South Carolina diocese

The diocesan newsletter has requested prayers for Bishop Lawrence for the House of Bishops meeting, which commences Friday.

Excerpts from Leviticus 26
Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God.
Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.
If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands . . . . I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.

Dear Heavenly Father,
May the fame of Bishop Mark Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina be the presence of God. Amen.

Hala’ib Triangle

The Hala’ib Triangle is the northeast corner of Sudan. The long disputed sovereignty of the land, between Egypt and Sudan, has intensified with the discovery of oil. In October 2009 the Electoral Commission that prepared a comprehensive plan for Sudan’s general elections in April 2010 declared that Hala’ib was one of the Red Sea State electoral districts and that its people should exercise their constitutional rights and register in order to participate in the general elections. Voter registration did not take place in the Hala’ib Triangle area because the team from the Sudanese election commission was refused entry by Egyptian authorities.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3

Sovereign Lord of all the earth,
Sudan is Your field. As intercessors, we labor where You call. Ruth the Moabite gleaned in the corners and along the edges of the barley field, and You released Your spiritual blessings upon her and her seed.
We cry out for Your purposes to come to pass in the northeast corner of Sudan, and we release Your spiritual blessings over the Hala’ib Triangle. Do not despise this small beginning. Amen.
Zechariah 4:10, Ephesians 1:3, 1 Corinthians 3:9

Lent Prayers: Leave us Not in the Bondage of Any Sinful Inclination

Write deeply upon our minds, O Lord God, the lesson of thy holy Word, that only the pure in heart can see thee. Leave us not in the bondage of any sinful inclination. May we neither deceive ourselves with the thought that we have no sin, nor acquiesce idly in aught of which our conscience accuses us. Strengthen us by thy Holy Spirit to fight the good fight of faith, and grant that no day may pass without its victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

-Another of the Lent prayers posted by Kendall Harmon at TitusOneNine

South Carolina diocese

The Episcopal Church House of Bishops meets from March 19 to March 24 in Camp Allen, TX.  The 219th Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina will be held March 26.

God of heaven and earth,
The Diocese of South Carolina is passionate for You. They are Your sons and daughters. Make for them a coat of manifold wisdom. Adorn Bishop Mark Lawrence, the clergy of the diocese, and the worship leaders in the diocese with salvation and righteousness. Clothe Your people, holy and dearly loved, with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love.
Cast a garment of praise over Bishop Lawrence’s heart at the House of Bishops meeting and over the entire diocese when it meets in convention. May Your name be magnified in all that they do and say. Amen.
Genesis 37:3, Leviticus 8:6-8, 1 Chronicles 15:27, 2 Chronicles 6:41, Psalm 132:9, 1 Peter 5:5, Isaiah 61:3, Colossians 3:12-14

Lent Quotes: Remember Small Things Too

Yes, lent calls us to think great thoughts and to embrace great visions of faith, and we try to do that. But it’s a season–our reading today reminds us– for remembering small things too. “A cup of cold water,” a prisoner, someone sick visited, someone naked clothed, someone hungry fed, “a word to the weary to rouse them.”

The law of God often comes down to small things, and the greatest in the kingdom of God are the best at that.

From Victor Hoagland’s March 10th reflection “The Least of the Commandments”

Purify Your intercessors, Lord

1 Chronicles 28:9 NIV
“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.

Create in us, the intercessors for Sudan, clean hearts, O Lord, and renew a steadfast spirit within us. Cleanse our hands so that they will please You in worship. Purify our hearts with Your word. Cut the ligatures of idolatry and lies that we may cast them off, like Bartimaeus throwing off his beggar’s cloak.
Lord, we yearn to ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in Your holy place! Bless our requests, O Savior, and vindicate Sudan. Amen.
Psalm 24:3-5, 51:10

New Hampshire

In 1858 in great cities and small towns all over America, people were assembling every night for prayer. The Layman’s Prayer Revival invaded even the village of Hell Corner, New Hampshire. Prayer, of course, was unheard of in this stronghold of sin. However, one day a man unleashed a volley of profanity so outrageous that even the citizens of Hell Corner were shocked. Jokingly, somebody said, “We need a prayer meeting here in Hell Corner.” To everyone’s amazement plans got underway for a village prayer meeting. They went to a nearby town and found a deacon who came to lead a prayer meeting in this citadel of evil. God answered prayer and four hardened men became Christians. Soon prayer gave birth to a group of godly believers proving that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the fervent prayers of people who trust the Almighty.

Lord God Almighty,

Crown New Hampshire with a revival of pure and undefiled religion greater than any demonstration of the Spirit ever granted to it before.  Amen.

Lent Prayers: Take sole possession of our hearts

Lord Christ, almighty Saviour, we cry to thee for aid against our strong enemy. O thou who art the Stronger than the strong, deliver us, we pray thee, from the evil one, and take sole possession of our hearts and minds; that filled with thy Spirit we may henceforth devote our lives to thy service, and therein find our perfect freedom; for the honour of thy great name.

– another one of the Lenten prayers that Kendall Harmon has recently posted at TitusOneNine

Nefarious, vile, and depraved

The Lord’s Resistance Army finds a new safe haven in Darfur:

The LRA originated in northern Uganda during the late 1980s. In addition to committing widespread atrocities in Uganda, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s the LRA served as a proxy for the Sudanese government in its war with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, or SPLA, in southern Sudan. In 2005, Kony publicly stated that the Bashir government supported the LRA as a proxy force to destabilize the south, a charge that Khartoum continues to deny despite considerable evidence to the contrary.
“The Khartoum regime’s principal tool of war during its 21-year reign has been support for marauding militias such as the Janjaweed, the Murahaliin, and the Lord’s Resistance Army,” said Enough Co-founder John Prendergast. “Facing no consequences for this destructive method of governing, it is unsurprising that the regime is again providing safe haven for the LRA. Absent a cost for this, we will likely see the LRA unleashed again later this year to destabilize the referendum in southern Sudan.”

Our regular readers know that we have prayed much against the LRA on this blog. God has placed this burden on our hearts. I don’t often address Satan in spiritual warfare prayers, but Psalm 149 teaches us that it is our honor to execute the Lord’s judgment.–JW

We praise You, Lord, and rejoice in Your glory. We speak new prayers and sing new songs in adoration. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. You will beautify the meek with salvation.

Who is President Omar al-Bashir that he should indiscriminately slaughter Your children? Who is Joseph Kony that he should defy the living God by using His name in the service of death? They have abducted, enslaved, raped, maimed, and killed Your children.

Let the high praises of You be in our mouths and the two-edged sword of Holy Scripture in our hands.

God has exalted Jesus to the highest place and given him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee must bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

We who believe in Jesus Christ exercise our authority to establish God’s kingdom on earth. We declare to all the mountains and obstacles that block the dismantling and dissolution of the Lord’s Resistance Army and the evil regime in Khartoum, “Become a plain.”

Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. We say, “Devil, get under our feet and crawl on Your belly. Eat our dust because that is the only thing you are allowed to eat. We bind Your rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms with chains and fetters of iron.”

Oh, Lord, it is Your good pleasure to give gifts to Your children. You want us to ask and seek. Withdraw Your sword from its scabbard and command it to destroy this evil stronghold.

Take pity on Your people. Take pity. Amen.

Psalm 89:14; 149; Jeremiah 47:6-7, Philippians 2:9-11, 1 John 3:8, Genesis 3:14, Luke 11:9-10

This menu includes many prayers regarding the LRA.

A Lenten Meditation on Psalm 89

I thought today’s Lenten devotional at Anglican Mainstream (from Church of the Resurrection, Tampa) was beautifully written.  Here’s an excerpt:

One of the most striking Psalms in the entire Psalter #89 which is the Psalm appointed for today. What strikes the reader very quickly is that the Psalmist is descriptive in his very clear contrasts of the eternity of God with the fleeting time of that we as humans experience. The instruction on our human limitation is very focused. Our existence has the frailty of the grass that springs up at dawn; suddenly it hears the whistle of the sickle that reduces it to a heap of hay. The freshness of life all too soon gives way to the aridity of death (cf. vv. 5-6). In our prayers today let us ask God that a reflection of eternity penetrate our brief lives and actions. With the presence of divine grace in us, a light will shine on the passing of our days; misery will be turned into glory, what seems not to make sense will acquire meaning.

PRAYER OF THE DAY: O Most gracious Father, who is my God and my all,  in your goodness and mercy, grant that before I die,  I may regain all the graces which I have lost through my carelessness and folly. Permit me to attain the degree of merit and perfection which you desire to lead me, and which I failed by my unfaithfulness to reach. Amen

Lent index won’t be updated for a few days

Hi all,
I’ll be traveling for a few days and won’t have much internet access. So, the Lent 2010 index won’t be updated for the next week. But there WILL be daily Lent entries while I’m away.

Find all the latest Lent entries here.

“What We Really Need When Life is Loud” – The Discipline of Silence

Thanks to Christine Sine at Godspace for linking this wonderful reflection on the importance of silence for our Spiritual Growth.

Ann Voskamp at Holy Experience blogs about a silent retreat.  Here’s an excerpt:

The weekend this tongue lies still I hear what I don’t want to hear, what I usually work hard not to hear in my daily life. Do we keep our lives loud because noise obscures our heart cries? The cries that we are cavernously empty and are famished for love- filling, that we are lonely and nothing on this earth will satisfy, that we are wounded and we are weak and we hurt and we need help. A string of silent hours and I hear the whimper of the heart clear, this chafing to be known, to be seen, to be accepted, heart always the man-pleaser, always embrace-hungry. In silence, truth thunders.

Is this why I talk too much, spill too much and in many words there are many sins and do the lips move more in prayer or more often in complaint, in triviality, in self-focus? Why do I wear my heart stark naked on my sleeve when Mary wisely pondered all these things in her heart? Why make all that is private, public, and what of seeking God’s counsel first, God’s counsel alone? What is sacred when all is spoken? There is a “time to be silent and a time to speak” (Ecc. 3:7) and the time to speak is always after the time of silence.

Who can hear the voice of God but those who have times of sealed lips?

Go read the whole wonderful meditation (with lots of lovely pictures)

May the Lord help us find times of silence in these 2 remaining weeks of Lent.

Lenten Prayer: Help me cling to the cross and be crucified to the world

Help me to cling to the cross,
be crucified to the world by it,
and in it find deepest humiliation,
motives to patience and self-denial,
grace for active benevolence,
faith to grasp eternal life,
hope to lift up my head,
love to bind me for ever
to him who died and rose for me.
May Christ’s shed blood make me
more thankful for your mercies,
more humble under your correction,
more zealous in your service,
more watchful against temptation,
more contented in my circumstances,
more useful to others.

Puritan Prayer (adapted) from Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, pg. 46

Once again, posted with great gratitude for Baptist pastor Trevin Wax’s great collection of prayers at his blog Kingdom People

Sudan and Israel

Sudan (also known as Cush and Nubia) has a historical connection with Israel. When King Sennacherib of Assyria was laying siege to Jerusalem, he had to abandon the siege because he received word that the Nubian Pharoah Tirhakah was leading an army to fight against him. (2 Kings 19) Also, Moses’ second wife was from Cush. In recent years Sudanese refugees have fled from Egypt to Israel.

Father,
We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper. The Nubian Pharoah Tirhakah came to the aid of Jerusalem, Lord. Prosper Sudan.
O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces. All the families of the earth have been blessed through you.
God, You have said that You bless those that bless Israel and curse those that treat Israel with contempt. In the past, Sudan blessed Jerusalem with its military. As intercessors for Sudan today, we bless Israel. For the sake of our brothers and sisters in Sudan, we will say,“Peace be with Jerusalem.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, we will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.
Psalm 122:6-9, Genesis 12:3

Lent IV: Devotionals from Church of the Resurrection

Here’s the link for the devotionals for Lent week 4 from Church of the Resurrection, Tampa