Why did Christ desert those whom He knew were being sought because of him, and whom He knew would be killed for his sake? Brothers, Christ did not despise his own soldiers but promoted them. He enabled them to participate in a victory without struggle. He gave them the gift of the crown even before their bodies had grown. It was Christ’s will that they pass over vice for virtue, and attain heaven before earth and share in the divine life immediately. Thus it was that Christ sent his soldiers ahead. He did not abandon them. He gathered up his ranks. He did not leave them behind.
Morning and Evening Prayer for First Week in Christmastide
Sunday Evening Dec. 27 Again, Father, You have spoken to me in the preaching of your word. Give me ears to hear and a heart to believing, that in believing, I know Thee. And in knowledge of Thee, find all thing: joy, peace, courage, knowledge of myself, and final love Amen. Our Father…
Monday Morning As I return to work, I give You thanks for all that I am able to do. Only the young work without the aches of age, and only the old work without the burden of inexperience–I thank you that I am as I am. I thank You that I am capable for all I am capable of. Amen. Our Father…
Monday Evening This world is full of many good things, and I am richly blessed. Yet, in all that I have, let me not forget Thee, the only possession that matters and the source of all things. Without You, all food is ashes, all possessions are burdens, and all clothing vanity. But in contentment with your grace, all is honey, sunshine, and golden raiment. Amen. Our Father…
Tuesday Morning Lord God, daily I sin much and seldom think of it. Give me eyes to see my faults and mistakes, that where I can, I may improve, and where I cannot, I may learn to bear my cross and see your grace, even in my failings. Help me to see them as teachers and causes of empathy and of courage. Amen. Our Father…
Tuesday Evening Father, too often I become angry at pointless things, and then when some true cause for righteous indignation comes, I let the moment pass by. Give fire to my spirit, not to rage against the petty aggravations of the world, but to hate sin, death, and the devil. That in this too, I may imitate You. Amen. Our Father…
Wednesday Morning Lord Jesus, on this day You were betrayed. And while I can point the finger at Judas, my heart knows that it was my false faith which kissed You, and my hands which accept the gifts of the world to abandon You. Give me a true sorrow for my sins, that I may truly repent. Amen. Our Father…
Wednesday Evening Creator, today I have seen many of your children. Open my eyes to see them as bearers of your image and objects of your redemption. That in seeing them as You do, I may see your hand at work in every live. Amen. Our Father…
Thursday Morning Father, sometimes my life feels so scattered. I do not know where I am going. I feel lost in the schedule and busy-ness of all I do and everywhere I go. Give direction to my heart, that I may see the goal of my labors and the aim of my life–to see You in Paradise. Amen. Our Father…
Thursday Evening Lord of Hosts, You command the angel legions yet send a helper for every small child. Give me a heart to trust your hidden work. That especially when I cannot see, You punish evil and protect the innocent. Amen. Our Father…
Friday Morning Immortal God, I am but one of the small ones among the race of man, and yet my heart would know your ways. Give me faith to see you working in adversities, laboring in hard places, and working mercy in cold hearts. Amen. Our Father…
Friday Evening Mighty God of heavenly armies, while there is an eternal peace inside your Son, the Christ, yet there is evil and war upon the earth. Convert stony hearts. Cast down wickedness, and in your stern justice cast down evil from the world. Preserve the faithful and the innocent. And give us all hope in the final victory and resting place–the promised land, kingdom come, heaven. Amen. Our Father…
Saturday Morning Lord of Glory, You have made all the great things of this world and universe, and yet You care for the grass and the sparrow and also for me. Often I am proud, and think that strength means independence, even independence from Thee. Give me eyes to see how much of my being depends on your providence. Give me a child’s faith in the goodness of my Father. Teach me that if I will be your child today, tomorrow I will grow beyond what I could be on my own. Amen. Our Father…
Saturday Evening The night is deep and the world is asleep. And though many of the world’s cares are vain and silly because of its deep vanity, and I am not immune to such folly, yet You care, even for these. To the tired, You give sleep. To the ungrateful, You give food. To the godless, You give life. Not the least of these is me. I wonder at your great mercy. And all that I can give is my thanks and praise, Great Giver. Amen. Our Father…
Sunday Morning Again, I rise to glorify your name in the assembly of the righteous. I praise You, that your grace makes me worthy to stand where Moses and David and Elijah stood. There, I will shout the festival shout, the Amen, the Gloria, as priests and prophets of old. Open my heart to see the greatness of this thing. Amen. Our Father…
Morning and Evening Prayers for the Second Week in Christmas and the Epiphany
Sunday Evening Lord of Hosts, for all the glory you have given to man, yet our lives are short among the long ages of the earth. In the storms of winter, there is still danger to mortal life. For all the power of man, the cold of winter still takes its toll. Give us humble hearts beneath the firmament of creation. Give us awe at the power of the works of your hand. For we give You thanks for your great glory. Amen. Our Father…
Monday Morning Ancient of Days, before time began its endless course, before the earth or the seas, before the stars of the sky–You were. You–first and highest–are not shamed to give us a new mercy. Again, you have given us fresh grace in a new day. You have not grown weary of endless ages of love, but still You have given us another day of life. Another day of breath. Another day to lift up our eyes to the majestic, the ineffable, the eternal. Amen. Our Father…
Monday Evening Lord God, You have given water for the fishes, skies for the birds, and the earth for all beasts. You have given particular grace to me, a human. I bless You for your gift of words, which are water and air to me. I thank You for little words of greeting and hello. I give You thanks for the beauty of music, and the language of love. I give You thanks for my name, which You have written in the book of life, because of my baptism. Amen. Our Father…
Tuesday Morning Lord Jesus, You were not shamed to grow in the house of a carpenter, and your Father did make the world in six days in the power of his hand. I give you thanks for my hands. For the work they can do, for all that they hold, for all that I can touch and know. I wonder to think that everything in the whole world is in your hand. Amen. Our Father…
Tuesday Evening Eternal Spirit! Fire of the prophets and secret glory of the hidden God, long have You worked, while hidden from the eyes of men. You renew the face of the earth. You give life to your Church, which without is but dying men. You kindled life in Adam, kindle life in me today. Give me zest and zeal for fresh air and bright light and the vigor of life until death claims me. Give fire to my belly, to enjoy all that is good, and take nothing for granted. Amen. Our Father…
Wednesday Morning Jan. 6th, The Epiphany of Our Lord O God, who by the leading of a star did manifest thy only-begotten Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know You by faith, to your presence, where we may behold your glory face to face; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our Father…
Wednesday Evening Lord God, at Ajalon, You gave victory to your people by the power of the angels and the lengthening of the day. This miracle is beyond my power to create or even understand. By your mighty power, give your people victory again, before the setting of the sun. For the devil, the world, and the nature of sin stand against us, and only You fight for us. Amen. Our Father…
Thursday Morning Father, You still call us children, though I have done little to earn such love. Give me faith, not in what I can do to earn love. For I cannot do more than Christ has done. Rather, give me faith in your nature: that You are the eternal Father, who cannot forsake his children. Amen. Our Father…
Thursday Evening Lord of Virtue, give me fortitude, make me strong. Long is the day, and great the temptations of the world, and my flesh is weak against these. Give strength to my body, strength to my will, strength to my soul. That I may stand strong against temptations, against the fragility of men, and against the coming night. Lend me the power of your hand. Amen. Our Father…
Friday Morning Holy God! You called the men of old to build altars and make sacrifice to your name. Great were the altars of Abraham and Solomon, but small is the altar of my little church. Give me faith to see that is not the greatness of the altar, but the greatness of the God which matters most. Give me faith to see the sacrifices there. Give me reverence for what You have made holy. Amen. Our Father…
Friday Evening Christ, today You endured crucifixion and bitter death. You were forsaken by the Father that I might never be alone. I do not appreciate this as I should. Purge all vanity and vainglory from me. Cleanse me from all distractions and wanderings of heart that, at least for this moment, I may see the cost of grace and the price of life in your crucifixion. Give me a heart to ascribe value to your Name, for the lavish mercy poured out in you most precious blood. Amen. Our Father…
Saturday Morning Lord of Angels, You care for the littlest and the least. By the hands of your servants, watch over me this day. Protect me where I go. Guide all that I do. Amen. Our Father…
Saturday Evening Matchless Lord, there is none like You in all the earth, and none among the heavens can claim likeness with You in glory or might or in mercy. Because there is no other name in heaven, because there is no where else that can go to find the words of eternity, so tomorrow I and my brothers and sisters will gather to praise your name in the church, the temple of living stones. Give my voice strength, to sing your glory. Give my words truth, to rightly confess and all the more speak your word in the festal shouts of the divine service. And give me faith to see your work and your hidden Spirit. Amen. Our Father…
Sunday Morning Again, I rise and go where You have called me. If I have no other home than this, my church, let me love it. That in the habitation of your house, I may hear You speak and your testimonies live in another generation. Amen. Our Father…
Morning and Evening Prayers for the Fourth Week in Advent
Sunday Evening Dec. 20th, Katharina von Bora Luther Lord God, You blessed your teacher Martin Luther with a good wife. As a good wife is greater than riches, I give you thanks for the good wives and their families of my church. Bless their labors and quiet their cares. Make them faithful and true, and open the eyes of their children and husbands to appreciate them. Amen. Our Father…
Monday Morning Dec. 21st, St. Thomas Your servant was remembered for his doubts, and I have mine. I have not seen Thee and yet I would believe. Bless me, doubts and all, with faith. Amen. Our Father…
Monday Evening Lord God, your servant taught that we are unhappy because we desire too little and because our hopes are too small. Give me a heart for full desires. Contentment with my whole life. Charity with everyone I know. Peace for the world. Joy to all mankind. Leave no one and nothing out. Extend your kingdom to all corners of my life and all corners of the world and fill my heart with a desire to see this all. Amen. Our Father…
Tuesday Morning There are many fears and anxieties which cloud this time of year. Some are honest cares of this world and others are vain vanities. Help me to attend to cares, but to put aside vanities so that my live will be meaningful and worthy of the grace given me. Amen. Our Father…
Tuesday Evening Father, You give different gifts to all your children. You have given me my intellect, more than some and less then others. Give me contentment with my gift, and the spirit to use it to its fullest. Keep me from pride over those who have less, or bitterness with those who have more. Amen. Our Father…
Wednesday Morning You drew your people of old through the Red Sea and the river Jordan, yet they forgot your mighty works. In baptism You wrought mighty salvation by your grace in the water and the word. Let me not forget this, but live always in the truth of my baptism. Amen. Our Father…
Wednesday Evening Creator of all, while the world around me sleep in winter, yet you are at work preparing new life in the spring. Let me not think that when I cannot see You, You are not working. Give me trust in your hidden work and secret hands. Amen. Our Father…
Thursday Morning, Comforter, there are many at this time who are filled with memories of sorrow and loneliness. For them, You have promised a family. For those whose melancholy is great, give a greater mercy, and teach me to mourn with those who mourn. Amen. Our Father…
Thursday Evening Christmas Eve Lord and God, by coming into the world as one of us, You have done a wondrous thing. In this, You have begun to redeem the world. Though tis a a thing to wondrous for me, let the awe of Christmas fill my heart with faith. Amen. Our Father…
Friday Morning Christmas Day Lord, today is a quiet day in which the world little remembers your incarnation. Amid all the fills the world, remind me of your hidden work. Far from the eyes of the world, You have made a beginning for my salvation, and my hope is in Thee. Amen. Our Father…
Fridays Evening The day is cold, but your love is warm. Open my eyes to see your many blessings: a warm home, food, and clothing. Give me honest contentment for they riches, which are so much more than others have. Amen. Our Father…
Saturdays Morning Dec. 26th St Stephen Lord, today we remember the first deacon, Stephen and his death for the witness of your church. In all the decorations, bright music, and holiday joy, let me not forget the cost of such laughter and the tear that I did not weep. Help me to see victory and joy, even in death, as the death of your saints is blessed in your sight. Amen. Our Father…
Saturday Evening Lord God, in your birth you were worshipped by shepherds, hated by Herod. The poor praise You, and the powerful seek your place. I have so much more than a shepherd. And my many possessions do not help me to seek you. But make me poor in spirit, so that I may see and seek You aright. Amen. Our Father…
Sunday Morning Today is the third day of Christmas, and your love has not failed me, though I often forget it. In remembrance of You, take from me what distracts and confuses. Give me a heart singly dependent on Thee, that in worshipping You, I may have my heart’s desire. Amen. Our Father…
Morning and Evening Prayers for the Third Week of Advent
Sunday Evening Dec. 13th St. Lucy Almighty God, I give you thanks for the witness of your servant Lucy, who served the poor in dark places, being herself a light of your mercy. Hold her up in my heart, that I would honor her as You do, giving honor to the saints–not as the world honors–but as You honor service and servanthood. Amen. Our Father…
Monday Morning Dec. 14th John of the Cross Lord God, as your servant, John, renewed the life of contemplative prayer in his time, grant us such fervent hearts in our time. Kindle lively spirits within us, that seek You in all things. In the changes and chances of life. In the wide world, and in our hearts. Give us hearts that yearn for scripture, prayer, and the holy sacrament, that by these we may direct our spirits to You are our origin and beginning. Amen. Our Father…
Monday Evening As the world prepares for Christmas with money and vanity, prepare my heart better. Give me ears to hear your Word, that it may prepare my heart to hear your voice. Give me worthy lips to sing your praises. Give me a body worthy to receive your sacrament. Open my soul to receive greater things. Amen. Our Father…
Tuesday Morning Fix in my mind firm knowledge of Hope. That as You give it to me in Christ Jesus, I might come to a fuller knowledge day by day. And that knowing You by Hope, I would not fear the dangers of this world, but trust in You, who made it. Amen. Our Father…
Tuesday Evening At the end of another day, I give You thanks for the opportunity to work. As all work is pleasing to You, I am grateful that I am still able to do some work. Give me strength and determination to accomplish much, and thereby imitate You, who did work for six days in making the world. Amen. Our Father…
Wednesday Morning Lord God, You have put so many people in my life, and I often take them for granted. Forgive me that. Open my eyes in thankfulness for the blessing of my fellow men. Remind me that, though imperfect, they bear your Image. And for that, are precious. Amen. Our Father…
Wednesday Evening Lord Jesus, on this night, You were handed over to the authorities by a false friend. The world is full of such, and at times I have been no better. Change the hearts of ones like Judas and like me. Give honest repentance to betrayers, and in your eternal mercy, forgive us all for the sake of the sufferings of your Son, our Lord. Amen. Our Father…
Thursday Morning Lord, give me simplicity. A simply heart, to love what is good. A simple mind, to know You and the world rightly. Simple hands, that do their work. A simple mouth, that speaks only truth. A simple stomach that is pleased with health. Lord, give me simplicity. Amen. Our Father…
Thursday Evening Dec. 17 Daniel and the Three young Men Lord God, your servants were faithful in the time of exile. As I am now an exile and stranger on this earth, keep my hope fixed in heaven. Grant strong faith, until You call me to the fatherland. Amen. Our Father…
Friday Morning At Massah and Meribah, your people complained of your mercy and denigrated your grace after being brought out of slavery in Egypt. I am not so different from these. My heart has little thanks. Yet, You feed me, all the days of my life. For this, I am not thankful enough. But, now, make me remember. You, in whose mind are all people and all times. Amen. Our Father…
Friday Evening Lord Jesus, on this night You were crucified, broken so that the world might be restored. This great mystery: my healing in your wounds, my joy in your suffering, are too much to bear. So great is your divine love. So great, your mercy. A crown of thorns for You, that I might be a child of God. Amen. Our Father…
Saturday Morning Dec. 19th Adam and Eve Lord God, I do not live of myself alone. But, I am a child of Adam and Eve, my first father and mother. Such glory You gave, in your Image and your Spirit. And such sin in their disobedience, which lives in my heart still. I am willful and prideful. But by your greater mercy, forgive us our many sins. Amen. Our Father…
Saturday Evening Tomorrow I will gather with all your saints in worship. Give me faith to see fully, not only those present in body, but all the company of heaven, present–even beyond death–in Christ. As I have been baptized and been brought into your body, the church, grant me a heart to see what my eyes cannot. Amen. Our Father…
Sunday Morning Lord of joy, I give You thanks for the opportunity to worship. There are many who are prevented by the laws of their land and the evils of false religion. Let me not take this for granted. Give me a true spirit of appreciation for this, and all You have done for me. Amen. Our Father…
BC:AD
This was the moment when Before
Turned into After, and the future’s
Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.
This was the moment when nothing
Happened. Only dull peace
Sprawled boringly over the earth.
This was the moment when even energetic Romans
Could find nothing better to do
Than counting heads in remote provinces.
And this was the moment
When a few farm workers and three
Members of an obscure Persian sect
Walked haphazard by starlight straight
Into the kingdom of heaven.
U.A. Fanthorpe
The clutching hand of the baby
Christmas is one of the great European exports. You’ll meet Santa Claus and his reindeer in Shanghai and Dar-es-Salaam; a long way from the North Pole. More seriously and less commercially, the story of the Nativity is loved even in non-Christian contexts (I discovered that one of the best and most sensitive recent film re-tellings of the story was one made by an Iranian Muslim company). The weary annual attempts by right-thinking people in Britain to ban or discourage Nativity plays or public carol-singing out of sensitivity to the supposed tender consciences of other religions fail to notice that most people of other religions and cultures both love the story and respect the message.
It isn’t difficult to see why. For a start, the story is a compelling and dramatic one. A long journey through a land under military occupation; a difficult birth in improvised accommodation. And alongside these harsh realities, the skies torn open, and blazing angelic voices summoning a random assortment of farm labourers to go and worship in the outhouse; or a mysterious constellation in the heavens triggering a pilgrimage by exotic oriental gurus to come and kneel where the farm labourers have knelt.
The story says that something is happening that will break boundaries and cross frontiers, so that the most unlikely people will find they are looking for the same thing and recognise each other instead of fearing each other. There is something here that draws strangers together. It’s what some of the old carols mean by talking about the ‘desire of all nations’ –as if what human beings really wanted was not revenge, endless cycles of miserable scoring off each other, but being able to stand together in shared astonishment and gratitude – held together not by plans and negotiations but by something quite outside the usual repertoire of human events. By something just inviting us to recognise we’re loved – if we could only stop and see it.
The clutching hand of the baby is, for most of us, something we can’t resist. The Christmas story outrageously suggests that putting our hand into the clutch of a baby may be the most important thing we can ever do as human beings – a real letting-go of aggression and fear and wanting to make an impression and whatever else is going on in us that keeps us tied up in our struggle and violence.
Even more outrageously, the story suggests that this particular baby, the one born in the outhouse, the one who is rescued at the last moment from a village massacre like the ones that happen so regularly in forgotten civil wars today in Congo or Sudan – this baby is the place where the power of the creator of the universe is completely present. And what on earth might it mean to say that the ultimate power in the universe is more like a baby clutching at us in blind trust than it’s like the President’s bullet-proof motorcade?
Rowan Williams, in Radio Times magazine, December 2010
St. Cyril of Jerusalem on Advent
We preach not one advent only of Christ, but a second also, far more glorious than the former. For the former gave a view of His patience; but the latter brings with it the crown of a divine kingdom. For all things, for the most part, are twofold in our Lord Jesus Christ: a twofold generation; one, of God, before the ages; and one, of a Virgin, at the close of the ages: His descents twofold; one, the unobserved, like rain on a fleece; and a second His open coming, which is to be. In His former advent, He was wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger; in His second, He covers Himself with light as with a garment. In His first coming, He endured the Cross, despising shame; in His second, He comes attended by a host of Angels, receiving glory. We rest not then upon His first advent only, but look also for His second. And as at His first coming we said, Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord, so will we repeat the same at His second coming; that when with Angels we meet our Master, we may worship Him and say, Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture XV
St. Gregory the Great on the Second Coming
Christ says: When these things come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand. It is as if the Truth openly warns His Elect by saying: when the evils of this world mount up, when dread of the judgment is shown even by the trembling powers, lift up your heads, that is, be joyful in your hearts, because the world, of which you are not friends, is drawing to its end; the redemption you have been seeking is coming close. In Scripture the head is often used for the soul, because as the members are ruled by the head, so thoughts are governed by the soul. To lift up your heads therefore means to raise the heart to the joys of the heavenly fatherland.
They, therefore, who love God, are bidden to be glad, and to rejoice, because of the end of the world; since soon they will meet Him Whom they love, and that is passing away which they have never loved. Far be it then from any of the faithful who desire to see God that they should grieve over the stricken world, which we must know will end in these catastrophes. For it is written: Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God (James 4:4). Who therefore does not rejoice at the approaching end of the world, testifies that he is its friend, and by this he is revealed as an enemy of God.
But let this be far from the faithful, far from the hearts of those who believe through their faith that there is another life, and who love it in very deed. Let them grieve over the ruin of the world who have planted the roots of their hearts deep in the love of it, who neither look for the life to come, nor are even aware that it is. But we who have learned of the joys of our heavenly home must hasten to it as speedily as we may. We should desire to go there with all haste, and to arrive by the shortest way. And with what miseries does not the world urge us forward? What sorrow, what misfortune is there, that does not press upon us? What is this mortal life but a way? And what folly would it be, let you carefully consider, to be weary with the fatigue of the way, and yet not eager to finish the journey!
St. Gregory the Great, Homily I, 12 November 590
He is the Way
He is the Way.
Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness;
You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.
He is the Truth.
Seek Him in the Kingdom of Anxiety;
You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years.
He is the Life.
Love Him in the World of the Flesh;
And at your marriage all its occasions shall dance for joy.
W. H. Auden, from For the Time Being
Locus Communis 