Dear Friends,

     Many of you are already praying our congregational prayer for the year regularly. John Baillie’s prayer is a wonderful example of putting yourself in God’s hands in prayer. Far from being selfish, praying for yourself is a courageous thing. Praying for yourself means you allow yourself to be shaped by God. This prayer, rather than giving God a list of things to do for you, focuses on giving yourself to God. The language is lovely but perhaps a little archaic. I thought it might be a good idea to examine what it means.

 

     Our Congregational Prayer for 2012, by John Baillie:

We begin with an invitation, an opening our hearts to the spirit of God and asking God to be with us through the day:

 

O Holy Spirit of God, visit now this soul of mine, and tarry within it until eventide,

 

     We continue by asking God to guide our thinking, to be in our heads, in our hearts and shaping what we do and say, what we plan and hope for.

 

Inspire all my thoughts. Pervade all my imaginations. Suggest all my decisions. Lodge in my will’s most inward citadel and order all my doings,

 

     We finish by rejoicing in God’s presence with us through every circumstance of the day:

 

Be with me in my silence and in my  speech, in my haste and in my leisure, in company and in solitude, in the freshness of the morning and in the weariness of the evening; and give me grace at all times to rejoice in thy mysterious companionship.

 

     Prayer works. Prayer brings strength and healing, hope and perspective and wisdom. I look forward to seeing what God will do with us as pray ourselves into his hands.

 

Pastor Marion