When my soul is weary with woe I turn there to give unfettered song to my endentured spirit. When I find that my fretful thoughts are wound too tightly with the world I turn there to set loose my sentences with sentences more devoutly composed. When I long for comfort, for confession; and when I am moved to intercession, I turn there. I turn to the Book of Common Prayer.
Today I reached for the volume on my desk, as I labored in writing curricula for the Chaplain School. I wanted words to stir my own, as I went before the King to pray for the mission of the Church in our world today. So, I prayed this prayer of mission. I was strengthened in spirit, as I was reminded that my posture must remain, first and always, prayerful for the conversion of the fallen race of Mankind and in praise for the unbounded capacity of Jesus to save all who come.
[pullquote]
When I long for comfort, for confession; and when I am moved to intercession, I turn there. I turn to the Book of Common Prayer.[/pullquote]
These are hard days. The dust of this trail we are on may be stirred up with you today. You may be coughing up sin. You may be feeling the phantom pains of the fall, or the real pain from some idiopathic source. Maybe you can’t seem to utter the words you long to speak. Good. Now we can, both, prayer out of the desperation of our condition.
Will you pray with me? Let us pray, not for ourselves, at this time, but for the salvation of a lost world around us.
“Lord Jesus Christ, who didst stretch out thine arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of thy saving embrace: So clothe us in thy Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know thee to the knowledge and love of thee; for the honor of thy Name. Amen.”
“Daily Morning Prayer, Rite One; The Prayers, Prayers for Mission.” The Book of Common Prayer 1979. New York: Oxford UP, Incorporated, 2005. 58. Print.
Learn More:
A Family Tree of the Book of Common Prayer: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/everyman_history/familytree.htm