Deus Misereatur

I find it interesting that when the most strident anti-Calvinists pray, they pray like Calvinists. I have been reading a work by a Russian Orthodox monk, Archimandrite Sophrony. He wrote a few pieces on prayer and the one I'm reading is, "His Life is Mine." In this book he makes his pointed jabs against predestination (though he doesn't define what he means by it), and against God "coercing" or "compelling" any person. Yet in chapter 6 of his book he printed a prayer he prayed daily. Interestingly, I do believe any good Calvinist could pray this prayer. Maybe this puts the truth to the assertion J.I Packer once made, that a Christian on his knees prays like a Calvinist ("Evangelism and the Soverienty of God"). Or maybe to say it another way will help, Calvinism is the theology of the praying man. Here is the prayer: Prayer at Daybreak "O Lord Eternal and Creator of all things, Who of Your inscrutable goodness did call me to thi...

Today, as I was in Morning Prayer, I ran across this entreaty in the Lutheran “ Treasury of Daily Prayer ”: Lord God of truth, You converted the apostle Paul from persecutor of the Church to courageous preacher of the true Gospel that Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age. Deliver us from all false gospels, so that we remain faithful to Christ alone, whose death and resurrection are the source of our salvation; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. The petition asks for us to be delivered from all false gospels, and clearly defines (in short hand) what the true Gospel is. This requires some thought, some contemplation. For the collect (pronounced call’ -ekt ) beautifully echoes Galatians chapters 1 through 3, while opening up to modern applications. The “all false gospels” that confront us today are in some ways similar to the false gospels in Paul’s day, and in other ways dissimilar. Most lean heavy on productivity, output, efficiency. One alte...