laudable Practice

From a Harvest sermon preached by Old High William Jacobson (received orders in 1830, appointed Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford in 1848, appointed Bishop of Chester in 1865) in the parish church of Iffley, Oxford, in 1839: All Thy works praise Thee, O Lord. These words we repeat in their course when we come to them in their place in the Psalms, with a sort of general notion that they are true; but when the Heavens are black with clouds and wind, when the voice of God's thunder is heard round about, and His lightnings shine upon the ground, then, indeed, we feel that His works are praising the power and majesty of God. Or, to take one other instance, when the vallies stand so thick with corn that they seem to laugh and sing, when it appears as though the clouds in months past had indeed dropped fatness, and when God is crowning the year with His goodness before our eyes; we feel then that the works of the Lord do indeed praise Him by setting forth the greatness and abundance o...

Now it is Autumn. The leaves are already turning in Jeremy Taylor country, mists greet us in the morning, apples are on sale from the abundant local supply, and the sun sets in early evening. During the days of Autumn, the words of the Book of Common Prayer can be heard afresh, illumining and giving deeper meaning to the thoughts evoked by the season.  ... this peace of the dying season,  this vibrancy of quiet rest,  in autumn's arriving night - Christopher Yokel, 'Lux in Tenebris' As the days grow shorter, with mornings slowly becoming darker and the sun setting in early evening, soon to be late afternoon, autumnal darkness gathers around Matins and Evensong. 'Autumn's arriving night' can give a renewed meaning to familiar words. At Matins, in the Benedictus, as mornings grow darker, we hail the One who is the Light in all our experiences of darkness: To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death ... At Evening Prayer, words we have of...

On this Wednesday of September Embertide, my thoughts turn to the impending arrival of Autumn. We are now in the very last days of Summer, with cooler mornings and darker evenings already having an autumnal character. On Saturday, with the autumnal equinox, we enter into Autumn. That the days of September Embertide should fall now is, of course, no coincidence. The Ember Days are, as the Prayer Book tells us, "at the Four Seasons", marking the movement into each new season with penitence and abstinence. A time of penitence and abstinence before entering into Autumn prepares us to receive the gifts of the season. Indeed, such a time of penitence draws us into discernment, appropriate for Autumn's quieter days, mellow scenes, and - with the decline of the year - air of melancholy. Penitence drawing us into discernment prepares us to still and quieten ourselves for a more reflective time of year, even amidst the work September and the months ahead bring; to see the beauty of...