A Preface for Summer

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

Lift up your hearts. We have them lifted up unto the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give you thanks and praise.

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,

we thank you for all times and season,

and now for Summer:

We thank you for picnic parks, for seas and sands,

and journeys off to distant lands.

We thank you for the sun

that lengthens the summer day

and tans our Mother Earth

with rolling fields of hay.

We thank you for summer heat that bakes the stones

and burns away the winter chill from aching bones,

and makes the knee bend willing again to thee.

We thank you for the summer rain

that slakes the thirst for harvest grain.

Above all, we thank for the long light of Christ,

and for the warmth of your saving loving.

So we join the angels and saints....