Tomorrow is St Swithin’s Day. St Swithin was born around 800 AD and became the Bishop of Winchester. Tradition has it that he didn’t want to be buried in a prominent tomb inside the cathedral like other religious dignitaries, but rather chose to be buried outside “Where the sweet rain of heaven may fall upon my grave.”
The legend says that after his remains were removed and reinterred inside the cathedral, a great storm broke and it rained for many days after. This has led to the prediction (unsubstantiated by statistics) that if it rains on 15th July, it will rain for the next forty days.
Although sometimes unwelcome and annoying, in the recent warm muggy weather, an occasional shower has been quite refreshing. This reminded me of a hymn we used to sing, the chorus goes:
‘Showers, Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need;
Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.’
It’s a prayer for revival. The first verse goes :
“There shall be showers of blessing:”
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Saviour above.” And it’s based on Ezekiel 34: 26
I’m sure as Christians, we would love to see revival in our land. To live in a country where the norm was to know God and to live by His law of Love would be amazing. But would we really be prepared for the kind of changes that would happen under those new Christian ways? What would our TV programmes look like? What kind of films would be acceptable? We may welcome honesty in politics but what stories would we have to entertain us without the sleaze? Would we want Sundays with all the shops closed as more people wanted to worship? What about if our churches were overflowing – what demands would that make on us? Perhaps we have become too much Christians of compromise and need to carefully consider what we pray for !!!
Have a sunny Swithin’s Day!!!