Vespers - 10 December 2017


(For salvation): As you mentioned in Ezekiel, LORD God, you do not take any pleasure in the death of the wicked, but would rather that they should turn from their way and live (Ezekiel 18.23); and as Paul announces that you, O God our Savior, desire all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2.3-4). Therefore we pray for unbelievers and those who have left the fold and wondered as sheep lost in the wildness and the wilderness…Through conversations with us, or because of the season with all of the Christmas carols and posted reminders recounting your Son’s saving work, grant them to become confident that there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, and may they call on the name of the Lord and so find salvation (1 Timothy 2.5-6). O Lord, hear our prayer.

(For social plights): Great God, there are fires raging again in California, shootings in schools and throughout our States; many in our communities are angry, depressed, and uncivil; there are heaps of families that have broken relationships, missing parents or removed children; countless people are digging deep debt holes; several are enslaved to meth and opioids like heroine, fentanyl, and pain meds; others are confusing their sexuality and identity and then shoving it onto others demanding acceptance. Lord, the list can go on and on… Please rain down your mercy on us and our land; build up sense and sensibility; remediate our broken programs and procedures, like DHS, foster care, Judicial system, education establishments, neighborhoods, etc. Bring order to the disorder, that all may know you, and your name be lifted high.  O Lord, hear our prayer. 

(For the Christmas Season): “God rest ye merry, gentlemen; Let nothing you dismay; Remember, Christ, our Savior; Was born on Christmas day; To save us all from Satan's power; When we were gone astray; O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy; O tidings of comfort and joy.” By way of all the Christmas Eve services in our land, Carols ricocheting around Mall walls, Cards filling up mailboxes, and family festivities: may this season, Lord, testify of your goodness and honor; and be used by you to bring joy to the world in ways that are beyond our human concoctions and creations! We long to hear hosts of people wholeheartedly bellowing and believing: “Hark the herald angels sing; "Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild; God and sinners reconciled" Joyful, all ye nations rise; Join the triumph of the skies; With the angelic host proclaim: "Christ is born in Bethlehem" Hark! The herald angels sing; "Glory to the newborn King!"  O Lord, hear our prayer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?" (Rev. Ed.) by John Fea. A Review

Image
  John Fea is a professor of history at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, PA. A university founded in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church. He originally published "Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction" in 2011, and it was revised in 2016. This 328-page paperback is packed full with Colonial and American history, drawing from original sources to answer that question. It is a book written "for the historically minded and thoughtful reader who is looking for help in sorting" out this question, avoiding polemics (xix). Since we live in a sound-bite culture, Fea recognizes that it is difficult to have a sustained dialogue on this topic, but he makes a valiant effort toward having that sustained dialogue. The book reads fairly straightforward, and doesn't seem to get bogged down in the contentious mudpuddles or bogs. In the end, Fea seems to get his point across. To answer the reigning question if America was founded as a Christian...
Read more

Union with Christ - An Application

Image
  (This was my weekly letter to my congregation on Wednesday, 21 February 2024) This morning in my devotional reading, I was working through 1 Corinthians 8. Though I’ve read these words a huge number of times over the years, today one verse caused me to stop and take stock.  Paul wrote, “ Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ ” (1 Corinthians 8:12). What struck me is a couple of things. First, in God’s saving work, we are – by grace alone – united (hitched, bonded, ingrafted) to Christ so much so, that what happens to us happens to him, and what is his becomes ours (think of Galatians 2:20, for example). As Sinclair Ferguson put it, “through union with Christ all that is his by incarnation becomes ours through faith” (“The Christian Life,” 110). Let that percolate in your heart for a while. Your fear, anxiety, tears, and so forth, he feels. And his “ Peace, be still ” is yours. Second, the way we treat one an...
Read more

"Ah, Lord! We are Animated by Anger and Anxiety, Fear and Fury..."

Image
I hesitate to put this out there because of the combative environment we are in at present. But I think some souls will take courage from this, and some will also join with me as we get to the end of this little composition. I am struck by the words of God in Zechariah 8. As he rehearses the waywardness and faithlessness of his people in the past, he clearly declares that he " set every man against his neighbor " (8:10). That got me thinking long ago. I started putting the pieces together and realized that one of God's acts of judgment is division, setting a man against his neighbor. That's what happened when he divided his people into the northern tribes and southern tribes (see 1 Kings 11:26-40). Because of Solomon's turning aside, allowing his wives to turn his heart away from the God of his father, David, the Lord brings about a rift in God's people. And this pattern of divisive judgment runs throughout Scripture. On the other hand, truthful unity is the g...
Read more