New Testament

Grace to interpret the Scriptures

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
 
We implore you, Father of the only-begotten, 
    Lord of the universe,
        the one who has crafted all creatures,
        the maker of things that have been made.
 
We stretch out clean hands, 
    and we unfold our thoughts to you, Lord.
Have compassion, spare, benefit, improve and multiply us 
    in virtue, faith and knowledge.
 
Visit us, O Lord.
We display our own weaknesses to you.
Have mercy and pity on us all.
Lift up this people, and make us gentle and sober-minded.
Cleanse us and set us apart to worship you rightly.
 
Send your Holy Spirit into our minds
    and give us grace to learn the Scriptures
    and to properly interpret their meaning,
        that others may be encouraged 
  through your only-begotten Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit,
    through whom and to you be glory and strength
    both now and to all the ages of the ages, Amen.
 
Serapion Scholasticus, 300-360, Egyptian Monk and Bishop
 
__________________________________
 
 
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 
To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

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And now unto Him who is able

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And now unto Him who is able to keep us from falling.
And now unto Him who is able to lift us from the fatigue of despair
    to the buoyancy of hope.
And now unto Him who is able to solve the race problem
    if we will cooperate with Him.
And now unto Him who is able to transform this cosmic energy
    into constructive force.
Now unto Him who is able to transform this midnight of injustice
    into a glowing daybreak of freedom and justice.
To Him be power and authority, majesty and dominion,
    now, henceforth, and forever more. Amen.
 
Martin Luther King, Jr. 1929 -1968, American pastor & civil rights leader
_____________________________________
 
 
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, 
    and to present you faultless 
    before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
To the only wise God our Saviour, 
    be glory and majesty, dominion and power, 
    both now and ever. Amen.

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Glory to you who became lowly

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

The Nativity by Giotto © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro / CC BY-SA 4.0

 
What mere human can declare the glory of the All-Life-Giver,
    who stepped down from majesty
    and humbled himself to become humanity?
 
You who lifted up humanity in your birth,
    lift up my weak mind
    to declare your birth and proclaim your grace.
 
How amazing is it that the Son dwelled completely in a body,
    that it was enough for him.
Your will was fully contained,
    yet your bounds reached wholly to the Father.
Blessed be he who, though without bounds,
    was bound!
 
Who can explain how,
    though you dwelled wholly in a body,
    you also dwelled wholly in all?
 
Your majesty is concealed from us,
    while your grace is revealed before us.
I will be silent, O Lord of majesty,
    and I will tell of your grace.
Your grace clung to you, 
    while it bowed you down to our worst.
 
Your grace made you a baby,
    and your grace made you a man.
Your grace straightened and enlarged your majesty.
Blessed is the might that became little . . .  and became great!
 
Glory to you who became lowly, 
    though your nature is lofty.
By your own will you became man,
    though you are God by nature.
Blessed be the glory which put on our image!
 
Your hope brought new hope
    when ours had broken down.
Blessed be the one who brought good news of hope!
 
Double was the happiness 
    of those who saw your birth and your day,
 yet also happy are those who have not seen,
    but who have believed.
Blessed is your happiness that added to us!
 
Ephrem the Syrian, c.306-373, Syrian hymn writer and theologian
_____________________________
 
 
For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.

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Jesus Christ the King

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The Christ Pantocrator of St. Catherine’s Monastery at Sinai, 6th Century via Wikimedia Commons

 
You are Jesus Christ, 
    Word of God, Begotten before the light,
    creator together with the Father.
You are the fashioner of man, all in all.
 
Among the patriarchs you are Patriarch;
    in the law, the Law.
Among the priests, Chief Priest;
    among kings, the Ruler;
    among prophets, the Prophet;
    among the angels, Archangel.
In the voice of the preacher, you are the Word;
    among the spirits, the Spirit;
    in the Father, the Son; 
    in God, God.
 
You are King forever and ever.
For you were the pilot to Noah, 
    the guide to Abraham, bound to Isaac,
    in exile with Jacob, sold with Joseph.
You were there with Moses.
In David and the prophets 
    you announced your own sufferings.
You put on bodily form in the Virgin,
    were born in Bethlehem,
    wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger,
    seen by the shepherds, glorified by the angels,
    worshipped by the magi.
 
You were pointed out by John,
    gathered together the apostles, 
    and you preached the kingdom.
You cured the lame, 
    gave light to the blind, 
    and raised the dead.
You appeared in the temple, 
    were not believed on by the people,
    betrayed by Judas, 
    captured by the priests, 
    and condemned by Pilate.
 
You were pierced in the flesh, hung on the tree,
    and buried in the earth.
You rose from the place of the dead,
    appeared to the apostles, 
    were carried up to heaven,
    and are seated at the right hand of the Father.
 
You are the rest for those that are departed, 
    the one who recovers the lost,
    the light of those who are in darkness,
    the deliverer of those who are captive,
    the guide of those who go astray,
    and the asylum of the afflicted.
 
You are the bridegroom of the church,
    the charioteer of the cherubim,
    and captain of the angels.
You are God who is from God,
Son from the Father,
Jesus Christ the King forevermore.
 
Amen.
 
Melito of Sardis, d.180, Bishop of Sardis
Fount of Heaven Prayers of the Early Church
 
_______________________________
 
 
The Son is the image of the invisible God, 
    the firstborn over all creation. 
For in him all things were created: 
    things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, 
    whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; 
     all things have been created through him and for him. 
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 
And he is the head of the body, the church; 
    he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, 
    so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

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You rule this world

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
The Son of Man Enthroned, Lawrence OP, via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
 
Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honour
and power and might
to you, Lord Jesus.

You rule this world
with love and grace.

There are days when we have a hard time seeing it
but you have promised that
you are moving all creation toward that time
when God will get what God wants —
a creation where peace and goodness and compassion
shape all of life.

And you give us good work to do
in the time that is ours:
prayer and praise and hope and truth.

We are not always sure how what we do is serving your holy purposes
but we submit our lives to you.
We trust you, our crucified and risen Lord,
to take what we offer and transform it
so that it glorifies you. Amen
 
Christine Jerrett, minister in the United Church of Canada
_______________________
 
 
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude 
that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, 
standing before the throne and before the Lamb. 
They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 
And they cried out in a loud voice:

    “Salvation belongs to our God,
    who sits on the throne,
    and to the Lamb.”
 
All the angels were standing around the throne 
and around the elders and the four living creatures. 
They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

    “Amen!
    Praise and glory
    and wisdom and thanks and honor
    and power and strength
    be to our God for ever and ever.
    Amen!”

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order my day, merciful God

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
The Apotheosis of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Francisco de Zurbarán, Wikimedia Commons
 
 
Most merciful God, 
  order my day so that I may know what you want me to do,
    and then help me to do it.
Let me not be elated by success or depressed by failure.
I want to take pleasure in what pleases you,
    and only to grieve at what displeases you.
For the sake of your love I would willingly forgo all temporal comforts.
May all the joys in which you have no part weary me.
May all the work which you do not prompt be tedious to me.
Let my thoughts frequently turn to you,
    that I may be obedient to you without complaint,
    patient without grumbling,
    cheerful without solemnity.
Let me hold you in awe without feeling terrified of you,
    and let me be an example to others without any trace of pride.
 
Thomas Aquinas, 1225 – 1274, Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian
 
___________________________
 
 
Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. 
Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. 
Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

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O Lord, in prayer . . .

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, via Wikimedia Commons
 
O Lord, in prayer I launch far out into the eternal world, 
    and on that broad ocean my soul triumphs 
        over all evils on the shores of mortality. 
Time, with its gay amusements and cruel disappointments 
    never appears so inconsiderate as then.

In prayer I see myself as nothing; 
I find my heart going after You with intensity, 
    and long with vehement thirst to live to You. 
Blessed be the strong gales of the Spirit 
    that speed me on my way to the New Jerusalem.

In prayer all things here below vanish, 
    and nothing seems important 
        but holiness of heart and the salvation of others.

In prayer all my worldly cares, fears, anxieties disappear, 
    and are of as little significance as a puff of wind.

In prayer my soul inwardly exults with lively thoughts 
    at what You are doing for Your church, 
  and I long that You should get Yourself a great name 
    from sinners returning to Zion.

In prayer I am lifted above the frowns and flatteries of life, 
    and taste heavenly joys; 
  entering into the eternal world I can give myself to You with all my heart, 
    to be Yours for ever.

In prayer I can place all my concerns in Your hands, 
    to be entirely at Your disposal, 
        having no will or interest of my own.

In prayer I can intercede for my friends, ministers, sinners, the church, 
    Your kingdom to come, with greatest freedom, ardent hopes, 
        as a son to his father, as a lover to the beloved.

Help me to be all prayer and never to cease praying..
 
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 1834-1892, English Baptist Preacher
 
______________________
 
 
 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing

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faith that saves from despair

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Bonhoeffer by AldrianMimi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
 
Lord Jesus Christ,
you were poor and miserable, imprisoned and abandoned
    like me.
You know all human needs;
you stay with me when no one stands by me;
you do not forget me, but look for me;
you want me to know you and to come to you.
Lord, I hear your call and follow.
Help me!
 
Holy Spirit,
give me faith
that will save me from despair and evils.
Give me the love for God and other people
that removes all hate and all bitterness;
give me the hope
that frees me from fear and despondency.
Teach me to know Jesus Christ and to do his will
 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906 – 1945, German  theologian and martyr
 
_______________________
 
 
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, 
leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; 
    when he suffered, he did not threaten, 
    but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

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You are my God, my Life, my holy Delight

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image via Pixabay
 
 
What, then, is the God I worship? 
He can be none but the Lord God himself, for who but the Lord is God? 
What other refuge can there be, except our God?
You, my God, are supreme, utmost in goodness: 
    mightiest and all-powerful, most merciful and most just. 
You are the most hidden from us and yet the most present amongst us, 
    the most beautiful and yet the most strong, 
    ever enduring and yet we cannot comprehend you. 
You are unchangeable and yet you change all things. 
You are never new, never old, and yet all things have new life from you. 
You are the unseen power that brings decline upon the proud. 
You are ever active, yet always at rest.
You gather all things to yourself, though you suffer no need. 
You support, you fill, and you protect all things. 
You create them, nourish them, and bring them to perfection. 
You seek to make them your own, though you lack for nothing. 
You love your creatures, but with a gentle love. 
You treasure them, but without apprehension. 
You grieve for wrong, but suffer no pain. 
You can be angry and yet serene. 
Your works are varied, but your purpose is one and the same. 
You welcome all who come to you, though you never lost them. 
You are never in need yet are glad to gain, 
    never covetous yet you exact a return for your gifts.
We give abundantly to you so that we may deserve a reward; 
    yet which of us has anything that does not come from you? 
You repay us what we deserve, and yet you owe nothing to any. 
You release us from our debts, but you lose nothing thereby. 
You are my God, my Life, my holy Delight, 
    but is this enough to say of you? 
Can any man say enough when he speaks of you? 
Yet woe betide those who are silent about you! 
For even those who are most gifted with speech
    cannot find words to describe you.
 
St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430
 
_________________
 
 
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, 
    that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

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a prayer for freedom

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image by Zulmaury Saavedra via unsplash
 
Dear God,
 
I used to think that freedom meant I could do anything 
    or have anything I wanted.
That just made me a slave to my own desires.
Soon I found myself trapped 
    in destructive habits, hurtful relationships and even powerful addictions.
That is not freedom. That’s bondage.
 
When I learned about Jesus, I saw the truth:
I am a needy person who needs a merciful God.
Only you provide what I’m looking for.
Only you can provide that path to freedom.
Thank you for teaching me that freedom is found 
    in living a life consistent with truth,
    in a way that keeps my heart, mind, body, and soul all free.
True freedom comes when the reality of your holiness
    overpowers my sinful inclinations
    and fills my life with the fullness of your liberating love.
 
Ronald Beers, Chief Publishing Officer for Tyndale
_______________________
 
 
But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, 
  so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.

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