Van Gogh painted the sower over 30 times. The Sower with the Setting Sun, 1888, is one of those paintings. The sower sows even till night. He passes a dark tree that has been cut, yet it still has some living branches. Perhaps, like the sower, it has borne the burden of the day.

The setting sun, in darker yellow, seems to touch the sower on its course as he ends the work of the day.  Like a halo it blesses him as he goes into the night.

This is the message of the church’s evening prayer. It promises that Jesus Christ, the Sun of Justice, will remain with us as we end the day. God’s promise of life is never withdrawn. It’s  a promise made to us as individuals and a promise made to the world we live in.

Here is a prayer that ends the church’s evening prayer..

Father, yours is the morning and yours is the evening. Let the Sun of Justice, Jesus Christ, shine for ever in our hearts and draw us to that light where you live in radiant glory. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.  (Tuesday evening, wk 2)

I am reminded of a hymn we often sing at evening prayers, The Setting Sun.

“The setting sun now dies away, 

and darkness comes at close of day. 

Your brightest beams, dear Lord impart, 

and let them shine within our heart.

We praise your name with joy this night,

Please watch and guide us till the light, 

Joining the music of the blest, 

O Lord we sing ourselves to rest. 

To God the Father, God the Son, 

and Holy Spirit with them one, 

Trinity blest whom we adore, 

Be praise and glory evermore.