Dear Benedict,
In chapter 17 of your Rule you are quite specific about which psalms the community should sing and when. The Psalter was the hymn book of your community and in all of the Benedictine communities I have visited it is obviously well known and much loved.
When I walked my End to End last year I was surprised how many bits of psalms, what I call psalm snippets, there were in my remembered bible and when I walk I often come back to them and reflect on them. Although I do use the psalms I also sing a lot of other things, quite a bit of which I make up ‘as I go along’ with the pattern of the psalms and the seasons to inspire me.
Today I was walking in our valley enjoying the falling leaves. Forest Church, an expression of outdoor worship, attracts me and there are places round here I often revisit . Today I made tracks to a group of beech trees that I call the Beech Cathedral and they were glorious. I wrote this hymn whilst I sat there.
The beech trees in this season
Each wear a golden gown,
And in the strips of woodland,
Deciduous leaves fall down.
All sorts of berries ripen
And turn a vibrant red
So in the coldest season,
The wayside birds are fed.
Chorus:
With all these things around us
May we learn to share
The good things of Creation
And for our planet, care.
The canopy above us,
The leaves beneath our feet,
The world continues turning,
The patterns still repeat,
But with our climate changing
We haven’t got much time
To change our wasteful ways
And repent of climate crime.
Chorus:
With all these things around us
May we learn to share
The good things of Creation
And for our planet, care.
The swallow have flown southwards,
The geese have come to rest,
By patterns of migration
We all are truly blessed.
But temperatures are rising,
The poorest bear the cost
We must change how we’re living
Or all we know is lost.
Chorus:
With all these things around us
May we learn to share
The good things of Creation
And for our planet, care.
Tune is Wir Pflugen (We plough the fields)
From the remembered bible: And the trees of the field shall clap their hands
I sing to you!
Copyright Janet Lees: 25.10.2020 in Longdendale.
From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.