New Testament

give us the light of reconciliation

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Chapel Of Reconciliation, Michael McLaughlin Photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
 
Lord, God our Father, 
through Jesus Christ, your Son, 
in the power of your Holy Spirit, 
    give light to our eyes, that we may see your light, 
    the brightly shining light of reconciliation! 
For this is the greatest sickness, 
    when one cannot see the light, even during the day.
Free us from this sickness, 
    us and all Christians who celebrate Easter either well or poorly,
    the entire human community, both near and far,
    who are again and again being confused and endangered anew!
 
Bless what comes to pass in this church and in other churches 
    and communities that are now still separated from us,
    that it may be a testimony to your name, your kingdom, and your will!
Reign also over all the various concerns of the government authorities,
    administrations, and courts here and all over the world!
Strengthen the teachers in consideration of their high task 
    for the growing generation;
  the people who write newspapers,
    conscious of their grave responsibility for public opinion that they influence;
  the doctors and nurses,
    for genuine attentiveness to the needs of those who are in their care!
Substitute your comfort, your counsel, and your help 
    for all that would accuse the many lonely, poor, sick and confused among us!
And let your mercy be apparent and powerful to all who are here in this house,
    along with their families!
We place ourselves and all that we lack and that the world requires
    in your hands.
 
Our hope is on you.  We trust in you.
You have never let your people be put to shame,
    whenever they earnestly called on you.
What you have begun,
    you will surely finish. Amen.
 
Karl Barth, 1886 – 1968, Swiss Reformed theologian
 
______________________________
 
 
 
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. 
Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, 
    we regard him thus no longer. 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 
The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself 
    and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 
  that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, 
    not counting their trespasses against them, 
    and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

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let me practice pure religion

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash
 
Father, I have seen the commands of Scripture
    to care deeply about the plight of the oppressed.
I am often moved emotionally 
    when oppression is before me.
I am often filled with good intentions about what I could do
    to help those who are oppressed.
Yet I seldom act.
I seldom visit the orphans and the widows.
I seldom speak against the systematic oppression in our world.
Sometimes I don’t act because I’m too consumed 
    with the details of my life.
Sometimes I don’t act because I don’t want to complicate my life.
But today please strip away all my excuses,
    and let me practice pure religion:
    by visiting the afflicted and comforting them,
    by working to stop injustice,
    and by keeping myself from loving this world too much to act or pray.
 
Kurt Bjorklund, 1968- , American Minister and author of
Prayers for Today A Yearlong Journey of Devotional Prayer
 
______________________________
 
 
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: 
    to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, 
    and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
 
 

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prepare the way to You

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / Maxpixel / CC0
 
Lord Jesus Christ, listen to the voice of our distress 
    in the desert of penitents crying out to you;
    that we may not be deceived 
    by the falsehood of discussion in nobility of birth, 
    from superstition of religion, 
    from curiosity of knowledge tempting us; 
grant us to prepare the way to you by abandoning sin,
    by the purpose of repenting,
    by the remission of wrongs,
    by contempt of temporal things,
    and by the observing of the commandments.
May your paths be made straight in us 
    by the renunciation of our own will, feeling, self-confidence,
    by the spending over and above of deliberations;
that in the house of Bethany of obedience 
    baptized with the water of true contrition, 
    with the Holy Spirit and with fire across Jordan, 
    and after the river of the last judgment 
we may perfectly know you,   
    the Mediator of virtue and knowledge, 
    the Mediator of God and men.
 
St. Albert the Great, 1206-1280, German Dominican
 
______________________________
 
 
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, 
    so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith,
    just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit,
    according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, 
    and not according to Christ. 
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 
    and you have been filled in him,    
    who is the head of all rule and authority.
 

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I want to finish well

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
 
O Lord, I want to finish well.
As the years march on, it is painful to realize I no longer possess
    the physical skills or energy I used to have.  
But even more frightening are the persistent temptations 
    that threaten to wear me down.  
The enemy knows my weaknesses, 
    and day after day, month after month, year after year, 
    he knows which temptations are most likely to attract me.  
I am afraid that, in a moment of weakness, I will sin boldly 
    and then have to live with the tragic consequences.  
Please keep me away from circumstances 
    where the temptation will be too strong for me to overcome.  
I don’t want to let an evening of fun ruin a lifetime of faithfulness.  
 
Lord, may I finish strong in my walk of faith.
When I am old and gray and depart this earth, 
    I will meet you face-to-face.
I pray that you will be able to say,
    ” Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
 
Ron A. Beers 
 
_______________________
 
 
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, 
will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

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humble thankfulness

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Photo by Kate Remmer on Unsplash
 
We thank you, Lord God and Father, Creator of heaven and earth, 
    for all your good gifts which we, O Father of lights, 
    have received from you, and receive daily from your generous hand 
    you who have clothed our bodies with the needed covering
    and satisfied them with the natural bread
    through Jesus Christ, your dearly beloved Son, our Lord, 
We humbly pray, dear beloved Father, that you would look upon us, your children,
     persecuted for the sake of your holy Gospel,
     and earnestly desiring in our weakness to live devoutly in this world.
Be pleased to keep us in your Word, in fatherly fashion,
     in order that to the end of our days we may remain constant in your Gospel,
     revealed by you to the plain and simple
     and hidden to the wise ones in this world.
 
Menno Simons, 1496-1561, Dutch Anabaptist leader & founder of the Mennonites
2000 Years of Prayer freely modified
 
__________________________
 
 
Every good and perfect gift is from above, 
    coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
    who does not change like shifting shadows. 
He chose to give us birth through the word of truth,
    that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
 

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Thank You for the trials

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Photo by Dorothy Lin on Unsplash
 
Lord, I do not see many people who are happy.
I see more people who are vexed by troubles 
    and overcome with anguish at their difficulties. . . .
Sometimes, I too am derailed by trials. . . .
I am tempted to see trials as only negative 
    because I like to think that I’m in control. . . .
I am tempted to see trials as negative 
    because I tend to think that this life matters most. . . .
Remind me that there is a limit to my perspective and wisdom. . . .
I do not see all there is to see.
Remind me that Jesus suffered and He was completely innocent. . . .
If He suffered, I too may experience suffering.
Remind me that this world is temporary. . . .
I will not be satisfied in this life.
So I thank You today for the trials You have allowed in my life. . . .
I thank You for being my fortress and strength. . . .
    and for giving me perseverance. . . .
Thank You for what these trials are doing in me –
    developing maturity and completeness.
Amen.
 
Kurt Bjorklund, 1968- , American Minister and author of
Prayers for Today A Yearlong Journey of Devotional Prayer

_________________
 
 
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds,
   because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance

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Eye of God, look not away

/ Eric Mathews / 2 Comments
Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash
 
All-Seeing One,
above me, around me, within me,
Be my seeing as I read these sacred words.
Look down upon me
Look out from within me
Look all around me
See through my eyes
Hear through my ears
Feel through my heart
Touch me where I need to be touched;
    and when my heart is touched,
    give me the grace to lay down this Holy Book
    and ask significant questions:
Why has my heart been touched?
How am I to be changed through this touch?
All-Seeing One,
I need to change
I need to look a little more like You
May these sacred words change and transform me.
Then I can meet You face to face
    without dying
    because I’ve finally died enough.
To die is to be healed a little more each death,
    until that final death
    when I’ll be healed forever.
It will be a healing that will last.
Your Words are healing
    although they bring about my death.
 
Macrina Wiederkehr, 1939-2020, Benedictine sister and spiritual director
 
_____________________________
 
 
For the word of God is alive and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword,
    it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;
    it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.
Everything is uncovered and laid bare
    before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
 

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Reconcile me that I may be made whole

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / picryl
 
O God, Giver of Life, Bearer of Pain, Maker of Love,
You are able to accept in me 
    what I cannot even acknowledge.
You are able to name in me 
    what I cannot bear to speak of.
You are able to hold in Your memory 
    what I have tried to forget.
You are able to hold out to me 
    the glory that I cannot conceive of.
Reconcile me through Your cross to all that I have rejected in myself,
    that I may find no part of Your creation to be alien or strange to me,
    and that I may be made whole,
through Jesus Christ my lover and my friend.
 
From Southwell Litany
 
__________________________
 
 
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
   and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
    provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

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take our lives and transform them

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

 

O Lord, take all our sorrows 
    and use them to show us the nature of your joy.
Take all our sins and, forgiving them,
    use them to show us the ways of true pleasantness 
                                and the path to true peace.
Take all our broken purposes and disappointed hopes 
    and use them to make your perfect rainbow arch.
Take all our clouds of sadness and calamity
    and from them make your sunset glories.
Take our night
    and make it bright with stars.
Take our ill-health and pain 
    until they accomplish in your purpose
    as much as health could achieve.
Take us as we are with impulses, strivings, longings
    so often frustrated and thwarted,
    and even with what is broken and imperfect,
  make your dreams come true,
through him who made of human life a sacrament, 
    of thorns a crown, of a cross a throne,
    even through Jesus Christ our Lord.
 
Leslie D. Weatherhead, 1893-1976, London Minister
 
__________________________
 
 
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
    are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

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my merciful Redeemer

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment
image / falco / pixabay
 
O Lord, I am your clay. You are my potter and skilled master.  Because you pronounce me a sinner, I accept your word.  I sincerely acknowledge and confess the godless condition which shows itself in my flesh and my entire nature.  I do so that you may be glorified and I humiliated.  As with all others, I am sin and death; you are life and righteousness.  Together with all people I am the worst evil; you are and remain the highest good.  I acknowledge and confess all this.  I am led to this confession not by my reason, which would rather cover up and disguise this godless condition, but through your law and promises, I want your honor to stay and increase.  
 
Lord, I am your sin; you are my righteousness.  Therefore I am glad and have victory without fear.  For my sin cannot outweigh or overpower your righteousness.  Neither will your righteousness permit me to be or remain a sinner.  Your Spirit, O Lord, must make and keep me alive.  Blessed are you, O faithful God, my merciful Redeemer.  In you alone do I trust.  Amen.
 
Martin Luther, 1483 – 1546, German Reformer
 
______________________________
 
 
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
 

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