Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River
Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him
with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his
Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly
confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy
Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Here is a beautiful prayer for Lent by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If you have never read any of his books, you need to. His ideas and practices written about during his imprisoning and eventual death at the hands of the Nazis has inspired and taught many, many people. Regardless of whether you are familiar with his works or not, I hope the Spirit uses this prayer as you pray it. (Thanks Christine Sine for originally posting this at her blog Godspace.)
I Cannot Do This Alone
O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray
And to concentrate my thoughts on you;
I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness,
But with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways,
But you know the way for me….
Restore me to liberty,
And enable me to live now
That I may answer before you and before men.
Lord whatever this day may bring,
Your name be praised.
Amen
A friend of mine called me today inquiring about a book I had recommended on Facebook. The book he was referring to was Robert Benson’s short and tremendously challenging and insightful In Constant Prayer. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it is by far one of my favorite books. I was quickly reminded of this as I flipped through it earlier today and came across this passage on the neglect of prayer:
“We who will get up and walk, or even run miles in the mornings, not to mention those of us who are not willing to wait for there to be enough light to see the bottom of the flag or for the frost to go away before we tee off; we who will haul ourselves through our neighborhoods in the dark to make sure that we have the box scores as quick as we can – for all kinds of reasons, including some good ones, I suppose, we will not, cannot, do not rise in the morning to greet the dawn with a song of praise on our lips, as did those who went before us.
We who will stay up late to watch the televised version of the news that we heard on our drive home at six, who will TiVo enough must-see television that we have to stay up late to keep up, who will not go to sleep without burning the candle at both ends and in the middle if we can figure out how to get it lit, will not end our days with praise and worship and confession and blessing.
We will not do these things in the name of love or discipline, devotion or worship. We will not even do it for selfish reasons, or even as a reliable way of self-actualization, to put it in its least favorable context- which, in our Western American, twenty-first century, self-help, and consumer-driven culture, is astonishing. And that includes some of us in certain communities of faith who made a promise to pray the office when we joined. Some of us did not even notice the promise we made at our confirmation, and the clergy do not point it out very often.
And if you believe the scholars and the media and the pundits who predict our increasing collective future irrelevance, then I am also a member of the generation that will preside over the death of the Church. Call it postmodern, call it post-Christian, call it Post Toasties if you want to, but there is a world out there that says we – the Church united, divided, militant, or otherwise – can do nothing to spread the gospel here on earth. Much less do anything to make each hour of the day or night any holier.
The witness of those who went before us is that we can. We just don’t.”
My Father, enlarge my heart, warm my affections, open my
lips to proclaim “Love shines at Calvary.”
There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on thy
Son, made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me;
there an infinite atonement was made; there infinite
punishment was endured.Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,
cast off that I might be brought in,
beaten down as an enemy that I might be
welcomed as a friend,
stripped that I might be clothed,
wounded that I might be healed,
tormented that I might be comforted,
made a shame that I might have eternal life.My Savior wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
bore a thorny crown that I might have a glory diadem,
bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
closed his eyes in death that I might live forever.O Father, who spared not thine only Son that thou
might spare me, help me to adore thee by lips
and life.Amen.
If you haven’t been made aware of it yet, our world is quickly becoming glocalized. I know it sounds like a made up word, and I suppose in some ways it is, but the importance of being familiar with its meaning is paramount. Nearly everywhere we turn we are seeing its affects, resulting both in new challenges and new potentialities. Whereas in days gone past, people were relatively isolated geographically, resulting in their cultures, personalities, and goals being bound locally. Towns, villages, counties, states, and perhaps your country were generally your realms of knowledge and experience. Sure there were people, places, and things “out there” somewhere, but you only read of them or, until relatively recent times, watched them on television.
With the onset of technological innovation, our geographical boundaries, and therefore our cultural ones as well, have exploded. Events happening half a world away now affect you in your local grocery store. Think it isn’t true? Recall the recent Egyptian turmoil mixed with the following government upheavals in the general vicinity of Egypt. Now think about your vegetable and fruit prices. Now think about your gas prices. (Is this starting to sound like an Old Spice commercial?) They are all linked and have multiple networked results in a glocalized world. So that hand grenade thrown at anti-government rebels in a small town in Africa may very well mean your vacation plans going down the tubes.
But this doesn’t just have to discussed negatively. There are multitudes of positive examples. Think about all the aid that has been put together through the glocalized networks of our planet. The other day I heard of a little elementary school boy collecting money for people struck by disaster in Japan. For this little boy, his neighborhood has been drastically altered from his actual neighborhood to a global one in which he, a young American white boy, can actually do something for people in Japan. He is thinking locally while acting globally.
Another example, and one that directly impacts me, has been the glocal relationship between the Anglican Church of Rwanda and the Anglican Mission in the Americas. Not only did the Rwandan church come to the aid and rescue of Episcopalians looking for refuge from heretical bishops, but in turn they came to the rescue of many people who have met Christ through AMiA. Without going into great detail, the Anglican Rwandan church, in the poorest country on Earth, welcomed orthodox Anglicans into their fold in order to send them back to America as missionaries to their own country. Not only did this free them ecclesiastically, but more so missionally for the sake of others. If you want the entire story, I highly recommend Never Silent, which narrates the story of the glocal efforts of the Rwandans and a small band of Americans.
As a result of this, we in AMiA, have taken on some of the Rwandan liturgy. This is just another example of the life-giving result of being connected relationally in a global-local way. Below is the Post-Communion prayer and the Blessing given to end the liturgy every Sunday during Lent. It beautifully captures the essence of why we gather and then are sent out as missionaries to our communities. Thus, together, as a local congregation and a global church, both in America and Rwanda, we are lifting our voices and our lives, in unison, to the God who is community and love. In a very real way, the Eucharist itself is that which glocalizes the world.
“O God of our fathers, before whose face the human generations pass away: We give thanks that in you we are kept safe for ever, and that the broken fragments of our history are gathered up in the redeeming act of your dear Son, remembered in this holy sacrament of bread and wine. Help us to walk daily in the Communion of Saints, declaring our faith in the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the body. Now send us out in the power of your Holy Spirit to live and work for your praise and glory. Amen.”
Then the one leading the service gives the final Blessing, which is responded to by all with an “Amen”:
“May God the Father, who does not despise the broken spirit, give to you a contrite heart. Amen.
May God the Son, who bore our sins in his body on the tree, heal you by his wounds. Amen.
May God the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, speak to you words of pardon and peace. Amen.
And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.”
Rather beautiful, isn’t it?
Most loving Father, whose will it is for us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on you who care for us: Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which you have manifested to us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
When was the last time you heard a sermon or study on Psalm 88? I would be willing to bet that you never have, especially if you are part of an evangelical/conservative church. We tend to see Christianity as a faith of joy, smiles, and overall goodness depicted by things going well for us. This is at least true in the Western, American church.
Yet Psalm 88 slaps us in the face and reminds us that life isn’t so simple.
Lurking beneath the veneer of happiness and smiling faces lies the reality that life is difficult and God doesn’t always appear as our close friend. The songs we sing where we will always praise God, always feel his close presence, and always be found in some weird form of “boyfriend-girlfriend” type relationship isn’t true.
Reality is found in that we don’t always have this type of experience. Life is difficult and God doesn’t always seem just “a phone call away.” Thankfully, our forebears, the Hebrews, remind us of this in Psalm 88. As Eugene Peterson says, “The Greeks had a story for every situation; the Hebrews had a prayer for every situation.” And for the absence of God they wrote and lived out Psalm 88.
Read it below and allow it to sink in. Maybe our faith needs to be disoriented a bit.
1 LORD, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, LORD, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction[e]?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry to you for help, LORD;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, LORD, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.
“Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.” – Prayer for Mission from the Book of Common Prayer, Daily Office: Morning Prayer
“O God Almighty, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, grant us, we pray thee, to be grounded and settled in the truth, by the coming down of the Holy Spirit into our hearts. That which we know not…reveal; that which is wanting in us…fill up; that which we know…confirm, and keep up blameless in thy service; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” Clement
