Praying for bees

Have you ever prayed for animals or anything else in nature? I hadn’t until recently.

At our church, a small neighbourhood congregation in the city of Utrecht, every Wednesday we open the doors for people figuratively and literally seeking warmth and a home. There is also a time of prayer at noon. A moment of stillness, reading and silent prayer. During one of these prayer times, early last summer, we heard super loud buzzing in the hall. So strong that no one could miss it.

Further investigation revealed a huge bee nest in our church wall! After our discovery, a week later, there was an explosion of bees outside. They were flying everywhere. Apparently a newly crowned queen had left the nest and many bees had swarmed out to follow her. Slowly they moved to the bushes next to the church and formed a large, tightly packed tangle of bees there. What a fantastic sight.

Have I ever prayed for a species or something in nature myself? Yes, namely at the moment we first heard those bees in church, during that noonday prayer. That they may find their home there, in the wall, close to us, or else find another home.

That I literally started praying for those bees surprised me too. But it felt good to accept them as fellow creatures in that way. It turned out later that this nest of bees had been there for years, producing two to three swarms of new bees every year! We just had not noticed, because we are often at the church in the morning when the sun is not on the wall long enough to make the bees so active. But during those warm Wednesdays, we were there at the hottest time of the day.

What a blessing that our church is a home for both us and these bees. For us a spiritual home or house of God, and for them a bee house full of honey.

First published in Dutch in Elisabeth magazine issue 08 2024. Reproduced with permission.