Praying in Distress
Do we enter into the deep distresses of our hearts when we pray? Or do we hang back emotionally, bringing requests to the Lord from a dutiful distance?...
Keep Reading Praying in Distress
Do we enter into the deep distresses of our hearts when we pray? Or do we hang back emotionally, bringing requests to the Lord from a dutiful distance?...
The Collect
This Sunday we begin our new series on prayer by looking at the Lord’s Prayer....
A Covenant Prayer
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, taught the following prayer, known as the "Covenant Prayer." This prayer is a great example of the kind of "riffing" on the Lord's Prayer we talked about Sunday, touching on many of the same themes. Take a moment to look for the connections. May this prayer encourage you as you pray to our Father this week.I am no longer my own, but y...
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Counting on the Love of God
Psalm 130 (ESV)1Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!2 O Lord, hear my voice!Let your ears be attentiveto the voice of my pleas for mercy!3If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,O Lord, who could stand?4But with you there is forgiveness,that you may be feared.It's said that physical maturing is one long separation process. From the very moment a baby is born, it begins l...
Keep ReadingThere is Hope
Psalm 102:2, 1112 (ESV)Do not hide your face from mein the day of my distress!My days are like an evening shadow;I wither away like grass.But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever;you are remembered throughout allgenerations.Lent is a solemn time of fasting, reflection, and preparation. It is appropriate to reflect on where we need hope in our lives. Our planet is in distress...
Keep ReadingThe Path to Restoration
Psalm 51: 1-2, 10, 12"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit."Sinour inevitable y...
Keep ReadingRecovery Is Everything
Ps. 38:2122 Do not forsake me, O LORD! O my God, be not far from me!Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation! (ESV)A number of years ago I briefly taught elementary school, and I noticed that my students just couldn't resist comparing grades with one another.This drove me bananas.I'm not much for competition to begin with, and the last thing I wanted was for kids to ...
Keep ReadingOn Confession
Once chaos cracked the firmament, Its offspring drowned the land. Now sunlight strikes the atmosphere Like blows of Father's hand. What grace is light? What grace is Law? What grace is sacrifice To those who, born of flesh, confuse With sacrifice our vice? From chariots, you led us hence Through sea to holy hill. But though enslaved to whip and brick, By cov...
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