A couple of posts re Ash Wednesday and Lent have caught my eye. In case you miss them, consider checking out:
Bosco Peters' round up of Ash Wednesday and Lent resources.
Psephizo's post on "Lent disciplines for evangelical leaders." Of particular challenge for those busy in church ministry is his reflection on "Sabbath."
Incidentally, Theology House still has copies for sale of its Lenten studies book for 2016, Stewardship: Through Lent with Mark. We've sold c. 3000 copies which, I am reliably informed, makes it a bestseller in Kiwi terms :)
And, hot off the press, some prayers written for this Sunday, Lent 1 (by my father):
Prayers
of the People, 1st Sunday in Lent
As we enter this season of Lent, we pray for
the Church and for the world, giving thanks for God’s goodness. The response to
be sung after each petition is O Lord
hear our prayer….
Creator and Redeemer God, you call us to
walk in the steps of Jesus. As he faced testing and temptations, so also do we today.
As he put aside his personal needs to draw closer to you, help us to be freed
from the distractions of attending daily to our own desires, to find our rest
in you. We pray for the commitment to holiness of your whole Church on earth. Grant
that all who follow Jesus today may be set free from any bondage to material
possessions, and find their deepest joy and security in you. We praise and
thank you for those many Christians who inspire and encourage us in the simplicity
of the way they live, demonstrating that ‘man
does not live by bread alone’.
O
Lord, hear our prayer …
We pray for leaders of the world, for
bishops and clergy, for government ministers and aspiring politicians, for
heads of business and heroes of sport. We pray for integrity in their personal
lives and honesty in their public duties. We thank you for those who show
little regard for fame or fortune, and who are humble in success. As Jesus
rejected the easy path to gaining the plaudits of the world, help us also to
live as those who set little store by the ‘glory
of the kingdoms of this world and their authority’.
O Lord, hear our prayer …
We pray for Christians the world over who
are sorely tempted to blame God for their troubles, and to trade their trust in
God for spectacular answers to prayer. In other parts of the world we pray for
refugees and asylum seekers, for displaced Christians and distraught Muslims.
Here at home we pray for any known to us who desperately seek God to act
through a miracle to meet their pressing needs. We pray for all who suffer from
unkind bereavement, or incurable illness, or unrelieved despair. We pray that
the Jesus who faced temptations in the wilderness will this day walk close with
them, and that they will not ‘put the
Lord their God to the test’.
O
Lord, hear our prayer …
Finally, we pray that this Lent may be for
the Church of God and the people of God a time when all find a new commitment
to following Jesus, a new strength to face and resist the temptations of the
world, the flesh and the devil, and a new depth of faith touching all we do and
all we are, that the glory of God may come afresh to our city and our nation.
So we pray ‘your kingdom come, your will
be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Save us from the time of trial, and
deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now
and for ever’.
ReplyDeleteIan advises us to fast during Lent. Yes, of course. But a few thoughts on the practise of that.
(1) Beginners benefit from doing this in a group.
(2) A fasting congregation is a wonderful experience.
(3) It is not just the foodlessness but the mindfulness of something-- prayer, scripture, psalms, sins, etc-- that makes the fast.
(4) A big meal before a big fast can be a big mistake.
(5) Longer fasts are better than shorter ones, but one has to work up to them as a runner lengthens sprints into 10K races.
(6) Prepare for the inevitable recitative between arias, the meetings, chores, etc between hours in scripture and prayer.
(7) A habit of fasting makes it much easier and more rewarding.
Bowman Walton
Hi Peter
ReplyDeleteThere are also some good podcasts done by 24/7 prayer:
https://www.24-7prayer.com/blog/2547/introducing-lent-2016-the-podcast-archive
Happy lenting
Jean
ReplyDeleteBryden, since you knew Dallas Willard, you know John Ortberg--
https://youtu.be/QG8I3Wz9UuM
Bowman Walton
One of the most wonderful Lenten aides is that of the Daily Mass - with appropriate Readings from the Scriptures. Here we have The Word in The Book, together with The Word Made Flesh - made available to us on a daily basis - in order to inform, equip and fill us with The Christ who longs to redeem the world - through us! What amazing grace is available to us, if only we could understand, receive and distribute it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Peter, for the simplicity of the Video contained in the first of your links to the young man speaking about Ash Wednesday. His invitation for us to turn the Light of Christ on to others in our lives was truly inspirational - for me. Thank you again.
ReplyDeleteWhy is there no reference to God's Fatherhood, even - most egregiously - in the citation of the Lord's Prayer? 'Father' is the distinctive term of New Testament prayer; weakening or avoiding this fact can only be sub-Christian.
ReplyDeleteCould there - just possibly - be a link between the continual decline of liberal Protestantism and its embarrassment over the fundamental doctrine taught by Jesus Christ, that God becomes the Father of all who believe in the Son?
And is it right to use prayer to criticise other Christians?
Prayer should be addressed in humility to God the Father, not a form of Pharisaic virtue-signalling ('I thank Thee, Lord, that I am not as other men...').
ReplyDeleteYes--
http://catholicityandcovenant.blogspot.com/2016/02/let-us-all-together-pursue-our-race-leo.html
Bowman Walton