Anglican Consultative Council

O Father,

In Your light we see light. Your Son Jesus is the source of living water–water that washes away our transgressions and bears our griefs and sorrows.

We lift up the participants in the Anglican Consultative Council–

Rowan, John, George, Anthony, Turi, Andrew, Robert, Sarah, Sunil, Joanildo, Martin, Stephen, Susan, Suzanne, James, Daniel, Maria, Kahwa, Joyce, Michael, Elizabeth, Rose, Peter, Razafindralambo, Michel, Kate, Maurice, Lawrence, Azad, Samson, Amos, Abraham, Merilyn, Sarai, San, Abraham, Abraham, Ashish, Vincent, Humphrey, Shahid, Floyd, Josias, Jane, John, Dato, John, Moses, J. M., Thabo, Janet, Ezekiel, Enock, Gerard, Mwita, Judith, Jolly, Catherine, Ian, Josephine, Christopher, Helen, Barton, Cornell, Kumara, Michael, George, Sarah, Maria, Carlos, Phillip, Mouneer, Katherine, Bill, and Barry. 

May they seek Your face in humility, confessing their sins.  May they honor You in their daily decisions leading up to the ACC meeting and throughout the meeting.  May living water flow through their hearts, refracting Your holy light, like droplets in a rainbow. May our church be healed.  Amen.

 

A Wonderful Daily Prayer for the Easter Season

I fear I’m overwhelming the blog with posts today, but I have such a big backlog of Easter stuff I’ve been wanting to post and busyness and bad internet connections have hindered my blogging.  I’ve alread posted Easter entries for the next 10 days(!) but I don’t want to wait another week for the following prayer to appear.

It is a GREAT PRAYER I am going to start praying daily from now until Pentecost to remind me of what living Easter is all about.  My thanks to Christine at Godspace for posting it.

***

May we go into the day to share the love of the risen Christ

May the light of God shine on us

May the light of Christ shine in us

May the light of the Spirit shine through us

Jesus Christ is risen and has given us new life

Thanks be to God, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Amen & Amen!

Anglican Communion Office

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. ” John 17 :24

Father,

You are a God who reveals mysteries.  We want the members of the ACO Secretariat

Kenneth, Christine, Yoshimi, Phil, Terrie, Andrew, Dorothy, Clara, Lynne, Gill, David, Ian, Ann, John, Stuart, Neil, Hellen, Michael, Suminder, Clare, and Cynthia

to be with You and see Your glory, the glory You gave Jesus because You loved Him before the creation of the world.  Amen.

An Easter Prayer: dying daily to sin that we may live in the joy of Christ’s resurrection

O God,
who for our redemption
gave your only-begotten Son
to the death of the cross,
and by his glorious resurrection
delivered us from the power of our enemy:

Grant us so to die daily to sin,
that we may evermore live with him
in the joy of his resurrection;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Lots of interesting background, including Cranmer’s original text for this prayer here.

Easter Quotes: Fr. Stephen Freeman – Living on “Pascha Time”

Orthodox priest and blogger Fr. Stephen Freeman has a beautiful reflection on what it means to live on “Pascha time” on his blog.

He talks about the rigorous service schedule of the Orthodox church during Holy Week and how it disrupts his sleep patterns, and then goes on to write:

For some days to come, I am sure that my internal clock will operate on “Pascha time.” I only hope and pray that the rest of me will remain forever set to that event – that might life become a Pascha for everyone around me. St. Seraphim of Sarov, regardless of the time of year, greated everyone with, “Christ is risen!” For those who met him – they met Pascha in the form of humbled, bent-over Russian staretz. May Pascha greet you in a hundred ways today and may others who meet you encounter Pascha as well.

Christ is risen!

Go read it all!

What would it mean if our lives were “forever set” to Easter, if we were always living on “Pascha time”? Reading this, I was reminded of a poster I had in my bedroom as a teenager, it was of a beautiful waterfall and forest glade with a cloud of butterflies filling the sky. The quote on the poster was “We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!” May we find much to exclaim “Alleluia!” about today and may we be eager to look for how Christ’s resurrection is changing our life and our world!

Listen: Sing Alleluia (Jennifer Knapp & Mac Powell, from City on a Hill – Sing Alleluia, 2002) (I don’t think it’s available at iTunes, unfortunately, this is from my personal collection).

John 17:20-26

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word;” (John 17:20)
      Jesus, we believe because of the faithful witness of those who shared the gospel with us; help us share the gospel with others who do not yet know you.

“that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you; that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17:21)
      Holy Spirit, please help all of us throughout this diocese enter into the life that Jesus shares with his father and live out their unity to that the world may believe.

“And the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one:” (John 17:22)
      Father, please help us joyfully receive the glory that comes from being one in you.

“I in them, and you in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you have loved me.” (John 17:23)
      Jesus, please help us receive your love today.

“Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me; for you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24)
      Holy Spirit, help us find our glory in Jesus’ cross.

“O righteous Father! The world has not known you, but I have known you; and these have known that you sent me.” (John 17:25)
      Father, thank you for sending Jesus to us.

“And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)
      Jesus, please help us receive your love.

      A word received: I AM never offended by your cries to me. I AM a father who longs to hear the voice of his children. I AM a father who longs to hold my children in my arms and comfort them. I AM a father and my arms are open wide to receive you.

Wednesday: 119:1-24; Daniel 2:17-30; 1 John 2:12-17; John 17:20-26
Thursday: 18:1-20; Daniel 2:31-49; 1 John 2:18-29; Luke 3:1-14

      Notes from the Front Line

***** Pray the Diocesan Convention that we will find our unity in Jesus.

Albany Intercessor

Anglican Consultative Council

Break open your words, let the light shine out, let ordinary people see the meaning.   Psalm 119:130 MSG

Yes, Lord, break open Your words over every member of the Anglican Consultative Council.  May they lean on You in absolute confidence in Your power, wisdom, and goodness.

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.  And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:31-32 NLT

Yes, Lord, break open Your teachings over every member of the Anglican Consultative Council.  May they know the truth in Christ and be freed from strongholds of false thinking.

And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.  Daniel 11:32 KJV

Break open understanding over every member of the Anglican Consultative Council.  May they be courageously loyal to You and stand firm.  Amen.

Anglican Consultative Council menu

All ACC Category entries.
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A Prayer of St. Anselm: Lord Jesus, let me seek You by desiring You

We posted an excerpt of this prayer during Lent, but today our blogging friend Scott Gilbreath has posted the whole prayer for St. Anselm’s commemoration:

A prayer of St Anselm

Lord Jesus Christ; Let me seek you by desiring you,
and let me desire you by seeking you;
let me find you by loving you,
and love you in finding you.

I confess, Lord, with thanksgiving,
that you have made me in your image,
so that I can remember you, think of you, and love you.

But that image is so worn and blotted out by faults,
and darkened by the smoke of sin,
that it cannot do that for which it was made,
unless you renew and refashion it.

Lord, I am not trying to make my way to your height,
for my understanding is in no way equal to that,
but I do desire to understand a little of your truth
which my heart already believes and loves.

I do not seek to understand so that I can believe,
but I believe so that I may understand;
and what is more,
I believe that unless I do believe, I shall not understand.

Source: The Oxford Book of Prayer, George Appleton (gen. ed.), 1985, 2002.

Hosts of the Anglican Consultative Council

The ACC meeting will be held in Kingston at the Pegasus Hotel.  The diocesan bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands is the Rt. Rev. Dr. Alfred Charles Reid, and the suffragan bishop of Kingston is Rt. Rev. Dr. Robert Thompson. 

For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.  Psalm 5:12

O Lord,

There are so many details in the organization of this meeting!  Bless the diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.  Bless those individuals within the diocese and on staff at the Pegasus Hotel who are preparing for the meeting.  Give them servant hearts and prayerful spirits.  May they lift each detail to Your glory as they prepare for the Anglican Consultative Council.    May they come together in prayer and claim this meeting for the establishment of Your kingdom in the Anglican Communion as it is in heaven.  Surround them with Your favor as with a shield.  Amen.

Anglican Consultative Council

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.   John 17:15-17

Dear Heavenly Father,

We lift up the members of the Anglican Consultative Council– 

Rowan, John, George, Anthony, Turi, Andrew, Robert, Sarah, Sunil, Joanildo, Martin, Stephen, Susan, Suzanne, James, Daniel, Maria, Kahwa, Joyce, Michael, Elizabeth, Rose, Peter, Razafindralambo, Michel, Kate, Maurice, Lawrence, Azad, Samson, Amos, Abraham, Merilyn, Sarai, San, Abraham, Abraham, Ashish, Vincent, Humphrey, Shahid, Floyd, Josias, Jane, John, Dato, John, Moses, J. M., Thabo, Janet, Ezekiel, Enock, Gerard, Mwita, Judith, Jolly, Catherine, Ian, Josephine, Christopher, Helen, Barton, Cornell, Kumara, Michael, George, Sarah, Maria, Carlos, Phillip, Mouneer, Katherine, Bill, and Barry. 

Protect them from Satan.  Guard them from the ways of the world.  May they have the same attitude and humility of spirit as Christ.  Sanctify them by the truth.  Your Holy Word is truth.  Purify their hearts by the reading of Your Holy Word.  Amen.

Easter Quotes: St. John Chrysostom – Christ is risen and life is liberated!

Below is the final section – probably the best known portion – of St. John Chrysostom’s Easter sermon.  May the Lord fill us with joy as we remember these truths and may the Lord help us live in the victory of His conquest over sin and hell.  In Christ’s resurrection we are freed from the slavery to sin and liberated to truly live in His abundant life, to become who He created us to be.  Hallelujah! Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!

Art Credit:  Christ’s Descent among the Dead

Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!

Listen:  The Victor (Keith Green, No Compromise, 1978 )  iTunes link

some of the lyrics:

Swallowed into earth’s dark womb
Death has triumphed, That’s what they say
But try to hold Him in the tomb
The Son of Life rose on the third day

Just look
The gates of hell
They’re falling!
Crumbling from the inside out
He’s bursting through
The walls with laughter (Hah!)
Listen to the Angels shout

It is finished
He has done it
Life conquered death
Jesus Christ
Has won it!

His plan of battle
You know it fooled them all
They led Him off to prison to die
But as He entered Hades hall
He broke those hellish chains with a cry

Just listen to those demons screaming
See Him bruise the serpent’s head
The prisoners of Hell
He’s redeeming (Oh!)
All the power of death is dead

Psalm 6:1-4

O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your hot displeasure. (Psalm 6:1)
      LORD, I cry out to you for your mercy for your people and for myself and my family.

Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled. (Psalm 6:2)
      Jesus, we cry out to you for the peace and comfort of your Holy Spirit.

My soul also is greatly troubled; but you, O LORD–how long? (Psalm 6:3)
      Father, we wait on you for your provision and mercy.

Return, O LORD, deliver me! Oh, save me for your mercies’ sake! (Psalm 6:4)
      Holy Spirit, move in our hearts and minds and bodies, and bring us to new life in you. Thank you.

      A word received: Cry out to me for my people: they are wandering and leaving the flock. Pray for my flock — pray that I will raise up faithful shepherds for the flock. Pray that I will protect my flock from wolves within and wolves without.

Tuesday: 5, 6; Daniel 2:1-16; 1 John 2:1-11; John 17:12-19
Wednesday: 119:1-24; Daniel 2:17-30; 1 John 2:12-17; John 17:20-26

      Notes from the Front Line

***** Pray the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit blows the mosquitoes, black flies, and bears away from Camp of the Woods during the Diocesan Convention.

Albany Intercessor

Anglican Consultative Council–Daniel fast

Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. Daniel 1:11-14

Wow. Beginning tomorrow, it will be ten days until the beginning of the Anglican Consultative Council. I had not made plans for a fast. However, other intercessors and I had discerned a call for purification in regards to this prayer campaign–purification of ourselves, first, and purification of the broader body of Christ. The timing of this lectionary reading floors me. In the given context, I think to ignore it would be willful disobedience. Different people have medical conditions, etc. that limit fasting. I humbly ask each intercessor to go to God and ask Him how He would have them purify themselves.

Thank you, dear intercessors, for all that you do. Jill Woodliff

Easter Prayers: Blind us to All But Christ

O Father, make known to us the glory of your Son!
O Spirit, shine the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ Jesus into our hearts!
Blind us to all but him.
Captivate us with his splendor,
that we, like Moses, might say not to the passing pleasures of sin.
Help us to rest in Christ alone
as the treasure greater than all earthly rewards.

- Sam Storms, The Hope of Glory: 100 Daily Meditations on Colossians

hat tip:  Kingdom People