New Zealand Book of Common Prayer: Night Prayer

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I am leading our Seekers group tonight and will include one of my favorite prayers from the New Zealand prayer book. I offer it to you this evening as well:

I will lie down in peace and take my rest,

for it is in God alone that I dwell unafraid.

Let us bless the Earth-maker, the Pain-bearer, the Life-giver,

let us praise and exalt God above all for ever.

Lord, it is night.

The night is for stillness.

Let us be still in the presence of God.

It is night after a long day.

What has been done has been done;

what has not been done has not been done;

let it be.

The night is quiet.

Let the quietness of your peace enfold us,

all dear to us, and all who have no peace.

The night heralds the dawn.

Let us look expectantly to a new day,

new joys, new possibilities.

In your name we pray. Amen.

O God of love and mercy, grant us, with all your people, rest and peace. Amen.

St. Paul’s Cycle of Prayer – Sunday – Clergy, Staff, Wardens and Vestry and the Rector Search (click HERE to read the Rector Search prayer)

Hallowed be thy name

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Our gospel reading for today is from Matthew 6 and includes the text of the Lord’s Prayer. There have of course been volumes written about this prayer, the Our Father said countless times by believers over the centuries. I cannot tell you how many times I have prayed with someone who is gravely ill, near death or suffering mightily and while it may seem they cannot communicate, when we say the Lord’s Prayer, they respond. Sometimes verbally as best they can, other times just in body language or eye movement. The prayer brings comfort and familiarity and reminds us God takes care of us, day by day.

It is also good to pay attention to the words of prayers which become so so familiar. I talk often about “practicing forgiveness”, to become forgivers we must forgive. To expect forgiveness we must forgive. And sometimes it’s really hard. Yet our Lord reminds us: 

4For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Go and practice. Be a forgiver so that you may be forgiven.

St. Paul’s Cycle of Prayer – Friday – Daughters of the King, Brotherhood of St. Andrew, Marthas, worship volunteers (acolytes, ushers and greeters, chalice bearers) and all over volunteer groups who work so tirelessly and joyfully for the Kingdom of God and the Body of Christ at St. Paul’s.

Happy Anniversary to me!

Excuse the personal touch today, but I have so much to be thankful for. My wife, Jennifer, and I are celebrating 32 years of marriage today. I am so blessed and she, along with our children, sons-in-law and grandchildren (one here, one on the way soon) are all answers to prayer, of that I have no doubt.

Pray today for families, in all the various shapes and sizes they come in.

From the BCP, For those we love:

Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to your never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come, knowing you are doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Paul’s Cycle of Prayer – Thursday – The people of Bondeau, Haiti, especially Pere Phanord, the school teachers and medical clinic volunteers, for our Cursillo community.

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Tough stuff from Matthew Chapter 5 today:

43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

You have to be wary, I believe, when Jesus starts a sentence with “you have heard that it was said”, always followed by the lethal “But I say to you”. I imagine those following him cringing whenever they hear one of these admonitions. “How hard will this be?” they must wonder.

We don’t have to wonder. It IS hard. Loving our enemies AND praying for them? Greeting those who are not part of “us”. Welcoming the stranger, the different, the other?

Maybe in this political campaign season, reporters can start questions that way – “tell me Candidate X, you have heard it said….but Jesus said…..How does that fit your policy plans?” I would especially like to hear that asked of candidates and those in office who claim allegiance to Jesus above all else. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Christians serving in the public sphere, running for office, etc. I just want them to act more like Jesus, to remember how Jesus turns everything upside down, and then promoting policies that echo “but I say to you”, no matter how hard that may be. Especially how hard it may be to get votes once they really follow our Lord…..

St. Paul’s Cycle of Prayer – Wednesday – Paul’s Place after school program and the St. Paul’s Day School

Psalm 78 gives a history lesson of the murmuring of the Israelites in the wilderness and includes these words: 

25So mortals ate the bread of angels; *he provided for them food enough.

Provided food enough. And what is this food? Paul talks about it in today’s lesson to the church in Corinth. 1st Corinthians 5 admonishes the Corinthians for immoral behavior, then reminds them also of the kind of food God has given them:

7 Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

St. Paul’s Cycle of Prayer – Tuesday – Seekers and other Young Adults, those in our community who are unchurched, our community and those in need, especially Family Promise and CROS ministries