Plea for Divine Presence

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
 
Older than the morning stars 
    that twinkled in the blackness of night’s first birth,
    the rotation of the axis of time,
    bring us into the freshness of your mercy 
    and the newness of your presence.
We come to you today with heartfelt gratitude,
    not with mixing Judas paint with Judas praise
    in order to cover our hypocrisy.
Some of us come to you with triumph over tragedy.
Others of us come with enduring pain
    suffering from shameful defeat
    in an inescapable battle of life.
Some of us feel like going on
    and others of us feel like giving up.
But to you we come just as we are.
Whether we are winners or losers,
    we know that you love us one and all.
Greatest of the Greatest,
    you know just how much we can bear.
We all come to commune with you:
 
    The tireless champion;
    The tired loser;
    The retired forgotten ones;
    We all come to be consistently corrected
        and confronted by you.
    We come counting our lost.
    We come as citizens of cities controlled by crime.
    We come chilled by the cold of cowardice.
    Great God Almighty:
    Commune with us conscience clean.
    Caress us with the cradle of compassion.
    Consecrate us with courageous convictions.
    Control us with Christlike concerns.
    Great Physician Powerful:
    Pardon us with the conscience of peace.
    Place us in paths of productivity.
 
Practice the perfection of healing 
    upon those who are physically, emotionally, or spiritually sick.
This is our humble plea, 
    we present in the precious Name of the prince of peace, 
    Jesus Christ, our priceless priest. Amen.
 
J. Alfred Smith, Sr, 1931-2025, American pastor in Oakland, California
 
________________________
 
 
For the Lord your God is living among you.
    He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
    With his love, he will calm all your fears.
    He will rejoice over you with joyful songs

Sin’s True Colors

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
 
Lord God,
when the devil presents the bait,
    show us the hook.
When the devil presents the golden cup
    show the poison hidden inside.
When the devil presents the sweet pleasure of sin,
    show us the misery that will follow.
When the devil presents the profit of yielding to sin,
    show us the wrath that comes from committing it.
When Satan promises the soul honor and profit,
    give us eyes to see the shame and loss he delivers.
Strengthen our resolve
    that we keep at the greatest possible distance from sin,
    and not play with the golden bait held out by Satan.
 
May we tremble at sin, and keep our distance from it.
Give us eyes to see that sin is a bitter sweet
    whose sweetness quickly vanishes,
     replaced by lasting shame, sorrow, horror and terror.
May we fear to lose
    that divine favor that is better than life,
        that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory,
            that peace that passes understanding,
                those divine influences by which our souls
                are refreshed, raised and gladdened.
 
Help us to see when Satan paints sin with virtue’s colors:
    when pride is called neatness and cleanliness,
    when covetousness is called good stewardship,
    when drunkenness is called good company,
    when a lack of self-control is called liberality,
    and when wild living is called youthful tricks.
Help us to see through the deceits of sin.
Help us to see sin as one day we will see it:
    when what once appeared sweet will appear most bitter,
    what once appeared beautiful will appear most ugly,
    what once appeared delightful will appear most dreadful.
 
Gracious Father, may we reckon the true price of our sin:
    that it cost the best blood, the noblest blood,
        the life-blood, the heart-blood of our Lord Jesus.
 
Thomas Brooks, 1608–1680, English Puritan preacher and author
 
_____________________________
 

Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
 

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Let God be my portion

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Parable of the hidden treasure, Rembrandt or Gerard Dou, via Wikimedia Commons
 
Let the eternal God be the portion of my soul;
let heaven be my inheritance and hope;
let Christ be my Head and my promise of security;
let faith be my wisdom,
and love my very heart and will.
and patient persevering obedience be my life;
 
and then I can spare the wisdom of the world,
because I can spare the trifles that it seeks.
 
Richard Baxter, 1615-1691, English Puritan
 
______________________
 
 
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, 
where moth and rust destroy 
    and where thieves break in and steal, 
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 
where neither moth nor rust destroys 
    and where thieves do not break in and steal.

prayer for Christian leaders

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Shepherd with a Flock of Sheep, Van Gogh, via Wikimedia Commons
 
 
Lord, cleanse our churches, and repair their walls,
    so that they may become gardens of delight
    for Christ to walk in and take pleasure in.
May her ministers be faithful and wise:
    faithful so they do not deceive others;
    wise so they do not deceive themselves.
May their wisdom prevent deceivers imposing on them,
    and their faithfulness prevent them imposing on others.
May their wisdom enable them to discern
    wholesome food for the flock
and their faithfulness oblige them to distribute it.
 
May our leaders be pure
    with spiritual aims and intentions,
serving not their own honor and intentions, but yours.
 
May our leaders show sincerity,
    not appearing outwardly spiritual
        while being inwardly carnal.
 
May our leaders be diligent,
    like men in harvest,
        like women in labor,
            like men in battle,
                watching while others sleep.
 
May our leaders lack favoritism,
    as those who will appear before an impartial God.
May they take the same care,
    manifest the same love,
        show the same diligence
        to the poorest and weakest souls in their care
        as they do the rich, the great and the honorable.
    For all souls are rated the same in your book of life,
    and our Redeemer paid as much for one as the other.
 
May their faithfulness fix their eyes on the right end,
    and may their wisdom direct them
    to the best means of attaining it.
May they lay a good foundation of knowledge in our souls,
    choosing subjects that will meet our needs,
    shaping the language in which they address us,
    using their own affections to move us,
    being careful of their behavior.
Send them often to their knees
    to seek your blessings upon their labor,
    knowing that all their success 
        entirely depends upon you.
 
John Flavel, c. 1627–1691, English Puritan Presbyterian minister
__________________________
 
 
To the elders among you, 
I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings 
    who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 
Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, 
    watching over them—not because you must, 
    but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; 
    not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve ; 
    not lording it over those entrusted to you, 
    but being examples to the flock.
 

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Help us look for you, Lord

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment
The Christ Mosaic, Maria Laach Abbey Germany, via pikpik
 
Jesus,
   how clearly we see you at Christmas time,
   cradled by Mary,
   protected by Joseph,
   worshiped by shepherds,
   honored by kings,
   enshrined on the altar,
   and loved by the world.

But, oh, Lord,
   help us look for you, too,
   among the taxes of life,
   and the wanderings of rootless travelers.
   In the world’s smelly stables,
   and in makeshift mangers.
   In sweat-like drops of blood
   and rough-hewn crosses, humanly fashioned.
   Help us look, Lord –
   and help us find!

Not only at Christmas,
   but throughout a New Year
   that it might become indeed
   ‘the year of our Lord’.

Mary Sue Rosenberger 1940-2020 American author, nurse and chaplain
Prayers Encircling the World
________________________________

Hosea 10:12

Sow righteousness for yourselves,
   reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
   for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes
   and showers his righteousness on you.
________________________________

What is one practice you can adopt that would help you seek Jesus throughout the year?

Jesus, Enter this Dark World again

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Massacre of the Innocents, ​Giotto, via Wikimedia Commons
 
Dear Jesus,

It’s a good thing you were born at night. 
This world sure seems dark. 
I have a good eye for silver linings. 
But they seem dimmer lately.

These killings, Lord. 
These children, Lord. 
Innocence violated. 
Raw evil demonstrated.

The whole world seems on edge. 
Trigger-happy. Ticked off. 
We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. 
Are we one button-push away from annihilation?

Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. 
But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. 
The shepherds were nightshift workers. 
The Wise Men followed a star. 
Your first cries were heard in the shadows. 
To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. 
It was dark. 
    Dark with Herod’s jealousy. 
    Dark with Roman oppression. 
    Dark with poverty. 
    Dark with violence.

Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. 
Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. 
You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.

Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. 
Won’t you enter ours? 
We are weary of bloodshed. 
We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. 
We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.

This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.

Hopefully,
Your Children

Max Lucado, 1955-, Texas pastor and author, written after the Sandy Hook shootings, 2012
source: Christian Post
 
______________________________

Matthew 2:16-18

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious,
    and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
    who were two years old and under, 
    in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
 
Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
  “A voice is heard in Ramah,
      weeping and great mourning,
  Rachel weeping for her children
      and refusing to be comforted,
      because they are no more.”
 
______________________________

Where is a dark place in your world where Jesus needs to enter anew?

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Defend the cradle of my mind

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
The Three Wise Men, by Henry Ossawa Tanner, via Wikimedia Commons
 
Come closer to me, closer still, O Power of the Holy Trinity.  
Enter into my consciousness more deeply 
    than thoughts and emblems of the world can.
In the same way as a wise mother, when she conceives,
    prepares and embellishes a cradle for her child,
    so prepare and embellish my mind for that which will be begotten from You,
    O Beauty and Purity.

Many evil thoughts lurk like serpents around the cradle of Your Son.
And many wicked desires emerge from my heart and seek the cradle of Your Prince,
    to poison Him with their arrows.

Defend the cradle of my mind,
    and teach my soul how to give birth and care for an infant.

Shroud in deep darkness 
    the journey of all malevolent visitors coming to see my newborn son.
And raise aloft a most radiant star 
    over the way of the Wise Men from the East,
    men who are truly wise, 
    because they are coming to visit my most precious child with three gifts—
    faith, hope, and love.

Come closer to me, still closer, my majestic Lord.

Nikolai Velimirovich 1881-1956 Serbian Orthodox monastic
Prayers by the Lake, source, edited
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Matthew 2:9-12

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, 
    and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them 
   until it stopped over the place where the child was. 
When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, 
    and they bowed down and worshiped him. 
Then they opened their treasures 
    and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 
And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, 
    they returned to their country by another route.
__________________________________

How is your mind vulnerable to harmful thought patterns?
How can reflecting on the personhood of Jesus help protect your thought life?

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To Become like your Disarming Child

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Adoration of the Child, ​Gerard van Honthorst, via Wikimedia Commons
 
Father,
People of the world walk in darkness.
The struggle for power
   ruins the weak
   enriches the wealthy
   and gives power to the powerful.
We need to see the great light
   the light that shines in all its brightness.

Your kingdom of peace comes through a child,
   and liberation is bestowed on people
   who become as children:
      disarmingly defenseless,
      disarming through their defenselessness,
      and making others defenseless
      because they themselves are so disarming.
The birth of this child opens for us the future
   of a life in peace that is different from all life before,
   since that life was bound up with death.
This child is Jesus Christ,
   the child in the manger,
   the preacher on the mount,
   the tormented man on the cross,
   the risen liberator.
Help us to follow this child even today
   making visible something of this peace
   that he will complete.
Help us to share in the new creation
   born again to a living hope
   and live as new men and women.

Jürgen Moltmann 1926-2024 German Reformed theologian

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Matthew 2:1-6

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, 
Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 
    “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? 
      We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 
When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, 
he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 
    “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, 
    “for this is what the prophet has written:

“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
________________________________

How was Jesus disarming as an infant and throughout his life?
How can you be more childlike in the ways that Jesus was?

Becoming Real Human Beings

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
The Nativity, ​El Greco, via Wikimedia Commons
 
You became human, really human.
While we endeavor to grow out of our humanity,
    to leave our human nature behind us,
    You became human,
    and we must recognize that You want us also to be human –
    really human.
Whereas we distinguish between the godly and the godless,
    the good and the evil, the noble and the common,
    You love real human beings without distinction. . . .
    You take the side of real human beings and the real world
        against all their accusers. . . .
 
But it’s not enough to say that You take care of human beings.
This sentence rests on something
    infinitely deeper and more impenetrable,
    namely, that in the conception and birth of Jesus Christ,
    You took on humanity in bodily fashion.
You raised your love for human beings
    above every reproach of falsehood and doubt and uncertainty
    by yourself entering into the life of human beings as a human being,
    by bodily taking upon yourself
    and bearing the nature, essence, guilt, and suffering of human beings.
 
Out of love for human beings, You became a human being.
You do not seek out the most perfect human being
    in order to unite with that person.
Rather, You take on human nature as it is.
 
after Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906 – 1945 German Lutheran theologian and martyr

_______________________________

John 1:14

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
    and we have seen his glory,
    glory as of the only Son from the Father,
    full of grace and truth.
 
_______________________________

How do you value your own humanity 
   in light of the reality that God chose to become a human being?

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Understanding the Mystery of your Incarnation

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Adoration of the Christ Child, School of Jan Joest, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
 
O Lord Jesus Christ,
   make me worthy to understand
   the profound mystery of your holy incarnation,
   which you have worked for our sake and for our salvation.
Truly there is nothing so great and wonderful as this,
   that you, my God, who are the creator of all things,
   should become a creature,
   so that we should become like God.
You have humbled yourself and made yourself small
   that we might be made mighty.
You have taken the form of a servant,
   so that you might confer upon us a royal and divine beauty.

You, who are beyond our understanding,
   have made yourself understandable to us in Jesus Christ.
You, who are the uncreated God,
   have made yourself a creature for us.
You, who are the untouchable One,
   have made yourself touchable to us.
You, who are most high,
   make us capable of understanding
   your amazing love
   and the wonderful things you have done for us.
Make us able to understand the mystery of your incarnation,
   the mystery of your life, example and doctrine,
   the mystery of your cross and Passion,
   the mystery of your resurrection and ascension.

Angela of Foligno 1248-1309 Italian Franciscan tertiary
_________________________

Hebrews 1:1-3

Long ago, at many times and in many ways,
    God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
    but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,
    whom he appointed the heir of all things,
    through whom also he created the world.
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature,
    and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
After making purification for sins,
    he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high
 
_____________________________  

How do you understand the incarnation of God’s son?

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