“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. (Matthew 23:15)
Lord Jesus Christ, when we invite someone to church or they come in on their own, help us desire above all that they will come to know you and follow you. Lord, we want Christians rather than Episcopalians.
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.” (Matthew 23:16-22)
Holy Spirit, help us recognize the basis by which we make commitments. Help us bind ourselves to what is truly holy.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” (Matthew 23:23)
Father, move in the hearts of your people. Help them make their offerings of their tithes and go beyond that to justice, mercy and faith.
These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. (Jude 16-19)
Holy Spirit, help us recognize and shun the traps that Satan places around us.
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, (Jude 20)
Jesus, please help us pray according to the mind of your Spirit. Build us up in faith.
keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. (Jude 21)
Father, confirm and keep us in your love. Help us look for your mercy in your son Jesus Christ and come to eternal life.
And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. (Jude 22)
Bless the prayer table ministry. Help us pray with people with compassion and pull back those heading for destruction. Help us hate the sin which disables people. Thank you.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24-25)
Saturday: 20, 21:1-7(8-14) * 110:1-5(6-7), 116, 117; Amos 5:18-27: Jude 17-25: Matt. 22:15-22
Sunday: 148, 149, 150 * 114, 115; Amos 6:1-14: 1 Thess. 5:1-12: Luke 1:57-68
HC: 85 or 85:7-13; Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15a,18; Mark 1:1-8
Notes from the Front Line
***** Pray for vocations for
The Sisters of St. Mary
The Daughters of the King
The Franciscans of the Holy Cross
The Brotherhood of St. Andrew
***** Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2011
From: Susan Plaske
Subject: Cathedral of All Saints Prayer Table Reports
11/30/11 Cathedral of All Saints Prayer Table Report, (Cold and Windy, Thanksgiving for no rain) Beth Collum, Deacon Sue Plaske
Susan – for effectiveness of treatment on Friday and discernment and provision for another trial and God’s healing touch upon her.
Dave for Advent – Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
Barb – healing – suspicious scan prayer that no cancer is present.
Jim – for his health , protection and provision , Comfort in the knowledge and Love of God.
Bob – for Peace and less anxiety
We also lift up today, all those who had or will have surgery this week for a speedy recovery and restoration of health.
11/23/11 Cathedral of All Saints Prayer Table Report
(Rain for 1/2 hour then Clearing) Beth Collum, Deacon Sue, Hilda Hardy
Natasha – Stopped to give thanks for the prayer she received the last time she was at the table and for the Blessing she received from God. Prayed for health and happiness for her family. Says she never takes off the cross we gave her last time.
Man walking by – I need one (prayer) but, Ive got to get going. Prayed for peace and provision for him and a happy Thanksgiving.
Paula – For David
Chris – to get back with his family
***** Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2011
From: Jake Dell
Subject: Episcopalian Julia La Roche invites you to visit an Episcopal Church this Advent…
We taped this today at Grace on Broadway and 10th. Pray that more young people will have the courage to come forward and invite people to church. http://vimeo.com/33048087
***** 
Check out the Dock Church in Belfast, Northern Ireland: http://www.thedockchurch.org/
***** Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2011
From: Nigel Mumford
Subject: Daily quote
I used to teach Royal Marine commando recruits to always run up the stairs! I used to always run up the stairs. Now I pray with thanksgiving that I can even climb the stairs! I take a pause for breath and a prayer of gratitude, about three quarters the way up! Funny thing that!
Albany Intercessor
There are three ego-pleasing behaviors that are alienating people with genuine spiritual hunger from the ecclesiastical subculture in American:
1.Rationalistic dogmatic absolutism that has lost all sense of a Divine Mystery that is and will always be inaccessible to the human intellect.
The mysteries of faith are degraded if they are made into an object of affirmation and negation, when in reality they should be an object of contemplation.
–Simone Weil
The myssteries of faith are to be apprehended, not comprehended.
~Martin Luther
2.Self-righteous judgmentalism
Many Christians still at bottom look upon God as one of the
most selfish, self-absorbed Beings in the universe, far more
selfish than they could think it right to be themselves, —intent
only upon His own honor and glory, looking out continually that
His own rights are never trampled on; and so absorbed in thoughts
of Himself and of His own righteousness, as to have no love or
pity to spare for the poor sinners who have offended Him.
~Hannah Whitall Smith
and
3.Sectarian triumphalism.
Christians have always tended to transform the Christian Revelation into a Christian religion. Christianity is said to be a religion like any other or, conversely, some Christians try to show that it is a better religion than the others. People attempt to take possession of God. Theology claims to explain everything, including the being of God. People tend to transform Christianity into a religion because the Christian faith obviously places people in an extremely uncomfortable position that of freedom guided only by love and all in the context of God’s radical demand that we be holy.
–Jacques Ellul
We should be less concerned about making churches full of people and more concerned about making people full of God
- C. Kirk Hadaway and David A. Roozen
In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe , where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America where it became an enterprise.
–Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate
In a rare interview in 1967 with Thomas McDonnell, [Thomas] Merton pronounced that the great crisis in the church is a crisis of authority precipitated because the church, as institution and organization, has overshadowed the reality of the church as a community of persons united in love and in Christ. He now charged that obedience and conformity with the impersonal corporation-church are a fact in the life of Christians. “The Church is preached as a communion, but is run in fact as a collectivity, and even as a totalitarian collectivity.
~ George Kilcourse, ACE OF FREEDOMS: Thomas Merton’s Christ, Notre Dame Press, 1993
“The institutions of Churchianity are not Christianity. An institution is a good thing if it is second; immediately an institution recognizes itself it becomes the dominating factor.”
— Oswald Chambers
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