April 2010
An Easter Prayer
(Adapted from The Book of Common Prayer)
O God, who for our redemption gave your only begotten Son to death on the Cross, and by his glorious resurrection has delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant that we who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit. Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection, empowered and transformed by your grace in and among us.
O Lord, so stir up in your church, indeed in each of us, that Spirit of adoption and reconciliation that is made possible by your grace revealed in Jesus the Christ, that we being renewed in both body and mind, may worship and serve you in sincerity and truth. We pray this in the name of the same Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Dear Family & Friends,
This will be my third Passion Week and Easter Sunday in Buenos Aires. These past few years I have found encouragement in praying with the church through ancient and contemporary prayers of the saints. These prayers have provide deeper and often simplier language to my prayer life. There is something special about praying the same prayers with the Body of Christ around the world. Part of my discipline in praying with the church is sharing a prayer every weekend on the Prayers & Creeds blog (http://prayersandcreeds.wordpress.com).
In his book, Praying with the Church, Scot McKnight recognizes two types of prayer in Scripture. There are spontaneous individual prayers and communal prayers. He says, “We are invited to let our personal prayers be engulfed and enlarged by our prayers of the Church. We are invited to pray both in the church and with the church…Praying with the Church involves allowing our prayer lives to be adjusted to the sacred rhythms of the Church’s tradition and invites us to use the words of the Bible and the Church.”
The Book of Common Prayer has been especially helpful as I experience and pray through the seasons of the chruch calendar. The Easter Prayer above is one that I will use through the Eastetide season. May the joy and hope of the resurrection stir us and renew us to live and serve more fully in God’s Rescurrection Kingdom!
In the Argentina blog on this WMF website is a letter from our Buenos Aires community sharing some exciting and hopeful steps for WMF Argentina. In the weeks and months ahead we will moving forward in partnership with our Argentine friends, who serve alongside us in ministry to the chiildren and youth. Please pray for us as we take these important and valuable steps forward, as detailed in the letter posted on our Argentina blog.
With Hope,
David