Gracious Father, we pray for your Church
Fill it with your truth, and keep it in your peace.
Where it is corrupt, purge it;
where it is in error, direct it;
where it is right, strengthen and confirm it;
where it needs help, provide for it;
where it is divided, heal it,
and unite it in your love,
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
after William Laud, 1573-1645, Archbishop of Canterbury
beheaded during the English Civil War
The Book of a Thousand Prayers
_____________________
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,
and blown here and there by every wind of teaching
and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
Instead, speaking the truth in love,
we will grow to become in every respect
the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
From him the whole body,
joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
grows and builds itself up in love,
as each part does its work.
prayer & verse 
Two comments. I love this picture. A church that’s empty can speak of being dead or, like this, can speak of someone hungering for God. Two, the prayer is poignant especially when you understand that this archbishop was beheaded.
LikeLike