A Call to Worship link
God of Hope,
we come into your presence this morning
with confidence that you will meet us here.
Where there is sadness, bring joy;
Where there is tiredness, bring refreshment;
Where there is despair, bring a renewed sense of hope.
Let this place be a sanctuary,
a safe haven for us,
a home for holy words and songs and prayers
as we devote ourselves to you.
We pray this in Jesus’ name
Amen
A Prayer of Benedict link
Gracious and Holy Father,
Please give me:
intellect to understand you,
reason to discern you,
diligence to seek you,
wisdom to find you,
a spirit to know you,
a heart to meditate upon you,
ears to hear you,
eyes to to see you,
a tongue to proclaim you,
a way of life pleasing to you,
patience to wait for you
and perseverance to look for you.
Grant me a perfect end,
your holy presence,
a blessed resurrection
and life everlasting.
Amen.
A Prayer of Ambrose (c 339-97) link
O Lord, who hast mercy upon all, take away from me my sins,
and mercifully kindle in me the fire of thy Holy Spirit.
Take away from me the heart of stone,
and give me a heart of flesh,
a heart to love and adore thee,
a heart to delight in thee,
to follow and to enjoy thee,
for Christ’s sake.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Dr James K.A. Smith is a “Professor of Philosophy at Calvin University, holding the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology & Worldview.
He is the current editor-in-chief of the literary journal Image: an American quarterly literary journal that publishes
art and writing engaging or grappling with Judeo-Christian faith.[1] The journal’s byline is “Art, Faith, Mystery”.
Image features fiction, poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, film, music and dance.”
Benediction: Jude 1:24-25 (NASB Bible Gateway)
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.
Amen.
Thank you again, Dee, for your faithfulness and love in posting these.
Eyewitness,
I am glad you are finding them helpful.
For some time now, I’ve found that I don’t have to go looking for joy, it finds me.
When I see my little dogs look up at me with love in their eyes for me, it’s there.
It’s also there in a hundred other things in this here and now.
I don’t need to excavate a theological dig site to find joy, in fact, when I did that at one time, I found only emptiness.
The Story Behind “It Is Well With My Soul”
Horatio Spafford knew something about life’s unexpected challenges. He was a successful attorney and real estate investor who lost a fortune in the great Chicago fire of 1871. Around the same time, his beloved four-year-old son died of scarlet fever.
Thinking a vacation would do his family some good, he sent his wife and four daughters on a ship to England, planning to join them after he finished some pressing business at home. However, while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship was involved in a terrible collision and sunk. More than 200 people lost their lives, including all four of Horatio Spafford’s precious daughters. His wife, Anna, survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in England, she sent a telegram to her husband that began: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”
Horatio immediately set sail for England. At one point during his voyage, the captain of the ship, aware of the tragedy that had struck the Spafford family, summoned Horatio to tell him that they were now passing over the spot where the shipwreck had occurred.1
As Horatio thought about his daughters, words of comfort and hope filled his heart and mind. He wrote them down, and they have since become a well-beloved hymn:
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll—
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know
It is well, it is well with my soul.2
[http] https://www.thetabernaclechoir.org/articles/it-is-well-with-my-soul.html#:~:text=Horatio%20immediately%20set%20sail%20for,where%20the%20shipwreck%20had%20occurred.&text=It%20is%20well%2C%20it%20is%20well%20with%20my%20soul.%5B/http%5D
My apologies for the mess I made of that link….:(
Just scroll about halfway down the page to read it if you want. It’s a very touching account about the incident that led to Horatio writing that hymn.
Trying again….
My apologies for the mess I made with the link above. If you scroll about half way down the page, you will read the circumstances that led to Horatio’s hymn.