For Jenny and Ian
Wednesday afternoon early March 1938. Mr Garrett, our formidable choirmaster, introduces us choirboys to the magnificent expression of Christian faith known as St. Patrick’s Breastplate. In doing so he gives one ten year old a lifelong example of how powerful the blending of poetry and spirituality can be. Of course at that time I wasn’t aware of such terms, but I came to realize years later that such was the gift of hearing Cecil Frances Alexander's powerful lines and the majestic music of Charles Villiers Stanford.
"I bind this day to me for ever
By power of faith Christ's Incarnation,
His baptism in Jordan river,
His death on Cross for my salvation,
His bursting from the spiced tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of Doom,
I bind unto myself today".
It would give me a lifelong appreciation for those moments when the poet and the composer of a prayer - often though not always the same person - join to give beauty and depth to a thought by giving it a series of images. In a short piece like this I can only take you on a swift voyage through some lovely examples.
There is a prayer that is widely credited to Francis of Assisi but was actually written in 1912, originally in French. Its title was A PRAYER FOR PEACE. On one side was the text and on the other an image of St Francis. Hence the link made with the Saint.
"Grant that we may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love."
The beautiful 17th century cadences of ...
“Travel with the voyagers
Defend the widows,
Shield the orphans,
Deliver the captives,
Heal the sick.”
Again from the same era
“Until the shades lengthen,
The evening comes,
The busy world is hushed,
The fever of live is over,
And our work is done."
Yet again…
"For life and health and safety,
For power to work and leisure to rest,
For all that is beautiful in the lives of men and women,
We praise Thy Holy Name. “
There are beautiful moments in 20th century expressions of prayer when we are given a bouquet of images that enrich a thought. For example at a Marriage…
"Let their love for each other
be a seal upon their hearts,
a mantle about their shoulders,
a crown upon their foreheads.
Bless them
in their work and companionship,
in their sleeping and in their waking,
in their joys and in their sorrows,
in their life and in their death”.
Some years ago when I was given a copy of the then new New Zealand Prayer Book I discovered to my delight that their explicit use of poetry had gone farther than any other prayer book revision in the Anglican Communion. As an example of night time reflection I think NIGHT PRAYER is incomparable in its deceptive simplicity.
"Lord, it is night. The night is for stillness.
Let us be still in the presence of God.
It is night after a long day,
what has been done has been done,
what is not done is not done,
Let it be”.
The prayer continues with successive images of the night.
“The night is dark.
The night is quiet.
The night heralds the dawn”.
Also from the New Zealand book we hear a magnificent paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer in the rhythmic images of prayer graced by poetry.The prayer is the work of Jim Cotter, an English priest, leader in LGBT inclusion in the life of the church...
“With the Bread we need for today - feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another - forgive us.
In times of temptation and test - strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure - save us.
From the grip of all that is evil - free us”
I share these thoughts because of recently hearing a friend give a eulogy for a mutual friend whom he and I knew well and loved. As an ending my friend Peter used some lines posted by Deon Johnson, Bishop of Missouri…
“Holy One, help us create
Poetry out of pain,
Symphony out of sorrow,
Art out of anger,
Singing out of sadness,
Dancing out of despair,
Grace out of grief,
Love out of loss, Amen and Amen".
I was deeply moved by those lines and felt many of us would wish to have them.