Celebrating St. Francis and All God's Creatures

Happy October, everybody!

This coming Sunday morning, we will celebrate the spiritual legacy of St. Francis of Assisi by holding our 10:30 service outdoors (weather permitting) and highlighting the beauty and diversity of God's creation in our readings, our songs, and our prayers.  The Children's Choir will come up front to sing several times, and our time in worship will end with the Blessing of the Animals.  We do this every October, and it's one of my favorite moments in the church calendar.

Francis himself lived in about 800 years ago in what is now the country of Italy.  He became well known for his style of devoting material resources to the care of the poor, and living in relative poverty himself.  His style of following Jesus grew a large following of its own, and led to the founding of the Franciscan Order of Monks and Priests, which has continued and thrived as a major movement in Christianity through to the present day.  A noblewoman named Clare of Assisi was so inspired by Francis's approach that with his assistance she herself gave up her material wealth and began a parallel religious order for women, known to many as the Poor Clares.

Francis was a prominent advocate for peace during the time of the crusades, and his legacy is often invoked in modern times with the popular prayer named after him, "Lord make us instruments of your peace", which will be read during the middle of the service.  Modern Franciscans are caretakers of many sites in the Holy Land, partially because of Francis's historical reputation as a peacemaker across the span of many different faiths.

His strong associations with nature come from stories of his preaching the Gospel to birds and wolves (and other various animals) and from his writings, such as his Canticle of the Creatures, which serves as a backbone text for the hymn we will sing at the end of our service, "All Creatures of our God and King".  Here is a modern English translation of the Canticle from the Order of St. Francis:

Most high, all-powerful, all good, Lord!

All praise is yours, all glory, all honor

And all blessing.

To you alone, Most High, do they belong.

No mortal lips are worthy

To pronounce your name.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made,

And first my lord Brother Sun,

Who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.

How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor!

Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars;

In the heavens you have made them, bright

And precious and fair.

All praise be yours, My Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,

And fair and stormy, all the weather’s moods,

By which you cherish all that you have made.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water,

So useful, lowly, precious and pure.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire,

Through whom you brighten up the night.

How beautiful is he, how glad! Full of power and strength.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, our mother,

Who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces

Various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through those who grant pardon

For love of you; through those who endure

Sickness and trial.

Happy those who endure in peace,

By you, Most High, they will be crowned.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death,

From whose embrace no mortal can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin!

Happy those She finds doing your will!

The second death can do no harm to them.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks,

And serve him with great humility.

Our offertory anthem for Sunday also celebrates the diversity of voices present in God's creation and was written by Bill Staines.  The refrain goes like this:

All God's critters got a place in the choir:

some sing low, some sing higher,

some sing out loud on the telephone wire,

and some just clap their hands, or paws or anything they got!

The original version, sung by the songwriter can be found here:

ORIGINAL VERSION

The Children's Choir and I truly look forward to celebrating God's awe-inspiring creation and to making music with all of you--and your companion animals--on Sunday!

Cheerfully, Gratefully, and Musically Yours,

m@

Matt Presson

Children's Choir Director