'Then shall the earth bring forth her increase': Mattins and Evensong on Lammas Day

Yesterday, 1st August, was Lammas Day, commemorated as a Black Letter Day in the 1662 Calendar. That, of course, means that 1662 provides no liturgical provision for the day. Despite this, however, there is much in the ordinary form of Mattins and Evensong to mark the day.

The opening exhortation reminds us that it is right in public prayer "to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul": petition for a good harvest is, therefore, right and meet. At Mattins, the Venite's praise for the God in whose "hands are all the corners of the earth ... and his hands prepared the dry land", roots our praise on Lammas in the truth which also affirm in the Apostles' Creed: "Maker of heaven and earth".

Lammas being the first day of August, the Psalter begins again. Psalm 1 evokes rich natural imagery, indicating the spiritual significance of harvest (after the example of the Lord's teaching, for "the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field"):

But his delight is in the law of the Lord: and in his law will he exercise himself day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the water-side: that will bring forth his fruit in due season.

The Benedicite resumes praise for the first fruits of the harvest at Lammas:

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

The penultimate petition of the Litany for "the kindly fruits of the earth" commends to God the work of the forthcoming harvest season and gives expression to the joy and goodness of Lammas:

That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth, so as in due time we may enjoy them; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

At Evensong, Psalm 8 - the final evening psalm appointed on the first day of the month - both celebrates the gift of the created order and humanity's vocation to steward this order. It would also be appropriate to use the provision of Psalm 67, Deus Misereatur, as the alternative to the Nunc Dimittis:

Then shall the earth bring forth her increase: and God, even our own God, shall give us his blessing.

The Prayer Book tradition also provides fine occasional prayers for Lammas. In Ireland 1926, the occasional prayers for Rogationtide are also provided for "other fitting occasions", with Lammas being particularly appropriate:

send thy blessing down from heaven to give us a fruitful season.

Likewise, PECUSA 1928:

Bless the labours of the husbandman, and grant such seasonable weather that we may gather in the fruits of the earth, and ever rejoice in thy goodness, to the praise of thy holy Name.

Also, Canada 1962:

Bless, we beseech thee, the labours of thy people, and cause the earth to bring forth her fruits abundantly in their season.

And as Evensong draws to a close with the General Thanksgiving (always a good practice on the Lord's Day), its words crown the observance of Lammas Day:

We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life.

BCP Mattins and Evensong on Lammas Day exemplify the virtues of flexibility and stability in the Cranmerian Office. With no need of a volume of seasonal material, or additional resources outside the occasional prayers provided in many editions of the classical BCP, the Cranmerian Office combines both a flexibility (e.g. Deus Misereatur instead of Nunc Dimittis) and stability (e.g. the unchanging words of the exhortation and Creed) which allows for a rich and meaningful observance of Lammas Day.

In doing so, it ensures that Harvest Thanksgiving later in Autumn is placed within a cycle of prayer and praise - Rogationtide, Lammas, Harvest - rooted in grace and gratitude. Harvest Thanksgiving, in other words, becomes the culmination of a cycle of prayer and praise through which we are, year by year, brought to discern our joyous dependence upon God's gracious, good, providential provision, what the Rogationtide Homily describes as "his liberal and large goodness". That no 'special' service or additional resources are required, that the regular words of Mattins and Evensong provide the prayer and praise for Lammas, rather appropriately echoes the regular turning of the seasons, the consistent work of the husbandman, and the apostolic exhortation "giving thanks always for all things".

(The painting is 'Lammas Day' by contemporary artist Oliver Akers Douglas.)

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