Evensong – Hymns and Lullabies at the Close of Day

Story

Once I heard
A little bird
Singing very clearly;
And the bird
That I heard
Sang: “God loves me dearly.”

Please stay now
And tell me how
Little bird, you know it.
“Every day,
Come what may,
Many kind things show it.

“Sun and rain,
Ripening grain,
Food and water given,
Leafy trees –
All one sees
Under the blue heaven.”

Then the bird
That I heard
Sang it very clearly:
“God loves you”
(Off it flew)
“Loves you very dearly.”

(A Little Bird Song
Amy Carmichael)

Our yard is filled with the daily bustle of bird life. They are the first risers and as the evening light falls the songbirds sing into the night. Their daily music has continued unbridled and undimmed around our house while inside we have processed all the changes and unknowns of this season!

For many of us our homes have become places of both new rhythms and unusual pressure as we try to manage these times in which we live. I know as a mother I have been stretched and have wrung my hands many times in anguish over little and big things.

When the night falls there is a gathering that happens – as our family gathers to settle for the night and as all the lows and highs of the day gather more closely in our minds. The Bible has long encouraged believers through the ages to sanctify the night to the Lord. There is an ancient tradition in the church of spending time before the Lord at the end of the day – this is where the term ‘Evensong’ comes from, an evening service of prayers and songs. This new album of songs was born out of the thoughts and conversations, the prayers and songs that fill our home particularly when the sun goes down.

We focus ourselves in this way so that we can say with the Psalmist ‘In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.’ We hope these songs will be an encouragement to the individual and for our children – to help de-clutter the heart, to fill up with His Word and so close each day with an offering of thankfulness and the joy of His rest.