Prayer

Yesterday's post of an excerpt from Boswell's Life of Johnson led to a discussion of the origin of the one and two-line excerpts of prayers bringing the post to an end. Were they written by Johnson or taken from some prayer book of the time?

The lines are all Johnson's, and from the quote marks it's clear each line or so is a different excerpt from this or that prayer. Speaking of prayer, here's a discussion of confession of sin...

Hypocrisy ...is the way Satan attacks the Church of God, when he can get nowhere with open war.

- Calvin on Acts 5:1-11

Hypocrites do not care for Christ. Drunk with their own righteousness, they are not hungry and thirsty for His grace. Those who are devoted to the world, think nothing of the heavenly life.

- Calvin on Matthew 11:28

We are often taught, that the seeming goodness and piety of hypocrites is not of a lasting and persevering nature. It is so with respect to their practice of the duty of prayer in particular, and especially of secret prayer.

They can omit this duty, and their omission of it not be taken notice of by others, who know what profession they have made. So that a regard to their own reputation doth not oblige them still to practice it...

Last night I was able to attend the dedication of the new church-house of Christ the Word, and what a privilege it was!

After walking around the building singing, the children entered the sanctuary and went up onto the platform holding Bibles aloft as we sang praises to the Lord. After a minute of chaos as all the kids went down to find their parents, the service continued with a sermon by Pastor Dave (Max) Curell. Two men from outside the church were honored for their work: Mike Vrlenich who directed Christ the Word's capital campaign before moving to Naperville two years ago; and Mike Boles who served Christ the Word pro bono as general contractor. Christ the Word elder, Ben James Sr., led us in the prayer of dedication.

May God bless Christ the Word precisely as Ben James asked here in his prayer:

 
Here's the liturgy for our Clearnote Church, Bloomington's Good Friday service this past week. We publish it here for the use of any who may find it helpful. The choir offering above occurs midway through the service. (TB, w/thanks to at least Jody and Phil)

Psalm 29 awakens the slothful and sentimental postmodern soul. Have you read it recently?

Our dear brother, Bob Kaplowitz, had a bad spell early this evening, but now seems to have stabilized again. If you're wondering who Bob is, here's a post from 2008 that should make it clear to you that the entire congregation of ClearNote Church, Bloomington, is praying for Bob's recovery. The work he does among us is eternally important. Please pray for him, would you? And for what it's worth, the man draped over Bob's shoulders is our son-in-law, Lucas Weeks (Hannah's husband).

(TB)

(Tim, w/thanks to Aaron and Mick) The betrayal, imprisonment, and torture of brothers in Christ by regimes propped up by American forces is a stench that rises to Heaven. Read this letter and updates telling the story of our brother, Said Musa, imprisoned by the Afghan government propped up by our U.S. military forces. Then pray.

(Tim) Pastor Sam Andreades, a longtime member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, now serves New York's Village Church affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America. Recently, Pastor Andreades did a five minute spot on WFMU's Seven Second Delay radio show concerning Village Church's willingness to help those "who are conflicted in their desires and their identity and would like to determine themselves differently." (Here's a pic from the occasion.)

Near the end, Pastor Andreades was asked if he wanted to lead in prayer? The interview begins around 18:30 and the concluding prayer at 23:30. Here's Pastor Andreades' prayer:

HOST: Sam, would you like to lead a prayer?

SAM ANDREADES: Uh, I'd be willing to pray if nobody laughs; if we can do it reverently.

HOST: Sure, let's give it a try and see what happens, OK? Ready?