General Chat

Cynthia. What a powerful prayer!!! Was that Barclay? :-)

I really honed in on: "Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any
teaching which would encourage us to think
sin less serious, vice more attractive."

Amen.

Emma

O God, we thank you for all those in whose words and
in whose writings your truth has come to us.

For the historians, the psalmists and the prophets,
who wrote the Old Testament;
For those who wrote the Gospels and the Letters
of the New Testament.

For all who in every generation
have taught and explained and expounded and
preached the word of Scripture:
We thank you, O God.

Grant, O God, that no false teaching may ever have
any power to deceive us
or to seduce us from the truth.

Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any
teaching which would encourage us to think
sin less serious, vice more attractive.

Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any
teaching which would dethrone
Jesus Christ from the topmost place;

Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any
teaching which for its own purposes perverts the truth.

O God, our Father, establish us immovably in the truth.
Give us minds which can see at once
the difference between the true and the false.

Make us able to test everything,
and to hold fast to that which is good.

Give us such a love of truth,
that no false thing may ever be able to lure us from it.

So grant that all our lives we may know, and love,
and live the truth; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.


Cx :-)

That was lovely Susan......the audience looked entranced. Great hymns like that really do inspire and lift your spirits. Thank you. :-)



Hello Emma and welcome Bids...... :-)

Amen


I put this on another thread but just in case it wasn't seen by this threads members..........

How Great thou art by Carrie Underwood who apparently won America's got Talent......and in this case...yes they have......her voice and this rendition of the Hymn goes right to the soul and brings tears to one's eyes......

Please do watch it. I am betting that you will all be inspired :-)


http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=pLLMzr3PFgk&feature=related

To me it's a lovely way to start a day.
First thread I go to when I come on to GR.

Emma :-)

Am really looking forward to tomorrow. Am mentoring a young man currently who is training to be a local preacher. And he really inspires me.

Tomorrow we are jointly leading a service in my home chapel. And he is giving the sermon and has shown me what he will be saying and I am really looking forward to it. It will be fresh and I think all my chapel fellow members will be delighted tomorrow. It will certainly keep me fully awake and give me lots of food for thought. Just pray with me that his word will be blessed, please.

Btw, have really enjoyed prayers and video this week. What a truly inspirational thread this is becoming.

Amen

I watched it whilst having my breakfast Susan...........lovely indeed. It's a hymn which takes me back to my 'free church' days - it isn't often sung these days unfortunately, but I just love the words. Thank you. :-)




O Lord, my God, give me strength and wisdom to live this day as I ought.

Give me

Strength to conquer every temptation which will come to me;
Strength to do every task which is assigned to me;
Strength to shoulder every responsibility which is laid upon me.

Give me

Wisdom to know when to speak, and when to keep silent;
Wisdom to know when to act, and when to refrain from action;
Wisdom to know when to speak my mind, and when to hold my peace.

So bring me to the end of this day in goodness, in happiness and contentment;

Through Jesus Christ my Lord,

Amen.

- William Barclay.



Cx :-)

Thank You Cynthia



A beautiful rendition of What a friend we have in Jesus

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cuybnOavOL4&feature=fvwrel

Thank you Cynthia.

Emma

O God,

my Heavenly Father,

make me more appreciative of others.

Help me never to fail to say thanks for everything that is done for me,

and never to take anything for granted,

just because it comes to me unfailingly every day.

Help me always to be ready to speak a word of praise,

whenever a word of praise is possible

and sometimes even when it is not possible.

Help me to be quick to notice things.

Help me to be quick to see

when someone is depressed and discouraged and unhappy.

Help me to be quick to see it

when someone is lonely and shy and is left out of things.

O Lord Jesus,

all through today help me to see people with Your eyes.

This I ask for Your love’s sake.

Amen.


- William Barclay

Joy :-) :-)

Had forgotten - thanks very much for reminder.

So much happened between Good Friday and Ascension Day, didn't it. So much proof of miraculous events. So many eye witnesses.

And now a further 10 days and Jesus sends the Comforter in his stead to set our hearts on fire. Pentecost, White Sunday, Whitsunday and a lovely Bank Holiday :-) :-)

It has amazed me to think of these disciples, mainly working men and women close to breadline, who obeyed the command of Jesus to wait in Jerusalem for 7 weeks from Feast of Passover (Peswch) till Feast of Pentecost. What on earth did they do for money? Can you imagine us being on holiday far away and not being able to get back to our work or our loved ones for over 7 weeks :-0 What immense faith they had. And how richly rewarded :-D

Cynthia. I hope I am right about paedo baptism. But am no expert and need to find a couple of books to check my thoughts.

What I said was more or less word for word how John Wesley spoke about infant baptism in one of his 44 published sermons. He was pro-baptism and quoted the statement of faith of both his own church (C of E) and the Baptist Union (then under John Gill's leadership). He just suggested that both churches found it very easy to slip away from their statements of faith and should always return to them - that adult water baptism was an outward sign of an inward baptism of the heart, an inner work of Grace. And Wesley did admit that he was puzzled by how infant or paedo baptism worked but was convinced it was something that God honoured greatly.

Ascension Day, when Jesus ascended to Heaven.


http://archive.episcopalchurch.org/sermons_that_work_7894_ENG_HTM.htm

Grant we pray, Almighty God, that as we believe your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into heaven, so we may also with heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.



http://everydaychristianprayers.blogspot.co.uk/2007/05/morning-prayer-william-barclay.html

MORNING PRAYER - William Barclay

Oh God our Father,
who commanded us to live in fellowship with one another,
keep us from everything which would make us difficult to live with today.
Help us never thoughtlessly or deliberately to speak in such a way that we would hurt another’s feelings, or wound another’s heart.
Keep us from all impatience, from all irritability,
and from a temper which is too quick.
Keep us from eyes which are focused to find fault and from a tongue which is tuned to criticize.
Keep us from being touchy,
and quick to take offence, and slow to forget it.
Help us not to be stubborn and obstinate,
and keep us from selfishness which can see nothing but its own point of view,
and which wants nothing but its own way.
Grant to us all through this day something of the grace and beauty which shone upon our Blessed Lord Jesus.
Hear this our prayer, for Your love’s sake,
Amen

.. :-)

Certainly Susan.

It's something I have been thinking about, so I am grateful that you have mentioned it.


Equip me today, O God, with

The humility, which will keep me from pride and from conceit;

The graciousness and the gentleness which will make me both easy to deal with and a joy to meet.

The diligence, the perseverance, and the reliability,

which will make me a good workman;

The kindness which will give me a quick eye to see that I can do for others,

and a ready hand to do it;

The constant awareness of Your presence,

which will make me do everything as to You.

So grant that today men may see in me a glimpse of the life

of my Blessed Lord Jesus.

This I ask for Your love’s sake.

Amen.


- William Barclay.

Lovely prayer Cynthia...any more where that came from? a daily prayer would be nice to log on to :-)

I think the man was just being honest John.

It's easy to become quite cynical when you're involved in the C. of E. As it is the 'state' church, each parish priest has a duty of care to all those who live within his parish. Those people are entitled to use the church for 'occasional' services - baptisms etc., whether they are believers or not.

As for the man's wife well, I'm not sure about that - only a couple of the parents out of the eight families were actually married.


Looks like we have a different understand of about baptism though - I have never heard your explanation before, although I know there are some denominations who are against infant baptism and prefer to baptise adults.

In the C. of E. it is stated.......

In baptism, you as parents are: thanking God for his gift of life, making a decision to start your child on the journey of faith and asking for the Church's support.

For your child, baptism marks the start of a journey of faith, which involves turning away from all that is evil, turning towards Christ and becoming a member of the local and worldwide Christian family.

+++++++++++

As a godparent, you have a special role. It's about helping a child to come to know God, encouraging them in their spiritual life and supporting them in their membership of the local church.

You will be expected to be attend the child's baptism, where you will make promises to help to bring them up in the Christian faith.

It's a role that will develop over time, as your godchild grows up and develops their own faith.


If any parents feel that they cannot undertake the promises asked of them, they are offered a Services of Blessing for the child instead.

I was amazed to see a story of two African missionaries in South Wales 20 years ago. And they were in S Wales for missionary work amongst the "natives". My vague recollection was that they were employed by the Church in Wales (C of E in Wales).

Expect the man at baptism class was doing his best to lighten the mood. Wonder what reaction of other parents was to his comments. Hope his wife said something to him:-( :-(

My understanding of baptism is that the faith of one or both parents covers the infant against sin until the child is able to make his or her own decisions. So we do need to include these parents in our prayers. I do think it is a wonderful part of God's common grace that these folk are led to your church, Cynthia, given a nice welcome and an explanation of what baptism is all about. And prayed for as they and the Godparents attempt to bring the child up in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. :-) :-)

Thank you Emma - theirs was such a tragic story :-(


We had baptism prep tonight and I'm worn out!


There were eight baptism families along with several fractious children so, trying to put over the meaning of baptism, was quite hard.


We use a PowerPoint as a visual aid and talk them through not only the meaning of baptism, but the service itself. Many families are not used to church services so we try to makes things as easy as possible for them - without 'dumbing down' the faith.


One of the things we try to point out is that baptism is the beginning of the Christian journey - not just something to get over and done with.


I asked if anyone was prepared to say WHY they wanted their child baptised. There was a slight embarrassed pause and then one chap put his hand up and uttered those immortal words........"To have a party". sigh......


A bit later, the same chap asked for something to be done at the service and the Vicar explained that it wasn't possible and explained the reason why. The response from the man was "You're taking the ****".


Sometimes I think we could do with missionaries being sent to THIS country.... :-(