St. Paul’s Cycle of Prayer – Saturday – for the Green Team and for all Creation, for our ministries to Seniors, and for all on our Parish prayer list.

We ask your prayers especially for the Rector Search committee as they conduct interviews with applicants this weekend

(click Prayer Instructions for help with the Daily Offices)

From the 11th chapter of Acts reading for today, verse 17, Peter says: If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”¹⁸ When they heard this, they were silenced.

When they heard this, they were silenced. Here is the “Rock”, the man upon which the church would be built, according to Jesus. From a simple fisherman to the leader of the 12 disciples, to a denier of Jesus, to the one Jesus told to “feed my sheep” after the resurrection, Peter speaks with a unique perspective and God given authority. In these words he reminds all the people of God to not be gate-keepers. My prayer for Christians everywhere is that we spend no more energy deciding who is in and who is out, and instead pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us and to speak through us to all we encounter. Then let God do the rest. It is past time for the Christian message to be portrayed as loving, grace filled, and welcoming to all. Y’all come. Who are we to hinder God?

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

(click Prayer Instructions for links to Morning or Evening Prayer for today)

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

This prayer of Self-Dedication from the prayer book is a great reminder of how to pray. I look at the Acts reading for today, which continues the story of St. Peter and Cornelius, one of my favorite Bible stories, and recognize the importance of this type of prayer to both of them in the story. Asking God to both guide our minds and fill our imaginations is a wonderful way to open ourselves up to what the Spirit is saying to us, where God is leading us. Peter never dreamed (until he did!) of eating unclean food, but he had become a man of deep and intense prayer, yesterday that prayer put him in a trance where the vision God sent him was received. But if he was not open to God guiding his mind, controlling his will, being utterly dedicated to God, it never would have happened. The same can be said for Cornelius. I pray it can be said for me. What about you?

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

From the 1 Samuel reading for today, chapter 16 – the story of Samuel anointing David as future king. As Jesse’s sons are paraded in front of Samuel, each is rejected by God despite what Samuel may think: “for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

St. Paul echoes this in 2nd Corinthians 5:16-20: “16-20Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!” (The Message).

In this day and age when we seem to be polarizing more than ever, separating people by race or economic status or which particular denominational beliefs they hold to be true, we would do well to remember – the Lord does not see as we see, he sees our hearts. And as followers of Christ, we are also called to no longer look at people from a human point of view. We have all been made one in Christ, all created new. High time we lived like we believed that.

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

Words from Psalm 5, appointed for today: ³In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; *
early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for you.

Watching for the Lord. That’s my ever increasing call. Pray. Watch.