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

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Holding together restlessness and optimism

Piper has a great section in his Marks of a Spiritual Leader  where he holds together two vital biblical leadership virtues: 1. RESTLESS Spiritual leaders have a holy discontentment with the status quo. Non-leaders have inertia that causes them to settle in and makes them very hard to move off of dead center. Leaders have a hankering to change, to move, to reach out, to grow, and to take a group or an institution to new dimensions of ministry. They have the spirit of Paul, who said in Philippians 3:13, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Leaders are always very goal-oriented people. God’s history of redemption is not finished. The church is shot through with imperfections, lost sheep are still not in the fold, needs of every sort in the world are unmet, sin infects the saints. It is un...

Matt Perman on Management and Leadership

These are quotes from the What's Best Next Toolkit ( mobi file ) - a free resource of online extra chapters and articles that accompanies Matt Perman's must read book “Leadership is not about you. It is about serving others, building them up, and making them more effective. “if you keep trying to do the sorts of things you did as an individual contributor, you simply won’t have time to lead at all.” “Now, the leaders should sometimes, frequently even, pitch in directly by working along side the people on his or her team. But this shouldn’t be the main thing the leader does. He needs to be setting direction, looking out ahead, and aligning people.” “Leadership in the pastoral role is practiced primarily  through  the ministry of the word and prayer.” “every week or so, review the org chart and reflect what actions you can proactively take to keep things going in the right direction, or to help make someone more effective, and so forth.” “There is a significa...

What's Next? Consider Christ

We've been going through a series thinking about the question What Next? Consider yourself in gospel ministry Consider the range of gospel work roles Consider the range of places and needs Consider the range of training possibilities Consider others But ultimately there can only be one answer to the question What’s next?  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil. 1:21) Paul didn’t know what was next for him as he wrote the letter to the Philippians. He had resolved that continuing on this earth to work for people’s progress and joy in the faith was most necessary (Phil. 1:24-25 - notice there that he's considering others and considering need ) but he knew that there were two alternatives – life and death (Phil. 1:20-23). Whatever was next for Paul, it was consumed, defined, filled by knowing Christ, having Christ, being found in Christ.  What’s next? CHRIST! Christ the radiance of the glory of God Christ crowned with glory and honour Christ our rescuer who has sm...