a prayer for the week
I stumbled upon the following prayer today. It is from the Gelasian Sacramentary, which is the second oldest liturgical book known in the Western church, dating back to the 8th century. I thought it too good not to share given the struggles and strivings which many are enduring these days, especially in our local parish. As I read . . .
thanksgiving when stormy weather is past
bidding Nicholas farewell
Power outages, downed fences, and some tree debris...Nicholas' visit could have been so much worse. Thanks be to God for his merciful hand of protection upon us.
"Almighty God, heavenly Father, who said to us, 'Call on Me in the time of need, and I will deliver you; then you shall glorify Me': we give You praise and . . .
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prayer in a severe storm
on the arrival of Nicholas
"O Lord, our Lord, great and awesome God, we, Your needy children, hear with terror and trembling what a fearsome tempest, roaring, and fury You have stirred up, by which You indicate to the ungodly and wicked world Your righteous wrath and the punishment justly deserved. O Lord, do not look at our great sins, but graciously . . .
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a prayer for a new year
[Since the collect for the 2nd Sunday in Christmas is the same as the prior week, I'm going to offer here a prayer from the new year from the pen of Johann Friedrich Starck, a Lutheran pastor in Germany in the first half of the eighteenth century. May it prompt you to prayerfully consider God's great mercy and care of us all in 2021.] . . .
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a prayer on New Year's eve
Last year, we rang in the new year with a small town dance at the American Legion. The hall was packed with people as music and laughter filled the air with the traditional spirit of New Year's reverie. This New Year's eve will be more sober, as we plan to sit around a fire ring with a very small number of close friends, . . .
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Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation (1863)
In 1863, to a nation deeply divided along cultural and political lines, to a country wracked by hundreds of thousands of casualties from an endless civil war, to a people who must've wondered if their beloved United States was on the very brink of collapse, Abraham Lincoln called the American public to a day of thanksgiving and . . .
a prayer for our nation and world
In light of the events of these past days and nights, let us pray for our nation and our world, that justice might reign, order be restored, and righteousness be the aim of all.
O God, the King of righteousness, lead us, we pray thee, in the ways of justice and of peace; inspire us to break down all oppression and . . .
