This is the first in a series of prayers written by children from St Andrews Church, Brussels.
Praise the Lord for what he does.
Praise him because he is good.
Lord our God is always near us, day and night.
He always will remember us.
For it is like he created a great big fantastic tree,
with his followers names on it,
and keeping watch over those people,
including me.
You will always know me.
Thank you for my love that I share.
For you are the greatest God ever.
Thank you because you teach people your word, and your greatness.
You are a great person because you sent prophets to the Israelites
to encourage them to fight Jericho and other things too.
Thank you for sending your unstopping,
never giving up, unbreaking love.
This prayer sheet brings together prayers on the theme of God’s power to transform lives and circumstances and his ultimate purpose and promise to make all things new.
I look up to the hills,
but where will my help really come from?
My help will come from the Lord,
the Creator of heaven and earth.
He will not let you fall.
Your Protector will not fall asleep.
Israel’s Protector does not get tired.
He never sleeps.
The Lord is your Protector.
The Lord stands by your side, shading and protecting you.
The sun cannot harm you during the day,
and the moon cannot harm you at night.
The Lord will protect you from every danger.
He will protect your soul.
The Lord will protect you as you come and go,
both now and forever!
(Psalm 121, Easy-to-Read Version)
Application
Thank God for His help and protection – often behind the scenes, in ways we might never know – and pray for those in need of God’s help and protection today.
I came across this prayer in my copy of 2000 Years of Prayer (compiled by Michael Counsell). I was particularly taken with the down-to-earth, practical spirituality that ministers to you as you engage with the prayer.
See links below for more about Eddie Askew and his work with the Leprosy Mission and links to further examples of his work.
Lord, teach me to pray.
It sounds exciting, put like that.
It sounds real. An exploration.
A chance to do more than catalogue
and list the things I want,
to an eternal Father Christmas.
The chance of meeting you,
of drawing closer to the love that made me,
and keeps me, and knows me.
And, Lord, it’s only just begun.
There is so much more of you,
of love, the limitless expanse of knowing you.
I could be frightened, Lord, in this wide country.
It could be lonely, but you are here, with me.
The chance of learning about myself,
of facing up to what I am.
Admitting my resentments,
bringing my anger to you, my disappointments, my frustration.
And finding that when l do,
when I stop struggling and shouting
and let go
you are still there.
Still loving.
Sometimes, Lord, often –
I don’t know what to say to you.
But I still come, in quiet
for the comfort of two friends
sitting in silence.
And it’s then, Lord, that I learn most from you.
When my mind slows down,
and my heart stops racing.
When I let go and wait in the quiet,
realizing that all the things I was going to ask for
you know already.
Then, Lord, without words,
in the stillness
you are there . . .
And l love you.
Lord, teach me to pray.
From his obituary in The Guardian (2007)
“Eddie Askew, the former general director of the Leprosy Mission (TLM) … devoted half a century to the disease and its consequences. …
Inspired by his travels and his Christian faith, Eddie found an outlet for his creativity in painting and poetry. A Silence and a Shouting, his first book of meditations and artwork, was published in 1982. It was followed, over the years, by 16 others, and the sale of his books and paintings raised around £2.5m for TLM.” (The Guardian) whole article
A visual meditation based on an excerpt from A Silence and a Shouting Travelling home
Those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:31 (NIV UK)
This post touches on three key elements we find in this beautiful verse from Isaiah 40 – walking, running and soaring – explored through the medium of video/film.
It all started with the first video.
My favourite quote: “Walking is medicine for me.”
WALK (from Millican’s Meaningful Journeys)
RUN (from Chariots of Fire)
SOAR (from American Beauty) esp. first 2 minutes
From the blog Rise up (includes a song inspired by Isaiah 40:31)
1 Peter 4:3-9 (NIV)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Prayer
Sun, moon, sky, stars,
mountains, valleys, heights, plains,
fountains, pools, rivers, seas,
whatever flies, crawls or swims,
lift up your voices to the glory of Christ.
Today the world’s Redeemer returns
victorious from the inferno.
(Ancient prayer depicting the whole
of creation worshipping the risen Christ)
Song
1. Sun and moon, stars and planets,
Wind and rain and fire and hail,
All of creation, join in our song of praise.
Chorus:
Sing glory! Glory to God in heaven!
Sing glory! Glory to God!
2. Land and sea, hills and mountains,
cows and sheep and birds and bees,
All of creation, join in our song of praise.
(Repeat chorus)
3. Rich and poor, kings and shepherds,
Men and women, boys and girls,
All of creation, join in our song of praise.
(Repeat chorus)
Prayer: A Procession of Prayers: Meditations and Prayers from Around the World by John Carden, p. 299
John 19:38-42 (NIV)
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Prayer for secret believers
Bless all, O Lord, who worship you in secret;
all whose hearts are growing round an undeclared allegiance;
all whose life is laden with a treasure they would pour at your feet;
all who know with greater certainty each day
that they have found the pearl of greatest price;
then by the power of the cross, O Christ,
claim your victory in their hearts,
and lead them to the liberty of being seen by others to be yours,
for your dear name’s sake. Amen.
Song
Were you there when they crucified my Lord
Prayer: A Procession of Prayers: Meditations and Prayers from Around the World by John Carden, p. 282
Luke 23:33-43 (NIV)
When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Prayer
Jesus, by your wounded hands teach us to be diligent and generous.
Jesus, by your wounded feet teach us to be steadfast and to persevere.
Jesus, by your wounded and insulted head, teach us to be patient, single-minded and self-controlled.
Jesus, by your wounded heart, teach us love, teach us love, teach us love.
Song
When I survey
Prayer: A Procession of Prayers: Meditations and Prayers from Around the World by John Carden, p. 265
Luke 23:26-31 (NIV)
As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.
Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Meditation
Simon’s day ought to be for us the Festival of the Passer-by, the Feast of the unexpected. Imagine ‘coming out of the country’ and being caught up in the redemption of the world! A parable of sainthood, of the claim of the divine in the ordinary, the critical in the trivial, the eternal moment which is always now.
Prayer
Lord of Simon’s calling-to-aid,
Make our everyday holy with your need of us
and give us readiness of heart and hand and mind.
(Middle East: Bishop Kenneth Cragg)
Song
Man of sorrows
Meditation and Prayer: A Procession of Prayers: Meditations and Prayers from Around the World by John Carden, p. 221
