Skip to main content

A prayer for the summer


LORD God, our God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, our Father,
as your children in the northern hemisphere enter this season of the academic year,
please give us fresh grace to walk, stand and sit aright.

May those of us who enjoy running and walking in your creation
give thanks to you for that privilege
but not be as concerned about the daily step count on our trackers
as in taking practical steps this summer in kindness, in compassion, in forgiveness,
in building others up, in pleasing the Lord -
steps of progress in gracious, sacrificial, Christ-like loving (Ephesians 4-5). 

May those of us who look forward to getting out of the city
give thanks to you for the privilege of travel
but not ultimately be as concerned about the physical location in which we stand
(whether "beneath the boughs" or on a hot and sweaty tube train)
as about our location "in Christ" -
the address of every spiritual blessing, complete forgiveness,
intimate sonship, total security (Ephesians 1, 6).

May those of us who are weary and looking forward to a week or two off work,
give thanks to you for the privilege of rest
but not fix our ultimate hope on sitting down on the sofa with the TV remote
but rather find our deep rest in the already-reality
that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms -
give us grace to grasp something of that awesome privilege
and exhale as we rest our weight on that throne (Ephesians 2).

And to the extent that all of these blessings are corporate blessings,
shared with all your people, practised by your church as a body,
please would you give us grace to resist our tendency to individualism and isolation,
and instead to walk together in a manner worthy of Christ,
to stand together in the armour of Christ,
to sit together with Him in joyful assembly,
and together with all the Lord's holy people grasp
how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
that we may be filled to the measure of the fulness of God... 
To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
not only this summer but for ever,
Amen

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 things servant leadership is

Having cleared away 10 things servant leadership is not , here are 10 that it is. [Credit to Harrison Mungai for his help in observing many of these features and helping us to think through this really important area.] I used to think that all that was necessary in gospel ministry was faithful Bible handling. Preach the Word carefully and surely everything else should follow? But I was wrong. Sadly it is possible to have high quality expository preaching and ungodly leadership. It shouldn’t be possible but it is. And it’s a very ugly thing. Peter Mead has written  on the danger that can be done to a church or ministry when appointment of leaders values ability over character. So here are ten aspects of biblical servant leadership, specifically in relation to gospel ministry leadership, from 1 Thessalonians, especially chapters 2 and 3: Servant leadership is, wherever possible, Plural . A lot of articles and books on leadership assume that it is a personal project. Search G...
Post a Comment
Read more

Utumishi wa Neno taster

It's finally starting! We had our first taster day for the church-based Utumishi wa Neno preaching course on Saturday. It was great to spend a few hours with 14 or so brothers and sisters and just spend soak in the Word. One of the crazy things we did was to read through the whole of Philippians out loud. How long did it take us? 15 minutes. And all of us enjoyed the experience and heard things we'd never noticed before. More thoughts on the day here . And for those who asked for the notes, they're available to download here . If you're in Kenya and want to get involved in the on-going Utumishi training see more info on the iServe Africa website .
5 comments
Read more

Too short a text?

I was a bit concerned recently when I found that a church I hugely respect had been going through the letter of 1 Peter for the last 7 months and were only just beginning chapter 5. It's wonderful to preach through the books and letters of the Bible. All that was said was true and helpful. But is there a danger in only taking three verses at a time? I think there is. You're likely to lose the flow of the letter. 1 Peter only takes 16 minutes (max) to read out loud. That is how the first readers would have heard it. That's how it's meant to be experienced. Certainly there's a place for more detailed study but there is a great danger we lose the flow, the themes, the life of this living letter. If you preach for 45 minutes on 3 verses you're likely to be bringing in all sorts of cross-references, lots of systematic theology. In fact the verses of 1 Peter itself are probably going to be only a small proportion of your content. So the great danger is that I...
1 comment
Read more