A Summer Blessing
Blessed are you, summer,
season of long days and short nights,
you pour forth light from your golden orb,
energizing the earth and calling forth growth.
Blessed are you summer,
with your generous gift of heat.
Your warm breath animates creation,
encouraging all growing things to stretch toward the sun.
Blessed are you, summer,
you call us into playfulness,
encouraging us to pause from work.
You renew our spirits.
Blessed are you, gracious season of summer,
you surprise us with a variety of gifts from the earth.
We, too, gaze into the earth of ourselves,
beholding gifts waiting to be honored.
Blessed are you, nurturing season of summer,
your fruits and vegetables appear on our tables,
changing them into altars.
Tasting of your life, we are made strong.
Blessed are you, summer,
host of a star that shines with passion.
Sun-soaked, we reach for your energy
that drives us upward and onward.
Blessed are you, sacrament of summer,
nature’s green season, sweet echo of spring.
You speak to us in living color as you renew the earth
with symbols of life for our bodies and souls.
Blessed are you, summer,
season of roots that reach for water.
Even through the cracks in the sidewalk
the song of your seed can be heard.
Blessed are you, summer,
season rooted in reality.
Even as the perspiration collects on our brow,
we experience your earthly joy.
Blessed are you, summer,
and your firefly evenings
you minister to the child in us.
You feed our hunger for beauty.
-Joyce Rupp & Macrina Wiederkehr
