Author Archive: Craig

Prayer of the People, 31 March 2019

April 1, 2019 0 Comments

Heavenly Father, 

We rejoice to be known by you and to approach you as our Father. Your Son, Jesus Christ, has opened the way for us. And your Spirit confirms that we are your children; He has poured out your love into our hearts!

We delight in your church. Thank you for the people you have called from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of your Son. We come from many places and from many different kinds of intersections with your truth and your grace. You saved us from our sin, from despair, from deceit, and from the powers arrayed against the true knowledge of You.

Thank you for the person who showed us Jesus. In all of our original stories, somebody posted up right inside the gates of hell and announced the Good News of your Kingdom to us. They loved us and shared their true life with us. We thank you for these saints. Allegiance to Jesus as Lord became to us the most reasonable act of faith!

Your Church, Lord, is under pressure in many places so we intercede for them this morning. Grant your church Jesus’ courage and His wisdom of forgiveness so they can love under duress in China, Nigeria, Somalia, North Korea, Mexico and Pakistan.

Awaken your church in Canada Lord. Awaken us so that we may watch with you and remember that our sins have been forgiven. Purify us through obedience to you so that we have a sincere love for each other. Help us love each other deeply from the heart in both word and in deed.

Disrupt our self-self-centred stupor. Awaken us to our neighbours. Help us to see so we may love as you love and fulfill the mandate of your Kingdom. You teach us to pray: May Your Kingdom come, so we pray as you taught your disciples:

(The Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one;

for yours is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory, 

forever. 

Amen.

Prayer

a kind of patience

March 30, 2019 0 Comments

Before Spring’s shy kiss

ruby red promises stand still

taunting cool blue skies.

Creation, Poetry

,

What’s your vision of society?

March 28, 2019 0 Comments

What kind of common ground and space do you imagine for our civil society? 

Do you imagine and delight in the vision of a society sanitized of religious symbolism on the bodies of the “faithful”? 

Or

Do you imagine and delight in a vision of society filled with symbolism and self-expression, even on the bodies of the religious or “faithful?”


What do you believe we must protect? 


Do we need to protect society from the bodily self-expression of the religious?

or

Do we need to protect the religious and their right of self-expression from society when it demands control over their bodies?

Your answers to these questions will shape how you feel and think about the proposed (2.0 – as in “here it is again.”) legislation in Quebec.

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The Prayer of the People, March 24, 2019

March 28, 2019 0 Comments

Heavenly Father, we come to you just as a thirsty deer comes to a stream of water. We thirst for you and know that you can satisfy. 

We rejoice in the truth and those who tell it. So Jesus your Son has become our Saviour. He has set us free. He is the Saviour of all who believe. His Word is life to us.

We are grateful for the gift of your Holy Spirit who has made us alive to you. We are a new creation, brought into your communion; you are making all things new and beautiful on your schedule.

We praise you for this grace in which we live!

Our prayer though echos the ancient question, “How long?” How long Lord will we groan for the revealing of who we are in Christ? How long will people groan under the oppression of the evil one? How long will you be patient?

We yearn for you. Your Spirit from the beginning has hovered over the deep, bringing order to chaos. Bring order to our hearts.

We yearn for you to be revealed in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi; we ask Father that you would let the waters recede and that your agents of mercy could provide help to many who are stranded in the remnants of Cyclone Idai.

We yearn for you to be revealed in the many villages and communities in Canada that lack clean water. Please grant your provisions and your wisdom to those working to create new water systems.

We yearn for you to be revealed on our campus in the hearts of people stirred up with anxiety, weighed down by lonely ambitions, and darkened by unbelief. You have promised your satisfying presence in the life of all who believe you — a stream of living water that flows from within. May you bring salvation.

Thank you Father for hearing our prayer in the name and grace of Jesus Christ our Lord, so we pray as He taught us…

Please Join me now in the Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one;

for yours is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory, 

forever. 

Amen.


Prayer

,

In The Thick of It

January 19, 2019 0 Comments

No roar
in this dim light
but the battle
lines have been
drawn.

The curtain opens
on a throne
cast by you
in flesh.

Your glory fills.
Your word heals.
Your presence seals.
The usurper cannot
stand your
grace.

But humble hearts
beat again and
courage finds
a face.



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