Pictures and Prayers

It began with Phos Hilaron, an ancient hymn that was first written in Greek dating back to the 4^th century. Sometimes translated, “Oh Gladdening Light,” it is said to be the oldest Christian hymn that is still being sung today. Sometimes it is used as a liturgical prayer at vespers (evening prayer which also marks the beginning of a new liturgical day).  It is one of my favorite prayers, and is included in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer as “O Gracious Light.” Not long ago I saw the prayer posted along with a photo of a beautiful sunset on Penelope Nash’s blog, One Cannot Have Too Large a Party. I thought my friend David Brazzeal, who has a blog on prayer, would appreciate it, so I forwarded it to him.

David featured the post on his blog, Pray Like a Gourmet, and issued a challenge to his readers to select a photo taken while on vacation and to compose a prayer to go with the picture. I thought it sounded like a good idea, so I took two of my favorite photos, spent some time with them, and came up with a prayer for each one. You can see one of them on David’s blog here. To see his “post-vacation challenge” blog post, with information about how you can participate, go here.

Here is the prayer as found in the Book of Common Prayer:

O Gracious Light (Phos hilaron)

O gracious light,

pure brightness of the ever living Father in heaven,

O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,

and our eyes behold the vesper light,

we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,

O Son of God, O Giver of Life,

and to be glorified through all the worlds.

____________________

Photo: Sunset over Lake Bolsena

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons