doubt

Give us faith to believe what is true

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
The Annunciation, Caravaggio, via Wikimedia Commons
 
O Holy God of Promise,
    we so often place our trust in the things we can see,
    and touch, and easily believe.
But you did not ask us to believe what is easy,
    you have asked us to believe what is true!
Forgive us, Holy One, when we doubt the ways you work.
Forgive us when we find it hard to believe an ancient story.
Forgive us when we question how you chose to enter the world,
    born as one of us.
Forgive our lack of faith and belief
    in ways which seem so impossible to believe.
Help us to look in faith, open our belief, and set aside our doubts
    that you sent your Son, born of a virgin –
        the one who has come to set us all free.
We offer these prayers in the name of your Son,
Emmanuel, God with us.  
Amen.

Jan Brooks, Presbyterian Pastor in Kansas
_______________________________  

Luke 1:26-29
 
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, 
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 
    to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, 
    a descendant of David. 
The virgin’s name was Mary. 
The angel went to her and said, 
    “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words 
    and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 
 
___________________________________
 
What part of the Christmas story is the most difficult for you to believe?
Share this with God, and perhaps a trusted friend.

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Draw our hearts to trust

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment
image by  via Flickr    CC BY-SA 2.0
 
 
O Lord God, in whom we live and move and have our being,
    Open our eyes that we may behold your fatherly presence ever with us.
    Draw our hearts to you with the power of your love.
    Teach us to not be anxious about anything,
        and when we have done what you have given us to do
        help us, O God our Savior, to leave the issue to your wisdom.
    Take from us all doubt and mistrust.
    Lift our hearts up to yourself in heaven,
        and make us to know that all things are possible to us 
through your Son our Redeemer.
 
Brooke Foss Westcott, 1825-1901, British bishop and Biblical scholar
 
_______________________
 
 
Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
    your vindication like the noonday sun.
Be still before the Lord
    and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
    when they carry out their wicked schemes.

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to crave the graces of your Holy Spirit

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image, Gloucestershire, UK via Pexels
 
 
Lord God, you know I need to call on you for my daily bread.
But how much more reason have I to crave the graces of your Holy Spirit –
    for supplying my soul with heavenly food,
    especially with saving faith.
When I am tossed about with the storms of doubts and fears,
    show me how to lay hold of your word and promises.
Then all the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil,
    will never prevail over me, since I know in whom I have believed.
Increase the light of my faith, 
    that it may daily cast forth more clear beams.
Preserve that faith in the darkness of death,
    that it may guide me to eternal life.
And rule and govern me by your Holy Spirit,
    that I may never lose faith by agreeing to do anything
    that is against the light of my conscience.
Confirm the good work you have begun in me,
    strengthen me inwardly, and preserve me blameless 
    until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ,
    that I may inherit eternal life.
Amen.
 
Robert Parker, c. 1564 – 1614, English Puritan minister and scholar
 
___________________________
 
 
That is why I am suffering as I am. 
Yet this is no cause for shame, 
    because I know whom I have believed, 
    and am convinced that he is able to guard 
    what I have entrusted to him until that day.

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your Son, born of a virgin

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / pixabay

 

O Holy God of Promise,
    we so often place our trust in the things we can see,
    and touch, and easily believe.
But you did not ask us to believe what is easy,
    you have asked us to believe what is true!
Forgive us, Holy One, when we doubt the ways you work.
Forgive us when we find it hard to believe an ancient story.
Forgive us when we question how you chose to enter the world,
    born as one of us.
Forgive our lack of faith and belief
    in ways which seem so impossible to believe.
Help us to look in faith, open our belief, and set aside our doubts
    that you sent your Son, born of a virgin –
        the one who has come to set us all free.
We offer these prayers in the name of your Son,
Emmanuel, God with us.  
Amen.

Jan Brook, Presbyterian Pastor serving in Kansas
re-worship.blogspot
____________________________

 
 
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
 

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