Word In Life Study Bible
COVENTRY
Heb.10:19-25
Since 1043, when a Benedictine monastery was established there, parishioners at Coventry have applied the Lord’s Prayer to their own work for God in the marketplace. In the fourteenth century, the merchant guild of St. Mary built a cathedral in the town to support the laity in their work, and the prayers continued.
Twice during World War II, German air raids demolished the town center, including Coventry Cathedral. The building lay in ruins until the mid-fifties, when work on a new cathedral was started. Finished in 1962, the new structure incorporates prayer panels that were preserved through the war. The panels, representing various industries in the town, bring together worship and work in a powerful way. They read:
Hallowed be Thy
Name in Industry:
God be in my hands and in my making.
[REFRAIN:]
Holy, Holy, Holy; Lord God of Hosts;
Heaven and earth are full of thy glory.
Hallowed be Thy
Name in the Arts:
God be in my senses and in my creating.
[REFRAIN]
Hallowed be Thy Name in the Home:
God be in my heart and in my loving.
[REFRAIN]
Hallowed be Thy Name in Commerce:
God be at my desk and in my trading.
[REFRAIN]
Hallowed be Thy Name in Suffering:
God be in my pain and in my enduring.
[REFRAIN]
Hallowed be Thy Name in Government:
God be in my plans and in my deciding.
[REFRAIN]
Hallowed be Thy Name in Education:
God be in my mind and in my growing.
[REFRAIN]
Hallowed be Thy Name in Recreation:
God be in my limbs and in my leisure.
[REFRAIN]
Coventry’s fame as a center of commerce and industry dates to the eleventh-century
monastery. By 1400 the town had become the center of the Midlands’ cloth
industry, renowned for its excellent dyeing processes. It also boasted a theater.
In 1545 the government chartered the first public school there. In the seventeenth
century, industry shifted to watch- and clock-making for the next 200 years.
By the late nineteenth century the manufacture of bicycles and automobiles rose
to prominence, followed later by the rayon industry, telephone manufacturing,
and electrical equipment. In 1958 England’s first civic-funded theater
was built there.
This vibrant economic life is certainly reflected in the prayer services at Coventry Cathedral and its support for the various guilds. Believers there have found an important way to “stir up love and good works.”
Study notes from the Word In Life Study Bible, copyright 1993,1996, by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. The study notes from the Word In Life Study Bible appearing at this web site are for personal use only.
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