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20/06/2015
A short reflection and prayer with Canon Noel Battye.
Last on
Sat 20 Jun 2015
05:43
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
Prayer for the Day with Reverend Noel Battye - Script
Good morning.
The Accession of the youthful Queen Victoria on this day in 1837 has always made a deep impression upon me since I first read various accounts of it, including that recorded in her own diary.Β
So it did so, in much the same way as that recently re-released speech made by her great-great granddaughter, our present monarch on her 21st birthday when she vowed to serve this country for all of her life whether it be long or short.
I suppose the reason it appeals to me so much is because I am of a generation for whom life vocations were a youthful thing.
Well over 90% of my fellow ordinands like me were in their very early 20s and while in retrospect I can see why people would have questions to ask, to us it was entirely natural β our vocation in life.
The worldly wise of Β later decades became rather suspicious about sheltered backgrounds, they spoke of the need for life experience, and preference for those leaving other careers and so on, but I have never been entirely convinced.
I have always held before me the youthful models, if not of the 12year old Jesus in the Temple, at least of young Samuel in the shrine the country boy David β youngest of an otherwise impressive family and Jeremiah, the most reluctant of prophets who tried to evade his vocation with the words βI am but a youth.β
Almost 50 years on, I would have to say, that whatever my many and undoubted shortcomings along the way, that youthful vocation is for me as bright and clear as ever and I like to think that I still strive to fulfil it in the living of each new day.
Lord we thank you for the young of every rising generation. Bless each one in his or her vocation and keep ever before them the vision of your guiding light.Β
Amen. Β
The Accession of the youthful Queen Victoria on this day in 1837 has always made a deep impression upon me since I first read various accounts of it, including that recorded in her own diary.Β
So it did so, in much the same way as that recently re-released speech made by her great-great granddaughter, our present monarch on her 21st birthday when she vowed to serve this country for all of her life whether it be long or short.
I suppose the reason it appeals to me so much is because I am of a generation for whom life vocations were a youthful thing.
Well over 90% of my fellow ordinands like me were in their very early 20s and while in retrospect I can see why people would have questions to ask, to us it was entirely natural β our vocation in life.
The worldly wise of Β later decades became rather suspicious about sheltered backgrounds, they spoke of the need for life experience, and preference for those leaving other careers and so on, but I have never been entirely convinced.
I have always held before me the youthful models, if not of the 12year old Jesus in the Temple, at least of young Samuel in the shrine the country boy David β youngest of an otherwise impressive family and Jeremiah, the most reluctant of prophets who tried to evade his vocation with the words βI am but a youth.β
Almost 50 years on, I would have to say, that whatever my many and undoubted shortcomings along the way, that youthful vocation is for me as bright and clear as ever and I like to think that I still strive to fulfil it in the living of each new day.
Lord we thank you for the young of every rising generation. Bless each one in his or her vocation and keep ever before them the vision of your guiding light.Β
Amen. Β
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- Sat 20 Jun 2015 05:43ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
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