1 If someone asked what
happened exactly a year ago today, would we remember?
2 If someone was to ask what
happened in Britain on this day in 1752, the answer would be “nothing”!
3 There was no
9th September in Britain in 1752. The day after the 2nd September
became the 14th. 11 days were
“lost”! Why was this?
4 The arrangement of days in
the year - the calendar -
had been worked out in Roman
times, but the Romans had made a slight miscalculation
for the length of the year (being
the exact time that the earth goes round the sun, giving us the different
seasons.)
5 And so, by 1752, nature’s
seasons were getting more out of line: the calendar was 11 days out, resulting
in Spring, for example, gradually occurring sooner as a date in the calendar. In
the same way, the dates associated with planting and harvesting were changing.
6 The government realised that
they had better alter the calendar, as many other countries had already done. And
so it was decided that 11 days should be “lost”.
7 It seems funny to us, but
some people thought that they were being “cheated”
out of 11 days, and that they
would die 11 days sooner! There were riots in parts of the country as some
people demanded that the government give them back their “stolen” 11 days!
8 Let us pray,
thinking of those who look back
and wish they had an extra day
or more time:
- those who have too little
time for what they are expected to do;
- those who have lost a sense
of balance and proportion in their lives;
- those who feel that they have
made a mess of everything and would like to be able to start again.
9 We pray, too, for those
who might wish for less time:
- those who are worried about
what might happen;
- those who are in despair;
- those who suffer hours of
pain and illness;
- those who are in prison or
being tortured;
- those who wish to die.
10 On all these people,
Lord,we ask your blessing.
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