Monday 2 March 2015

Walking With the Living God # 1

WE GIVE OUR PRAISE WITHOUT CONDITION

We give our praise without condition
Given freely to the Lord on high
We sing it to the highest heaven
Our hands held reaching to the sky

THE FATHER IS WITH US EVERY MOMENT

The father is with us every moment
Of every hour both day and night
Over every continent and island
He keeps us in His wondrous light

PATRON SAINT OF WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL

Anglo-Saxon St Swithun
Was Bishop of Winchester
From his consecration
Until his death.
A century later
Dunstan and Æthelwold
Adopted him as patron
Of the restored church
Of Winchester
His body was transferred
From almost complete obscurity
To Æthelwold's new basilica
After which his posthumous miracles occurred
The Winchester egg-woman
And Queen Emma's ordeal

Feast Day 15th July

ST SWITHUN'S DAY

If it rains on the Day of St Swithun
It will not stop for forty days
If it is dry on the Day of St Swithun
Then follows fair for forty days

IF THE WEATHER IS FARE

If the weather is fare
On St Swithun’s day
Then for forty days
You should make hay

LOVE OF GOD

Our God above loves us
So we worship and adore him
His love sustains us all

SENT FROM ON HIGH

Sent from on high
So heavenly demure
A soul of purest light
An angel so pure
To take your hand
When it’s time
And comfort you
On you heavenly climb

A HEART OF PERFECT LOVE

A heart of perfect love
Love being the leaven
To help you Ascend
To the highest Heaven

IF ON ST SWITHUN’S DAY

If on St Swithun’s day
It does heartily rain
Go home and for forty days
Don’t come out again

IN HYMNS AND PSALMS REJOICING

In hymns and psalms rejoicing
We praise our Lord on high
Our praise to heaven ascended
And we lift our voices to the sky

VOICES IN PRAYER ARE NEVER SILENT

Voices in prayer are never silent
As we pray to our Lord on high
Our prayers to heaven ascended
And we lift our eyes to the sky

THE SOURCE OF SPECIAL LOVE

God has always been
The source of special love
A perfect loving faith
That fits me like a glove

THERE IS A SIGN OF HOPE

Everything is not
Wrong in the world
There is a sign of hope
God is our inspiration
And our Guiding light

SUCKED INTO THE DARKNESS

Sucked into the darkness,
Plunged into the abyss
Life pronounced extinct
Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
Yet in the darkness
Stood a figure
With lily-white wings
Smiling in Silence
And led him to the light
To a life eternal

ST SWITHIN AND QUEEN EMMA'S ORDEAL

Before the Norman Conquests
Princess Emma of Normandy
Became Queen Emma of England
Wife to King Æthelred the Unready
And then to Canute the Great of Denmark
She was falsely accused of adultery
But the night before her ordeal by fire
As she slept in Wargrave uneasily
Saint Swithun appeared in a dream
To tell her she would be set free




ST MARTIN OF TOURS

Started out as a Roman soldier
But was baptized as an adult
And then became a monk
It is understood that he was a kind man
Who led a quiet and simple life
The most famous legend of his life,
Was when he was still a soldier,
It is the story about the time
That he cut his cloak in half
To share with a beggar
To protect him during a snowstorm,
Which saved the beggars life
That same night he dreamed that Jesus
Was wearing the half-cloak
Martin heard Jesus say to the angels,
"Here is Martin, the Roman soldier
Who is not baptised; he has clothed me"

THE FEAST OF ST MARTIN OF TOURS

St. Martin's Day,
Or the Feast of St. Martin,
Martinstag, Martinmas
Or Martin le Miséricordieux
The Feast of St Martin of Tours,
Is a time for feasting celebrations
On November the 11th
When the autumn wheat fields
Were sown for the following year
And the annual slaughter
Of well fattened cattle
To produce "Martinmas beef"
And it was also the time
When hiring fairs were held
Where farm unemployed labourer’s
Could find new work

Feast Day November 11th

ST SWITHIN AND THE WINCHESTER EGG WOMAN

An old lady's eggs had been smashed
On the new stone bridge by workmen
Swithin picked the broken eggs up and
They miraculously became whole again

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