Our God,
You are the one foundation,
the unshakeable rock to your worldwide church,
the reason and focus for our denominations, organisations, family and faith, actions and attitudes.
May we anchor ourselves in you.Let us accept the changes we sometimes fight, knowing your plan is perfect and you will stabilise us through all light and shadow, every peak and valley.
Rising seas and deadly winds tear lives apart for our Pacific hosts but they are strong in you, their faith is persistent and they show us the way.
Reward and strengthen them.
We experience strength through your love
your love flows to us and from us, changing hearts,
transforming lives.
We build on you.
Amen
I was asked to write a prayer for World Day of Prayer. The host nation is Vanuatu.
5 comments:
A prayer for Vanuatu. One that could easily be transferred to any other Pacific island with out loss of meaning.
I was reminded of time spent in Port Vila where a friend was then living. It was Sunday and we visited an oasis of cool, outside town. The day was drawing to a close, we realised we'd left it late to get a PV back to town. My friend cadged a ride with a group of young men in their van. On the way they sang, in beautiful harmony, Nearer My God. All these years later and I still remember.
Alphie
That's a beautiful memory, alphie. My son in law is from Vanuatu and I think is a little stunned by our unenthusiastic singing in this country
Kylie, maybe you can enlighten me about something. When charismatic Christians in America pray, they typically raise their arms toward the sky, and they use the work "just" in almost every sentence. For example, "Oh my gracious Lord, we just ask that you bless our minister that he might speak your word, and "Oh, most wonderful God, we just ask that you protect us as we start another week..."
I don't know why they do this. I interpret the only just, as used here, to mean only, and in "this is all we ask," but it clearly doesn't mean that, but I have no idea what it does mean.
Hi Lowell,
It's so interesting that you ask this!
It seems to me to be a mostly meaningless habit and (by the way) one of my Mum's pet hates.
I agree that the meaning must once have been something like "this is all we ask". It's as though the speaker is trying to remind themselves to have a simple approach but the intention has been lost and it has become one of those verbal filler type words.
I have to admit I have picked it up, the same way I have picked up the completely meaningless "like" which I use way too often, like some kind of vacuous teen instagrammer.
I never go to churches in which I would hear the word "just," but I hear "like" on the radio and find it so distracting that I listen less to what the speaker is saying and more to how many times s/he says "like" per sentence. Perhaps, it's main use is as a way to hold the floor because I rarely hear anyone do with "uh" anymore, but perhaps it's also used to identify who is and isn't in a loosely connected in-group that primarily consists of adolescents and young adults. I think that most people who use it don't know how distracting it is--at least to those who don't use it--and I've observed that some such people are immune to using it.
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