Vespers - 10 February 2019



Almighty and indestructible God, who never grows old, and never succumbs to Alzheimer’s, dementia or amnesia; you never forget your promises and never misplace your valuables; you speak and your word is solid and sure; you plan out the end from the beginning and all you have planned comes about. It is to you that we come, worshiping you in your greatness, adoring your majesty, singing your might, and offering ourselves as living, whole-person sacrifices, made holy and acceptable to you through Jesus Christ your Son, and in the power of your Holy Spirit. O Lord, hear our prayer.

Turn your eyes and care onto those who are having trouble and turmoil in their marriages or with their children…; those who find that life hasn’t gone where they had dreamed and are disheartened…; and those who are in the ravenous grip of rapacious urges...; Because you have not given us a spirit of fear, but the Spirit of power, love and self-control (2 Timothy 1.7), fortify them with the righteous resilience to work through their situation, looking above, where Christ is, seated at your right hand, and to turn neither to the right hand or to the left. O Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray that you would be with our neighbors in our neighborhoods where we live…turn our suburbs and subdivisions into real neighborhoods and communities of caring people who treat one another with respect, interest, kindness and friendliness and will look out for each other’s best interests. And help us to see how we can be part of that.  O Lord, hear our prayer.

Finally, Lord, we pray for these…May they know in fresh ways that the LORD is their shepherd, and they have no need to want. That you make them lie down in green pastures, you lead them by still waters, you restore their soul, and that you lead them in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake. 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