Prayer Corner
25 November 2009, 12:50 pm
Filed under: Messenger
Filed under: Messenger
Prayer Corner
By Linda Barber
*Editor’s note: Due to the high volume of articles for the weekly newsletter, the Prayer Corner was unable to be posted before Thanksgiving.
Recently I sat in the sanctuary of a local non-liturgical church. I wondered what their worship service would include so I looked for a book of some kind, but the only book in the pew rack was the Bible. Now personally I wish we had Bibles in every pew, but I am glad we have The Book of Common Prayer. If you are not familiar with it, take some time on a Sunday morning before the service starts and page through it. Among its treasury of information are included services to meet every need, An Outline of the Faith (or Catechism which I had to memorize before I was confirmed), and prayers for every occasion.
While I know praying doesn’t require special words or formats and is best when it is a conversation from the heart followed by quiet time listening to God’s answer, there are times when prayers from someone else’s heart help clarify my own thoughts. I would like to share with you the general thanksgiving prayer found on page 836.
“Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.
We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.
We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.
We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.
Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.
Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.”
I hope you will find a little time to meditate on each of those thoughts this week. They include things we rarely think of as blessings but which are the very things which often bring us to where we need to be – face down on our knees before our Abba, Father.
To that prayer, I would like to add my personal thanks for the blessing of each of you, my church family. May God richly bless you and yours as being part of the family of St. Michael’s Church has been a blessing to me and mine. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
While I know praying doesn’t require special words or formats and is best when it is a conversation from the heart followed by quiet time listening to God’s answer, there are times when prayers from someone else’s heart help clarify my own thoughts. I would like to share with you the general thanksgiving prayer found on page 836.
“Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.
We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.
We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.
We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.
Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.
Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.”
I hope you will find a little time to meditate on each of those thoughts this week. They include things we rarely think of as blessings but which are the very things which often bring us to where we need to be – face down on our knees before our Abba, Father.
To that prayer, I would like to add my personal thanks for the blessing of each of you, my church family. May God richly bless you and yours as being part of the family of St. Michael’s Church has been a blessing to me and mine. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
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