Te Deum laudamus

Thank you for Kingston upon Hull :Muddy "Umber flows into R Hull 

At Morning Prayer at St Oswalds yesterday we said together  the much loved Thanksgiving Hymn of Praise known as the Te Deum . In the last week of the church year before ADVENT starts and implores us to put away the works of darkness  its great to go out on a CHRIST THE KING bang , and do a real thanksgiving hymn.

This last week has left me maudlin. A much loved and faithful member of our tiny mid week congregation , and former Church Warden has died suddenly after a short illness.  Most of the rest of the mid weekers had gone off to Wydale yesterday  for a day studying Revelation. I was left to keep the show on the road with another faithful stalwart , and not being in any way licensed or recognised I was able to organise the corporate reading through of the liturgy and read out some acceptable  writings in the homily slot . I did my own thing however and discarded the ghastly Revelation reading for the much more upbeat one in Philippians 3v17-4v9(extended by me!) set for the day to commemorate Clement Martyr , a lesser festival to be thankful for. It was a true God incident too as other faithful stalwart declared before she read it to us that it was one of her favourite readings in the Bible.

For me, one way of getting over  feelings of gloom , heaviness and numbness is to do as my mother taught me: 'Count your blessings, name them one by one......'. This may take a conscious act of will and I might  even be going through the motions , but I do find it helps me,sometimes eventually being the key word. Every day when we read our Bible together after breakfast spouse and I thank God for our blessings. It is simple these days, and much to do with the concerns of many Older People . 

• Thank -you for enough  food
• Thank you that spouse can walk to the Paper Shop , the Chemist and Spar when its not a windy day.
•  Thank-you for the footpath at the back of our cottage which takes spouse to Church or Choir Practice out of the wind and on the flat.
•  Thank-you for the friendly shopkeepers of a small town.
•  Thank-you for a daughter and family living 2 mins away.
• Thank you for Central Heating , a gas cooker and a log burner so we are never at a loss for heat or hot water even in power cuts .
• Thank you that we have State -pensions .
• Thank you for warm clothes  
• Thank-you, that we live near the Doctors. 

And so it may go on . On this day of Thanksgiving for my American Cousins, I am thanking for Religious Freedom in the UK, and remembering the Pilgrim Fathers forced to flee to the New World. I'm also thanking God that the Native Americans showed them how to grow food.

Here are some random things I'm being THANKFUL for today 

#Hull2017 Just discovered a VR postbox In Whitefriargate 

#2017Hull Long live the MINERVA

#Hull2017 Local History enthusiasm for the Peoples Memorial 

#Hull 2017 Quirky Old Hull

Thank-you NHS

Thank you for my New Shed 

Te Deum laudamus from BCP

We praise thee, O God : we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee : the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud : the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim : continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy : Lord God of Hosts;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty : of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world : doth acknowledge thee;
The Father : of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory : O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man : thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death :
    thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants :
    whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints : in glory everlasting.