (1900-1996), who wrote this hymn in 1960

I found the original words, which follow, in Volume Three B of The Hymnal 1982 Companion (1994).  All 1972-2006 that hymnals I checked and which included this hymn included altered words, usually with “saints” becoming “men” or “those,” or “Thou” transforming into “You.”   The hymn has been in print since 1961.  1961-1971 hymnals I consulted did not contain this hymn.

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1.  As saints of old their first fruits brought

Of orchard, flock, and field

To God the Giver of all good,

The Source of bounteous yield;

So we today first fruits would bring–

The wealth of this good land,

Of farm and market, shop and home,

Of mind, and heart, and hand.

2.  A world in need now summons us

To labor, love, and give;

To make our life an offering

To God, that man may live;

The Church of Christ is calling us,

To make the dream come true:

A world redeemed by Christ-like love;

All life in Christ made new.

3.  In gratitude and humble trust

We bring our best to thee

To serve thy cause and share thy love

With all humanity.

O Thou who gavest us thyself

In Jesus Christ thy Son,

Teach us to give ourselves each day

Until life’s work is done.

Midnight Sun

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = The Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada (1971)

Original words in Latin, 1200s; English translation in 1968 by John Webster Grant (born in 1919), a United Church of Canada clergyman who served as a professor of church history at Emmanuel College, Toronto, from 1963 to 1984

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1.  Holy Spirit, font of light,

focus of God’s glory bright,

shed on us a shining ray.

Father of the fatherless,

giver of gifts limitless,

come and touch our hearts today.

2.  Source of strength and sure relief,

comforter in time of grief,

enter in and be our guest.

On our journey grant us aid,

freshening breeze and cooling shade,

in our labour inward rest.

3.  Enter each aspiring heart,

occupy its inmost part

with your dazzling purity.

All that gives to man his worth,

all that benefits the earth,

you bring to maturity.

4.  With your soft, refreshing rains

break our drought, remove our stains;

bind up all our injuries.

Shake with rushing wind our will;

melt with rushing fire our icy chill;

bring to light our perjuries.

5.  As your promise we believe

make us ready to receive

gifts from your unbounded store.

Grant enabling energy,

courage in adversity,

joys that last for evermore.

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/fiftieth-day-of-easter-day-of-pentecost-year-b/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/fiftieth-day-of-easter-day-of-pentecost-year-a/

Summer Afternoon

Image in the Public Domain

Prayer Source = TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985), of the Jewish Publication Society

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A song for ascents.

I turn my eyes to the mountains;

from where will my help come?

My help comes from the LORD,

maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot give way;

your guardian will not slumber;

See, the guardian of Israel

neither slumbers nor sleeps!

The LORD is your guardian,

the LORD is your protection

at your right had.

By day the sun will not strike you,

nor the moon by night.

The LORD will guard you from all harm;

He will guard your life.

The LORD will guard your going and coming

now and forever.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Drawing of the Proportions of the Human Head

Image Source = Wikipedia

Prayer Source = Elizabeth Goudge, A Diary of Prayer: A Treasury of the World’s Most Inspiring Prayers (New York, NY:  Coward-McCann, 1966), page 54, quoting the Sarum Primer (1527)

This prayer is relevant to this one:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/a-prayer-for-those-who-inflict-torture/

and this one:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/a-prayer-for-those-who-are-tortured/

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God be in my head

And in my understanding.

God be in mine eyes

And in my looking.

God be in my mouth

And in my speaking.

God be in my heart

And in my thinking.

God be at mine end

And at my departing.

I OPT NOT TO ATTACH AN IMAGE TO THIS POST, DUE TO THE DISTURBING NATURE OF ANY POTENTIAL PICTURE.

Prayer Source = Elizabeth Goudge, A Diary of Prayer:  A Treasury of the World’s Most Inspiring Prayers (New York, NY:  Coward-McCann, 1966), page 144, quoting The True Prayers of St. Gertrude and St. Mechtilde

I have reformatted the prayer yet not changed any word or punctuation mark.

This prayer goes along with this one:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/a-prayer-for-those-who-are-tortured/

and this one:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/god-be-in-my-head/.

There are certain immoral acts, which, in times of distress and national emergency, one might think justifiable.  Nevertheless, I ask one question:  “Whom would Jesus torture?”  The answer, of course, is “nobody,” and is implicit in the question.  If we dare to call ourselves Christians, those who follow Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, we cannot support or inflict torture without committing hypocrisy.–KRT

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O Lord Christ, who prayed for those who crucified you,

“Father, forgive them,”

look in compassion upon those who do these things,

open their eyes to what they do and their hearts to your mercy.

May your courage in endurance be to them the courage of refusal.

And for those who command these men,

those who are bound by the greater evil,

we would ask that the redeeming power of your pity set them free.

And grant, Lord, that we who pray for them,

who have been nurtured in your love,

may not forget the sharp words and harsh thoughts

that have wounded your heart as cruelly as any action of theirs.

Upon us all have mercy

and grant us the cleansing of penitence

and the renewal of forgiveness and love.

Amen.

I OPT NOT TO ATTACH AN IMAGE TO THIS POST, DUE TO THE DISTURBING NATURE OF ANY POTENTIAL PICTURE.

Prayer Source = Elizabeth Goudge, A Diary of Prayer:  A Treasury of the World’s Most Inspiring Prayers (New York, NY:  Coward-McCann, 1966), page 143, quoting The True Prayers of St. Gertrude and St. Mechtilde

I have reformatted the prayer yet not changed any word or punctuation mark.

This prayer goes along with this one:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/a-prayer-for-those-who-inflict-torture/

and this one:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/god-be-in-my-head/.

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O Lord Christ, whose death for sinners was a death of suffering,

look in thy divine compassion upon all those who,

at this hour in which we pray,

in prisons and in all places where there is fighting, hatred and bitterness,

are enduring torment at the hands of their fellow men.

All extremities of pain are known to you, Lord;

may the upholding of your presence be made known to them.

If they have ever heard your name, may they now remember it;

if it is strange to them let them not not be strangers to your courage and your peace.

Lord, we know that you who

know all, and love all, and have suffered all,

have had each of them in your heart from all eternity;

yet still we dare to pray for them,

knowing that your mercy will accept our prayer

and your love use it in the ways that are known to you alone.

Amen.

Sun

Image Source = Lykaestria

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_sun1.jpg)

Words by William Walsham How (1823-1897), an author of hymns plus plus a priest of The Church of England and the Bishop of Bedford (1879-1888) then the Bishop of Wakefield (1889-1897)

Hymn Source = The Parish School Hymnal (1926), of the United Lutheran Church in America

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1.  Summer suns are glowing

Over land and sea,

Happy light is flowing

Bountiful and free,

Ev’rything rejoices

In the mellow rays,

All earth’s voices

Swell the psalm of praise.

2.  God’s free mercy streameth

Over all the world,

And His banner gleameth

Ev’rywhere unfurled,

Broad and deep and glorious

As the heaven above,

Shines in might victorious

His eternal Love.

3.  Lord, upon our blindness

Thy pure radiance pour;

For thy loving-kindness

Make us love Thee more;

And when clouds are drifting

Dark across our sky,

Then, the veil uplifting,

Father, be Thou nigh.

4.  We will never doubt Thee,

Though Thou veil Thy light:

Life is dark without Thee;

Death with Thee is bright.

Light of Light! shine o’er us

On our pilgrim way;

Go Thou still before us

To the endless day.

Celtic Cross Over a Doorway

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Hymnbook (1955), a multi-denominational U.S. Presbyterian-Dutch Reformed hymnal

Words by the Rev. Edmond Budry (1854-1932), a Swiss Reformed pastor, in 1884; Translated into English by R. Birch Hoyle, 1923

The alternate name for the hymn is “Thine Be the Glory.”

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1.  Thine is the glory,

Risen, conquering Son;

Endless is the victory

Thou o’er death hast won.

Angels in bright raiment

Rolled the stone away,

Kept the folded graceclothes

Where Thy body lay.

Thine is the glory,

Risen, conquering Son;

Endless is the victory

Thou o’er death hast won.

2.  Lo! Jesus meets us

Risen from the tomb;

Lovingly He greets us,

Scatters fear and gloom;

Let His Church with gladness

Hymns of triumph sing,

For her Lord now liveth;

Death hath lost its sting.

Thine is the glory,

Risen, conquering Son;

Endless is the victory

Thou o’er death hast won.

3.  No more we doubt Thee,

Glorious Prince of Life!

Life is nought without Thee;

Aid us in our strife;

Make us more than conquerors,

Through Thy deathless love;

Bring us safe through Jordan

To Thy home above.

Thine is the glory,

Risen, conquering Son;

Endless is the victory

Thou o’er death hast won.

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/first-day-of-easter-easter-sunday-year-b-principal-service/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/great-vigil-of-easter-year-b/

Image Source = Infrogmation of New Orleans

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GuadalupeNOLA15Oct07Thanks.jpg)

Prayer Source = William G. Storey, editor, Novenas:  Prayers of Intercession and Devotion  (Chicago, IL:  Loyola Press, 2005), pages 206-208

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Let us give thanks to God our Father for all the gifts so freely bestowed upon us:

For the beauty and wonder of your creation,

WE THANK YOU, O LORD.

For all that is gracious in the lives of men and women, revealing the image of Christ,

WE THANK YOU, O LORD.

For our daily food and drink, our homes and families, and our friends,

WE THANK YOU, O LORD.

For minds to think, and hearts to love, and hand hands to serve,

WE THANK YOU, O LORD.

For health and strength to work, and leisure to rest and play,

WE THANK YOU, O LORD.

For the brave and courageous, who are patient in suffering and faithful in adversity,

WE THANK YOU, O LORD.

For valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice,

WE THANK YOU, O LORD.

For the communion of saints in all times and places,

WE THANK YOU, O LORD.

Above all we give you thanks for the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord;

TO HIM BE PRAISE AND GLORY, WITH YOU, O FATHER,

AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, NOW AND FOR EVER.  AMEN.

May the LORD bless us and take care of us;

May the LORD be kind and gracious to us;

May the LORD look on us with favor and give us peace.

AMEN.