A Prayer Litany for those in Hurricane Irma’s path

Hurricane Irma is currently a CATASTROPHIC Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds, and threatening to make a direct hit on many of the islands in the Caribbean tonight / Wed a.m., including Barbuda and Anguilla and others further north & west.

Projected track of Irma in relation to Barbuda and Anguilla (using Storm Carib’s Closest Point of Approach tool)

 

Here is a prayer we have posted often at Lent & Beyond in the past.  May the Lord lead all in the storm’s path to places of safe shelter!

L: Lord, have mercy.
C: Lord, have mercy.

L: Christ, have mercy.
C: Christ, have mercy.

L: Lord, have mercy.
C: Lord, have mercy.

L: In the face of peril and apprehension, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

L: In the face of mighty winds, thunderous sounds, strong rains, and surging waves, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

L: In the face of complete uncertainty, as well as concern for our loved ones, here or elsewhere, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

L: In the face of our own vulnerable mortality, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

L: For the strength that God alone can give us, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

L: For all that it takes to keep our children calm and safe, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

L: For faith that can move mountains and remove all fear, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

L: For trust in God’s loving presence in our midst, even at this very hour, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

L: For trust that in life and in death, God will not abandon us, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

L: Almighty God, we poor creatures place our lives into your hands that you might protect and guide us according to your will; Lord, in your mercy,
C: Hear, our prayer.

L: Do not hold our sins against us, but remember us in our faith and love for you; Lord, in your mercy,
C: Hear, our prayer.

L: Be our light in the darkness, our hope in the storm, our peace in the chaos, our trust in the unknown; Lord, in your mercy,
C: Hear, our prayer.

L: Mighty are your works, O Lord, and mighty is your saving hand.
Turn your ear to our petitions and supplications; Lord, in your mercy,
C: Hear, our prayer.

L: God of heaven and earth, God who carries our lives and the lives of our whole community in your hands, be with is in the peril of this day/night. Help us to release our anxieties and fears into those same caring hands, knowing in faith that your will for us is life and everlasting good. Send your holy angels to watch over us and guard us. May they spread their holy wings to give us shelter against the storm. For you alone, O God, are all good, all life, all love, and that love is for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

C: Amen

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A modified version of the final section of the Litany, suitable to be prayed as a stand-alone collect:

God of heaven and earth, God who carries our lives and the lives of [all in Irma’s path] in your hands, be with all those in peril this day/night. Help them to release their anxieties and fears into your caring hands, knowing in faith that your will for us is life and everlasting good. Send your holy angels to watch over them and guard them. May your angels spread their holy wings to give all in danger shelter against the storm. For you alone, O God, are all good, all life, all love, and that love is for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

2017 Lent links menu will be posted tomorrow

I expect to have an updated 2017 Lent links post tomorrow (March 1) for Ash Wednesday…
Stay tuned.

Apologies for the prolonged blog silence. Computer crash in December and poor internet connections in recent months have made blogging something quite difficult.

ADVENT 2016 – Handy Links

Note: this entry is “sticky” and will remain at the top of the blog throughout Advent. Look for new entries below.

Advent has started!!! We wish all our readers a Blessed Advent!

I (Karen) hope to do at least a little bit of Advent blogging this year.  I may also be posting some Advent tweets, so keep an eye on our Lent & Beyond Twitter Account (@AnglicanPrayer)

Here are some links to help you find your way around the wealth of Advent resources at Lent & Beyond:

Any new Advent posts for 2016 can be found with our Advent 2016 tag.

For all Advent entries past & present, use our Advent category.

Our Advent Subcategories include: Advent Devotionals, Advent Prayers, Advent Poems, Advent Music, Advent Quotes, Advent Resources, Advent: Family & Children.

Here’s the “Best of Advent at Lent & Beyond” entry – compiled in 2014, with links to many of our Advent favorites from the past 10 years. Here’s our Advent Favorites category.

Here’s last year’s (2015)  list of links to excellent sites for Advent devotionals & prayers for Advent 2015. (I will do my best to update this soon, but I expect many or most of the links will still work.)

Here’s the link for all our posts containing Advent worship music.

Here’s the  Index of all our Advent entries for 2014, (the last year I was able to do substantial Advent blogging).  Blogging in Advent 2015 was very light, but I’ll try to create an index of those posts soon

May the Lord prepare all of our hearts for celebrating the miracle of His birth and may He draw us near to Him in worship this Advent.

A Blessed Advent to All

It’s been seemingly forever since I (Karen) have been anywhere near Lent & Beyond… Bad internet connections and a very very busy season of work and ministry have pushed blogging far off my radar screen.

But I find the beginning of Advent has me itching to blog!  I’m honestly not likely to contribute much, but I may try to post once or twice a week…

For this morning, I want to post three songs that have come up in my Advent playlist this morning…  the first is a CCM classic, the second is a beautiful French worship song that I was introduced to at a retreat earlier this year, and the third is a lovely contemporary adaptation of the traditional O Come Divine Messiah.  I’ll post the songs first, and then post purchase information for all three at the end.

Michael Card’s The Promise – it captures well the hope and expectation of Advent as we review the prophecies and promises made about Messiah’s coming.  How wonderful that we who live in an A.D. word can look back and see that all the promises were true!

The second song is the beautiful, stirring  Eveille-toi, mon âme  (Awake my Soul) by the Canadian worship group Collectif Cieux Ouverts.  The words make a very apt Advent prayer (there is an English translation that appears on the video).

Finally, last year, Redeemer Downtown (the downtown congregation of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC), put out an Advent / Christmas worship album which contains a wonderful adaptation of the classical O Come Divine Messiah.  It’s called In Silence and it’s quickly become one of my Advent favorites:

Here are the lyrics:

o come, divine messiah,
the world in silence waits the day
when hope shall sing its triumph,
and sadness flee away.

o come desired of nations,
whom priest and prophet long foretold,
will break the captive fetters,
redeem the long-lost fold.

o come in peace and meekness,
for lowly will your cradle be:
though clothed in human weakness
we shall your god-head see.

***

Here are links to purchase each song:

1. Michael Card’s The Promise, from his 1987 album The Final Word. (iTunes US store)
2. Eveille-toi Mon Ame – the title track on the 2014 album by Collectif Cieux Ouverts (iTunes US store)
3. Redeemer Downtown’s In Silence, from their 2015 album Permanent City (via Bandcamp)

Note: to find other Advent music I’ve posted over the years, use our Advent Music tag.

Philadelphia, PA–Justice

Psalm 97:1-7 NLT
1 The Lord is king!
Let the earth rejoice!
Let the farthest coastlands be glad.
2 Dark clouds surround him.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire spreads ahead of him
and burns up all his foes.
4 His lightning flashes out across the world.
The earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
every nation sees his glory.
7 Those who worship idols are disgraced—
all who brag about their worthless gods—
for every god must bow to him. . .

We rejoice in Your justice in the United States of America. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is glad because of Your justice, O Lord! We proclaim Your justice in Philadelphia. Justice! Justice! Justice!

Election

Song of Solomon 1:3 (HCSB)
The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating;
your name is perfume poured out.
No wonder young women adore you.

Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
We declare Your name over the church in the United States of America on this election day. May the Christians of America carry the fragrance of Your name to the voting booths. Amen.

Philadelphia, PA–Praise

Psalm 96:1-9 (ESV)
Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts!
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth!

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts. A thousand hallelujahs over Philadelphia! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Election

Isaiah 49:25 (AMP)
Indeed, this is what the Lord says,

“Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away,
And the tyrant’s spoils of war will be rescued;
For I will contend with your opponent,
And I will save your children.

O God, contend with the strong man that oppresses the United States of America and holds its citizens captive. Contend with the demonic principality that is trying to influence this election. Save our children! Amen.

Philadelphia, PA–Psalm 100

Psalm 100:1-3 (NLT)
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Shout, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! Worship the Lord with gladness. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are His. Amen.

Philadelphia, PA–Roads

Lamentations 1:4a (NLT)
The roads to Jerusalem are in mourning,
for crowds no longer come to celebrate the festivals.

Luke 19:37-40 (NLT)
When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.

“Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”

But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”

He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

O Father,
What do the roads of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania say? Do they mourn or cheer? On this election day, we pray that the roads will give report of the Christians and Jews doing justice to other people, including future generations; loving mercy; and walking humbly with You.
We proclaim over the roads of Philadelphia,

“Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”

Amen.

Micah 6:8

Election

Lamentations 3:22-25 (AMP)
It is because of the Lord’s lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed,
Because His [tender] compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great and beyond measure is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion and my inheritance,” says my soul;
“Therefore I have hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait [confidently] for Him,
To those who seek Him [on the authority of God’s word].

Our Father in heaven,
We have seen affliction and experienced anguish in these national elections. Yet, we have hope for You are our portion and our inheritance. Amen.

Philadelphia, PA–Investigation

From The Inquirer: Police have raided voter registration offices in Delaware County and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a fraud investigation.

Proverbs 21:30 (NLT)
No human wisdom or understanding or plan
can stand against the Lord.

Our Father in heaven,
We pray for Your truth to prevail in this voter fraud investigation. We declare Your truth over the law enforcement officials, the election commissioners, and the judiciary.
We give this national election to You, dear Lord. Guard and protect it from voter fraud and computer attacks. We decree, No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the Lord! Amen.

Philadelphia, PA–God’s glory

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 (ESV)
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.

Our Father in heaven,
You are a holy God, and You cannot share Your glory with lies. We invite Your glory into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We loose Your holy angels to dispossess the spirits of divination, fortune telling, sorcery, occult charms, mediums, and necromancy. Amen.

Thomas Hutchinson

Thomas Hutchinson, an early historian, wrote that God brought a vine into the wilderness of New England and caused it to take root, and it filled the land.

Colossians 2:6-8 (ESV)
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Our Father in heaven,
We give You thanks for the innumerable blessings You have bestowed upon our land. We thank You for Your providence and protection. We are a Christian nation, and no one can take away our history.
Our nation is at a crossroads. Guard us from vain philosophy and empty deceit in this election. We stand in the name of Christ and loose the angels that war against the elemental spirits of the world, particularly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Amen.

Reference: Our Sacred Honor by William J. Bennett, p. 366.

General George Washington

General Orders, May 15, 1776–

The Continental Congress having ordered Friday the 17th. Instant to be observed as a day of “fasting, of humiliation, of prayer, humbly to supplicate the mercy of Almighty God, that it would please him to pardon all our manifold sins and transgressions, and to prosper the arms of the United Colonies, and finally, establish the peace and freedom of America, upon a solid and lasting foundation”–The General commands all officers, and soldiers, to pay strict obedience to the Orders of the Continental Congress, and by their unfeigned, and pious observance of their religious duties, incline the Lord, and Giver of Victory, to prosper our arms.

Jehovah Sabaoth,
You are indeed the Giver of Victory. Prosper the arms of Your angelic hosts to establish the peace and freedom of America, upon a solid and lasting foundation. Amen.