5.25.2012

One of the richest prayer books available is The Valley of Vision, a collection of prayers from the Puritan tradition of the Christian faith.  Among the people from whom these prayers come are Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Issac Watts and Charles Spurgeon.

There are many prayers like this one, which is entitled “Desires”.

O Thou that hearest prayer, teach me to pray.

I confess that in religious exercises the language of my lips and the feelings of my heart have not always agreed,

that I have frequently taken carelessly upon my tongue a name never pronounced above without reverence and humility,

that I have often desired things which would have injured me,

that I have depreciated some of my chief mercies,

that I have erred both on the side of my hopes and also of my fears,

that I am unfit to choose for myself, for it is not in me to direct my steps.

Let thy Spirit help my infirmities, for I know not what to pray for as I ought.

Let him produce in me wise desires by which I may ask right things, then I shall know thou hearest me.

May I never be importunate for temporal blessings, but always refer them to thy fatherly goodness, for thou knowest what I need before I ask;

May I never think I prosper unless my soul prospers, or that I am rich unless rich toward thee, or that I am wise unless wise unto salvation.

May I seek first thy kingdom and its righteousness.  May I value things in relation to eternity.  May my spiritual welfare be my chief solicitude.

May I be poor, afflicted, despised and have thy blessings, rather than be successful in enterprise, or have more than my heart can wish, or be admired by my fellow-men, if thereby these things make me forget thee.

May I regard the world as dreams, lies, vanities, vexation of spirit, and desire to depart from it,

And may I seek my happiness in thy favour, image, presence, service.

5.24.2012

Today our prayer, in our series on meaningful and rich prayers, comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian.  Bonhoeffer wrote this prayer while awaiting execution while in a Nazi prison.

There is a true spirit of confession of dependence on the Lord in these words.

O God, early in the morning I cry to you.

Help me to pray

And to concentrate my thoughts on you:

I cannot do this alone.

In me there is darkness,

But with you there is light;

I am lonely, but you do not leave me;

I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;

I am restless, but with you there is peace.

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;

I do not understand your ways,

But you know the way for me.

Restore me to liberty,

And enable me so to live now that I may answer before you and before me.

Lord, whatever this day may bring

   Your name be praised.

5.23.2012

This week we are in a series on prayers that can help us in our own praying.  Sometimes the prayers of others help us give shape to our own words, or give us words when we can’t find any.

This prayer is from Willard Sperry, Dean of Harvard Divinity School and a Congregational minister, 1882-1954

We pray, O Lord, for deliverance from all that weakens faith in you:

   from pompous solemnity;

   from mistaking earnestness for trust in you;

   from seeking easy answers to large questions;

   from being overawed by the self-confident;

   from dependence upon mood and feelings;

   from despondency and the loss of self-respect;

   from timidity and hesitation in making decisions.

In Christ, we pray.  Amen.

5.22.2012

As a youngster growing up in the Bay Area I spent many an hour in the bleachers at the Oakland Coliseum and Candlestick Park waiting and hoping to catch a baseball, whether at batting practice or in a game.  Never happened.

So how about this guy at the Cincinnati Reds game last night who catches not one, but TWO home run balls in the same game…on back-to-back HR’s!?!?

A bleacher-bums fantasy!

This post is dedicated to Mason and Debbie, who I know check in here, and are Reds fans.

5.22.2012

This week we will do a series on some wonderful prayers that might help our own praying.

William Barclay was professor of New Testament at Glasgow University.  His series of commentaries, The Daily Bible Study Series, is much used by pastors and lay people alike.  Friends and treasured relationships are one of the best things for which to give God thanks.

We give you thanks, O God, for those who mean so much to us -

  Those to whom we can to at any time.

  Those with whom we can talk and keep nothing back, knowing that they will not laugh at our dreams or our failures.

  Those in whose presence it is easier to be good.

  Those who by their warning have held us back from mistakes we might have made.

  Above all, we thank you for Jesus Christ, Lord of our hearts and Savior of our souls, in whose Name we offer this thanksgiving.

To get you into the weekend, Ross Douthat, columnist for the New York Times, has this column called “A Nation of Osteens and Obamas”.

An excerpt…

“…self-created forms of faith are also less likely to provide a check against the self’s worst impulses —whether it’s the kind of materialism that Joel Osteen’s sunny promises encourage, or the solipsism that percolates under the surface of popular spiritual memoirs like Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat Pray Love.” Many of America’s contemporary crises, from the housing bubble and the financial crash to the collapse of the two-parent family, can be traced to just this tendency — encouraged by too much contemporary religion — to make the self’s ambitions the measure of all things.”