Best Loved Hymns and Readings

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry;

I am not there. I did not die.

Mary Elizabeth Frye (b.1904)

Do not worry (#ulink_c2ac0d3f-c530-58e0-a42e-6a178c20a8b8)

Matthew 6:25-34 ranks among the most highly regarded passages from the Bible when judged as literature. A reminder to all the faithful to abandon worldly concerns and to trust themselves instead to God’s bounty, it offers substantial consolation to those who are disillusioned or disappointed in their hopes of material gain.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Drink to me only with thine eyes (#ulink_cbc0e393-6ef2-507f-a1c4-be8513a5d742)

This love poem by Ben Jonson was first published in the miscellany entitled The Forest (1616). Today it is a popular choice of reading at wedding celebrations.

Drink to me only with thine eyes,

And I will pledge with mine;

Or leave a kiss but in the cup

And I’ll not look for wine.

The thirst that from the soul doth rise

Doth ask a drink divine;

But might I of Jove’s nectar sup,

I would not change for thine.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath,

Not so much honouring thee

As giving it a hope that there

It could not wither’d be;

But thou thereon didst only breathe

And sent’st it back to me;

Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,

Not of itself but thee!

Ben Jonson (1572-1637)

Each eve Earth falleth down the dark (#ulink_e9f42916-6933-55e6-ae8d-27275af55c16)

This poem by the English poet, artist and designer William Morris celebrates the revival of life and hope through faith and has a clear religious message. It remains a poignant source of consolation and encouragement to those who face disappointment or disillusionment.

Each eve Earth falleth down the dark,

As though its hopes were o’er;

Yet lurks the sun when day is done

Behind tomorrow’s door.

Grey grows the dawn while men-folk sleep,

Unseen spreads on the light,

Till the thrush sings to the coloured things,

And earth forgets her night.

No otherwise wends on our Hope;

E’en as a tale that’s told

Are fair lives lost, and all the cost

Of wise and true and bold.

We’ve toiled and failed; we spake the word;

None hearkened; dumb we lie;

Our Hope is dead, the seed we spread

Fell o’er the Earth to die.

What’s this? For joy our hearts stand still,