purify

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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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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Pour Your Spirit on your servants

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image, Cyprus, via Pxhere, CC0 Public Domain
 
Lord God Almighty, no one rules over you.
You always were, and are, and will be. 
You stand in need of nothing.
 
You alone are true, and wise, and most high.
You alone are good, and beyond compare.
Your knowledge is without beginning.
 
You are God and Father of your only begotten Son,
    of our God and Savior, the creator of the whole world by him.
Your providence provides for and takes care of all.
 
Father of mercies, God of all consolation,
    you dwell in the highest heaven, 
        but see us here below.
 
From the beginning, you ordained leaders for your people:
Abel, Seth and Amos. Enoch and Noah. Melchizedek and Job.
Abraham and the rest of the patriarchs, with your faithful servants 
    Moses and Aaron, Eleazer and Phineas …
    who chose rulers and priests in the tabernacle.
 
Pour down the influence of your Spirit.
Grant by your name that your servants whom you have chosen
    may feed your flock, serving you night and day, 
    gathering those who will be saved.
 
May they please you in meekness and pure hearts,
    with steadfast spirits and blameless minds, being above reproach, 
    offering to you a pure sacrifice though Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.
 
All glory, honor, and worship be to you in the Holy Spirit,
    now and always, and for all ages, Amen.
 
Apostolic Constitutions, 375-380, Syrian Christian church orders
 
________________________
 
 
Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. 
And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit 
    to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today.

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Jesus, touch our eyes

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Andrey Mironov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 
Lord Jesus, touch our eyes,
    as you did those of the blind;
then we shall see
    in things that are visible
    those things which are invisible.

Lord Jesus, open our ears,
     heal our wounds and purify our lives,
     as you did those who came to you;
then we shall hear and perceive what is true
     amidst the sounds of the world,
     and find wholeness in ourselves.

after Origen, 185—254, Alexandrian Theologian
 
_______________________________
 
 
They came to Bethsaida, 
    and some people brought a blind man 
    and begged Jesus to touch him. 
He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. 
When he had spit on the man’s eyes 
    and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, 
    “Do you see anything?”
He looked up and said, 
    “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. 
Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, 
    and he saw everything clearly.
 

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A final meditation

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Sir Thomas More, via Wikimedia Commons
 
 
Give me grace, good Lord
To count the world as nothing,
To set my mind firmly on you
And not to hang on what people say;
To be content to be alone,
Not to long for worldly company,
Little by little to throw off the world completely
And rid my mind of all its business;
Not to long to hear of any worldly things;
Gladly to be thinking of you,
Pitifully to call for your help,
To depend on your comfort,
Busily to work to love you;
To know my own worthlessness and wretchedness,
To humble and abase myself under your mighty hand,
To lament my past sins,
To suffer adversity patiently, to purge them,
Gladly to bear my purgatory here,
To be joyful for troubles,
To walk the narrow way that leads to life,
To bear the Cross with Christ,
To keep the final hour in mind,
To have always before my eyes my death,
    which is always at hand,
To make death no stranger to me,
To foresee and consider the everlasting fire of hell,
To pray for pardon before the judge comes;
To keep continually in mind the passion 
    that Christ suffered for me,
For his benefits unceasingly to give him thanks;
To buy back the time that I have wasted before,
To refrain from futile chatter,
To reject idle frivolity,
To cut out unnecessary entertainments,
To count the loss of worldly possessions ,
    friends, liberty and life itself as absolutely nothing,
    for the winning of Christ;
To consider my worst enemies my best friends,
For Joseph’s brothers could never have done him
    as much good with their love and favor
    as they did with their malice and hatred.
 
Thomas More, 1478-1535, English statesman, beheaded by Henry VIII
________________________
 
 
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. 
Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 
Be wretched and mourn and weep. 
Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
 

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to ascend with Jesus

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
L’Ascension / Gustave Doré 
 
Lord, why should I doubt any more,
    when you have given me such assured pledges of your love?
First, you are my Creator, I am your creature,
   you are my Master, I your servant.
But hence arises not my comfort: you are my Father, I am your child.
   “You shall be my sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty.
Christ is my brother:
    “I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God,
     but, lest this should not be enough,
     your maker is your husband.”
Nay, more, I am a member of his body, he my head.
Such privileges – had not the Word of truth made them known,
   who or where is the man that dared 
   in his heart have presumed to have thought it!
So wonderful are these thoughts 
    that my spirit fails in me that their consideration, 
    and I am confounded to think that God,
    who has done so much for me,
    should have so little from me.
But this is my comfort, that when I come to heaven,
    I shall understand perfectly what he has done for me,
    and that I shall be able to praise him as I ought.
Lord, having this hope, let me purify myself as you are pure,
    and let me be no more afraid of death,
    but even desire to be dissolved and be with you,
    which is best of all.
 
Anne Bradstreet, c. 1612-1672, New England poet and Puritan
 
_________________________
 
 
For now we see in a mirror dimly,    
    but then face to face. 
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, 
    even as I have been fully known.

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in contact with the Spirit

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / Hans / Pixabay
 
Lord, I see what the Holy Spirit is like
  as I gather the garbage to burn in the fire.
I try to keep the fire burning continually;
  nevertheless there are times when it seems
  that the fire has gone out completely,
  but I know that underneath, a few embers continue to burn.
I think humanity is like the garbage and the Holy Spirit is like the fire.
Just as I gather the garbage to burn in the fire
  so may your church gather together humanity
  and put it in contact with the Spirit
  to purify it until it is no longer garbage.
May the church never lose hope,
  even when the fire cannot be seen
  and the garbage is plentiful.
May we be convinced that the fire continues to burn below
  and that it will never go out.

after words shared by a Garbage man in South America
A Procession of Prayers, edited by John Carden
 
_____________________________
 
 
John answered their questions by saying, 
“I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

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