Prayer of St. Patrick

St. Patrick of Ireland (fifth century)

The Prayer of Saint Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.
I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

And Daughers

“Your sons and daughters will prophesy” Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17

Christ affirmed women. As a teacher, He invited Mary (the sister of Lazarus) to sit down and learn at his feet, the place of the honored and dedicated disciple. He broke societal expectations by having His longest conversation on record with a samaritan woman. He broke rabbinical law when a woman who was menstruating touched him. In Galatians it’s clear that, in Christ, the religious hierarchy differentiating men and woman has been abolished. The scriptures are packed with powerful women prophets, leaders and disciples. Women are in the center of the Gospels.

The first evangelist was a woman.

Some of the most significant disciples are women. When all the guys left, the women followed Christ to the cross. Historically it’s clear that women quickly rose to key leadership in the early church. Romans 16 shows us a husband and wife pastoral team. Acts gives us Priscilla and Aquila, a first century married couple who Paul describes as his "fellow workers in Christ Jesus” with Priscilla (the woman) often understood as holding the office of presbyter. Women share in the speaking and praying in 1 Corinthians 11. In Romans we see women were deacons. Paul and the other apostles appointed women to leadership in Philippi. And in acts 21 we read that three of Phillip’s daughters were prophetesses (which means they were preachers).

Undoubtedly, scripture has been weaponized to to hold women hostage in and out of church, just as scripture has been weaponized to justify slavery, racism, war, injustice, and all forms of bigotry.

But the truth is that women play a crucial role in church history. Ministry is a matter of calling and gifting not gender and genitals, and it’s a disgrace to loose half of our gifted leaders in the church simply because we misread a few text. It’s crazy that we can trust women with the vital role of raising our leaders, but refuse to entrust them to be our leaders. Some of the church’s hypocrisy is that it allows women to teach the bible in Sunday School class, the mission field, the streets, and in every office and function... but not the pulpit simply because they don’t have the right genitalia. The reality is that women are as fully human as men are. When God made the first humans...both were made in His image. Gen 1:27 “in the image of God he created them; male and female”. Someone once said, yeah but the woman was made from man’s side...to which we respond, yeah and man was made from dirt!

We celebrate, affirm, and insist upon women clergy! To not ordain women is unjust and unfaithful. We celebrate the transition of gender equality in the gospel. Where jewish men used to offer the morning blessing by saying “Blessed are you, Lord, our God, ruler of the universe who has not created me a woman, a gentile, nor a slave.” Paul would come along and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, would pen the scripture that declares, “ In Christ Jesus, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female.” In the ancient temple there was a dividing wall that separated the gentiles and women from worshipping with the men in the inner court....but Ephesians 2:14 tells us that this wall of separation has broken down by Christ. We do not see this as liberal or as a progressive, but simply Christian. A follower of Jesus Christ who views and treats women as second class citizens, is not following Jesus. That old world is gone, revolutionized by Easter, the center of the good news we preach…which was first delivered by a woman, Mary Magdelene. This is the Kingdom of God, and in this Kingdom our sons and daughters equally prophesy! The highest calling a woman can have is not to be a wife or mother, but a disciple of Jesus Christ who carries on the great commission.

As followers of Jesus, our foundation is built upon strong women and men who were prophetic. Women and men who got into some holy mischief. We know that women were leaders in the early church movement because like Stephen, we read in Acts 8:3 that Paul (Saul) dragged off both men and women and put them in prison! Men and women! Scholars tell us, that Saul targeted the leaders of the movement. This means that since the beginning, the church has been filled with women who had a prophetic voice. Today we continue to affirm and celebrate those daughters with a prophetic voice, and we join them in their work. “Eshet Chayil,” Woman of valor! Carry on, warrior.

Last One At The Table

I remember hearing a well known preacher once say, “Whatever family table you sit at, one day you will be the last one at the table, if you're fortunate to live long enough”. I feel that way on Maundy Thursday.

Tonight Jesus is taken from us and brought before the principalities that were determined to systematically deny him justice. They were set on an execution. Like a Lamb led to slaughter, Christ is taken before those whose sin He will die for. He is reenacting the very thing that has just taken place at the Temple in Jerusalem, the blood of the sacrificed lambs is still running wet from the altar.

Before all this happened, however, Jesus once again shared a table with us, but this table is different. This is an apocalyptic (revelatory) table with a meal that Christ promises to never eat again until Kingdom comes. In the synoptic gospels this is Passover. Going back in time with our imaginations we can put ourselves in their context: in 1st century Judea we don't “celebrate” Passover, we eat it. The paschal lamb is to be consumed. Matthew, Mark and Luke, all locate the Last Supper on Passover. John, however, gives us a different account. For John, the Last Supper takes place twenty-four hours earlier. For John, this isn’t the evening of Passover, but instead this is the night when the lambs are sacrificed for Passover.

For this reason, in the Last Supper we see some distinct variances from the traditional Passover Seder. Mainly this; on the table we find the wine and the bread, but not the lamb (the Paschal offering). In a beautiful, intentional, pointed way - John wants us to see something: Jesus is the Lamb. He (John) wants you to remember how he began his gospel, by quoting John the Baptist, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.

John, the disciple, gives us every single Eucharistic symbol we need, preparing us for the Table of The Lord.

At the table we move beyond celebrating a tradition, we leave time and space and join the children of Israel as they travel from slavery to freedom. At the table we pass over from death into life. This meal was instituted by our Lord. Next to the resurrection, it's a binding cord of the New Testament. Jesus takes this Seder meal of remembrance, a meal that was designated to “keep the story going”…and totally gives us something new, something powerful. It's so important, that all 4 evangelists harmonize as to what took place: Jesus takes, Jesus gives thanks (Eucharist), Jesus breaks (for it can not reach all of us unless the host is broken), and then Jesus gives it to us, telling us that this is his body and blood. So important is this meal that Jesus appears to Paul, just to deliver this institution 1 Cor 11:23. The Table is so central, we have all 4 gospel writers AND Paul giving us the meal of the Lords Supper and “the words of institution; On the night he was handed over to suffering and death our Lord took bread…”

So here we are, this is that night. Jesus has washed our feet, and has begun a new meal of remembrance. But we now find ourselves being the last ones at the table. In a Maundy Thursday service the altar is stripped bare. All the ornate table settings are removed at the end of the liturgy. The table cloth, gone. The candles, extinguished. The cross, veiled in black. This all happens while we sit and read Psalm 22 together. Then silence. The weight, the gravity. They've taken Jesus from us. Our kids sit staring intently. They ask, “what's going to happen?” We offer no false rush to triumph. This savior will not kill his enemies like Judas Maccabeus, but instead He will die for them.

They have taken Him from us, and just as He has washed our traveled, dirty, and weary feet… He will now wash a traveled and weary humanity with His blood. In this, our grief, what do we say to the children? What do we say to each other?

We gather all the family, young and old, around His table. We remember His story. We eat His body, the Bread of Heaven, we drink His blood, the Cup of Salvation, and we sit…in silence.

Maybe the echo of a voice crying out in the wilderness from beyond time reaches our hearts, and we hear a whisper say…

“Behold.

The Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world.”

We close our eyes and respond, “have mercy upon us”.

Worthy is the Lamb.

Our Churches Are Either Sacramental or Charismatic. Why?

( The following article was published on Christianity Today by Andrew Wilson on Feb 4, 2019. And we like it…a lot! )

The Early Church didn't make a distinction. So why do we?

It is an oddity of contemporary Christianity, at least in the West, that the churches that emphasize the sacraments generally do not emphasize spiritual gifts, and vice versa.

This Sunday, thousands of believers will enter a sanctuary in which all eyes are drawn to the table near the front. They will brush past a baptismal font as they find a seat, sing hymns and recite prayers that have sustained believers for centuries, confess that they believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church, and receive bread and wine. Spiritual gifts, however—with the exception of teaching—are unlikely to make an appearance. An occurrence of prophecy or healing would be very surprising, if not unprecedented. Tongue-speaking would result in either a baffled silence or an embarrassed cough.

Thousands of other believers will enter a very different worship space, in which all eyes are drawn to the stage. They will expect, and frequently experience, a meeting in which people practice the laying on of hands, spontaneous prayer, anointing with oil, prophecy, languages, healing, and any number of the other spiritual gifts described in the New Testament. But there will probably be no corporate confession, no creed, no psalms, and no shared liturgy. If the Lord’s Supper is celebrated at all, it will appear on collapsible tables, transition quickly into the next part of the service, and take no more time than the announcements.

There are, in other words, churches that are eucharistic and churches that are charismatic (as well as a good many churches that are neither). So it is interesting that the New Testament church about whose corporate worship we know the most, namely the church in Corinth, was both. The Corinthians were apparently unaware that those two strands of Christian worship were incompatible, and they happily (if somewhat erratically) pursued sacramental and spiritual gifts at the same time. Neither did Paul regard this as strange or problematic; in fact, he encouraged them to continue celebrating Communion together (1 Cor. 11:23–6) and to eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy (14:1). Paul, in that sense, wanted the church to be “eucharismatic”—and that invitation extends to us as well.

Charismatic with Bells on

The Corinthians were certainly eucharistic. Pretty much everything we know about the practice of the Lord’s Supper in the early church comes from this letter (1 Corinthians). The various names we use for it all originate here: “Communion” (10:16, KJV), “breaking bread” (10:16), “the Lord’s Table” (10:21), “the Lord’s Supper” (11:20) and “Eucharist” (from the Greek word eucharisteō, meaning “I thank,” 11:24). Admittedly it was a mess, to the extent that Paul thinks it did more harm than good—greed, division, drunkenness, and the rest—but it was central. It seems likely that the Eucharist was celebrated each time the church met: Paul begins his correction of their corporate gatherings with a detailed section on it, and of the seven times he says “when you come together,” five of them are in the context of sharing Communion. Whether the meeting took place around the table, as some suggest, or whether it simply included the Supper as a central feature of the liturgy, it is clear that breaking bread was central.

It was also, famously, highly charismatic. The remaining two references to “when you come together” occur in the context of spiritual gifts, with the first distinguishing between the effects of prophecy and languages on unbelievers and the second referring to a wider range of gifts: “What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up” (1 Cor. 14:26). This provides a fascinating window into Corinthian corporate worship, both in form and content. In form, because it shows that a large number of people were contributing, not just the recognized leaders. In content, because it includes singing, teaching, prophesying, language-speaking, and interpreting. (In light of chapter 12, in which distinguishing spirits, miracles, healings, and words of knowledge and wisdom are also mentioned, this list is probably not exhaustive). Then there are the references to not lacking any of the spiritual gifts and to all having been baptized in one Spirit into one body. Despite their many failings, the Corinthians were charismatic with bells on.

It would be possible, in fact, to construct a fairly comprehensive Christian liturgy on the basis of references in 1 Corinthians alone. As well as providing the most extensive biblical material we have on both the Lord’s Supper (chapters 10–11) and the charismata (12–14), 1 Corinthians also has more to say about preaching (1–2, 9, 15), baptism (1, 10), Christian leadership (3–4), and church discipline (5) than any other letter. We have clear teaching on taking a weekly financial offering (16:1–4), a reference to the church calendar (16:8), and the closest things the New Testament provides to a creed (8:6; 15:3–8). Abuses of both sacraments—chaos at the Table (11:17–34) and baptism for the dead (15:29–34)—are identified and corrected.

More familiarly, we also have greetings from God (1:3) and one another (16:19–21), prayer (1:4–9), ethical teaching (much of chapters 5–10), the preaching of the cross (1:18–2:5) and resurrection (15:1–28), an exhortation based on an Old Testament narrative (10:1–13), liturgical sayings (15:54–55), numerous quotations from Scripture (including the intriguing 4:6) along with one from the Gospels (7:10–11), an anathema and a maranatha (16:22), and a benediction (16:23). Of the 20 or so liturgical practices the church has historically used, 15 appear in this one letter, and two of the remaining five (namely confession and assurance of forgiveness) appear early in 2 Corinthians.

Granted, there are very few of these elements that the Corinthians had not bungled. They were not, in any sense, a model church. Yet the fact that they did these things so badly is ultimately helpful to us. It is the only reason we know about most of them in the first place, and more importantly, it shows us that Paul felt they were important enough to Christian worship that the Corinthians’ practice of each should be corrected rather than abandoned.

Some today, on seeing Communion, tongue-speaking, or church discipline done badly, solve the problem by dispensing with these practices altogether. Paul, by contrast, sees the sacraments and gifts of the Spirit precisely as gifts, given by a good God for our edification, so his response to such abuses is quite different: “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (14:39–40). So if we see the congregation not as it was but as Paul wanted it to be, we have an excellent example of what a “eucharismatic” church could look like.

Depth and Bounce

And that takes us back to the contemporary church. There is no reason, beyond a series of historical accidents, why we cannot have our ecclesiological cake and eat it. Yes, churches that treasure spiritual gifts are often strikingly different, in their traditions and histories, from churches that treasure the sacramental gifts. But if Paul’s pastoral guidance is anything to go by, there is nothing stopping us from worshiping with raised hands and lowered faces, liturgy and levity, set prayers and spontaneous prophecies, dancing in the aisles and angels in the architecture.

The eucharismatic both/and has the potential to increase both the height and the depth of our worship at the same time. Many (if not most) Christians today would be inclined to think in terms of a spectrum when it comes to church practice, with the historical-liturgical-reflective-sacramental at one end and the charismatic-Pentecostal-expressive-celebratory at the other. For various historical reasons, these two forms appear to be in tension with one another: If you want depth, come this way, and if you want bounce, go that way. The truth, however, is quite the opposite. If you want more height, you need more depth. Ask any trampolinist. Or tree, for that matter.

Without depth, height is unsustainable. If we have an anemic liturgy, then inspirational messages, emotive music, and cathartic experiences can only take us so far; whether or not they produce a short-term emotional response, they cannot build the kind of faith that, like Habakkuk, rejoices in God even when there is no fruit on the vine or herds in the stalls (3:17–18). Rather than attempting standing jumps in the center of the trampoline, which is exhausting as well as ineffective, we need to plunge ourselves into the depths of our tradition, so as to spring to new heights. Down, into historic prayers. Up, into spontaneous ones. Down, into confession of sin. Up, into celebration of forgiveness. Down, into the creeds. Up, into the choruses. Down, into knowing God’s presence in the sacraments. Up, into feeling God’s presence in song. Call and response. Friday, then Sunday. Kneel, then jump.

Yet this metaphor cuts both ways. Going deeper also requires going higher. We are embodied and emotional creatures, and people who dance for joy, as opposed to merely singing about it, are more likely to be people who fall on their face, as opposed to leaning forward and putting their head between their knees for a few seconds. This both/and is precisely what we see in Leviticus, when fire comes out from the presence of the Lord as the priesthood is consecrated: “And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown” (Lev. 9:24). Those who laugh in church are more likely to cry there. If you are captivated by the presence and gifts of the Spirit in worship, you will probably find the presence and gifts of the Spirit in the sacraments more wonderful, not less. If you go further up, you go further in.

As such, this is an invitation to be eucharismatic. Worshiping God with both sacramental and spiritual gifts can deepen our joy, enrich our lives, and remind us that there are things we can learn from the worship practices of other church traditions. It will not guarantee our growth, maturity, or spiritual breakthrough; 1 Corinthians proves that. But it will almost certainly broaden our experience of the gifts of God to his people, so that we “do not lack any spiritual gift as [we] eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed” (1 Cor. 1:7). Come and see.

Andrew Wilson is teaching pastor at King’s Church London. He is the author of Spirit and Sacrament: An Invitation to Eucharismatic Worship (Zondervan), from which this article is adapted.

Why Common Prayer?

“No doubt, we can pray to God by ourselves; for centuries both monks and evangelicals (and lots of people in between) have prayed solitarily. There is something beautiful about a God who is personal, who talks face to face with Moses, wrestles with Jacob, and becomes fully human in Jesus, a God who needs no mediation, with whom we can speak as a friend and Lover at any moment and in any place, in a cathedral or an alleyway.

Common prayer is certainly not to take away from the intimacy each of us can have with God. Personal or devotional prayer and communal prayer are not at odds with each other. In fact they must go together. Just as God is communal, God is also deeply personal and intimate.

Certainly one of the unique and beautiful things about Jesus is his intimacy with God as he runs off to the mountaintop or hides away in the garden. Jesus daringly invites us to approach the God of the universe as Abba (Daddy) or as a mother caring for her little chicks. Our God is personal and wildly in love with each of us.

Some friends who have experienced only liturgical worship and prayer are moved to tears by the childlike winsomeness of charismatics and Pentecostals as they pray with such sincerity and honesty, with tears and holy laughter. That kind of prayer is a gift to the church and has much to offer liturgical types, just as liturgy has much to offer Pentecostals.

Just because our prayer lives are personal does not mean they are private. Many of us have grown up in a culture where rampant individualism has affected our prayer lives. When we think about prayer, our imaginations may be limited to evening devotions or a daily “quiet time” with God. As wonderful as these times of solitude can be, prayer moves us beyond what we can do on our own.

It’s certainly possible for people to customize their religion, sort of like the “create your own pizza” menu at a restaurant. Ironically, both conservative evangelicals and liberal New Agers often fall to the same temptation to create a religion that is very self-centered and very lonely. You can be religious and still be lonely. But part of the good news is that we are not alone. If we see prayer only as a private affair, we miss out. To talk with God is to get caught up in conversation with brothers and sisters we didn’t know we had.

There is something to this idea that “when two or three of you gather in my name, I will be with you.” Prayer is a communal practice.

There is a reason the Lord’s Prayer is a communal prayer to “our” Father, asking for “our” daily bread and asking God to forgive us “our” sins as we forgive others. Our God is a communal God. It is not enough to pray for “my” daily bread alone.

The gift of liturgy is that it helps us hear less of our own little voices and more of God’s still, small voice (Psalm 46). It leads away from self and points us toward the community of God. God is a plurality of oneness. God has “lived in community” from eternity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God as Trinity is the core reality of the universe, and that means that the core of reality is community. We often live as if the essence of our being is the “I”, and as if the “we” of community is a nice add-on or an “intentional” choice. But the truth is we are made for community, and if we live outside of community, we are selling ourselves short. We are made in the image of (holy) community.” - COMMON PRAYER, A LITURGY FOR ORDINARY RADICALS

Christians from the beginning of the faith have read the same scriptures together, sung the same songs together, and prayed the same prayers together. Jesus prayed from his prayer book, the Psalms. On the cross he prays to the Father from Psalm 22. In Acts chapter 2 we’re told that the early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and “the prayers”. The church in Acts 4, in unity “raised their voices together in prayer to God” reciting from Psalm 2 upon the release of Peter and John.

The greater reality is that we never pray alone, even when praying by ourselves. The beauty of common prayer is that saints from all over the world are praying with you, towards the same end. Through common prayer we pray “impossible” prayers, prayers that the world would tell us will never be answered but we have a greater hope. Through common prayer we pray beyond the narrow lens of individualism and “wish-list” self-centeredness. Through common prayer we enter into prayer that is already taking place across the globe. We do not start and stop common prayer, we enter and exit. The prayer continues throughout time within the Church. Through common prayer we pray well formed, faithful prayers that, in reality, aid our extemporaneous prayers. We are praying prayers crafted not by our lonely piety but by the entire body of Christ through her history. We are praying prayers whose origin is in another time and place, going all the way back to the early church, and thus we are mysteriously connected with believers who have gone before us. For many, common prayer will be a discovery of lost memories and treasures from the past, digging up amid all the clutter of Christendom old pictures and keepsakes from our ancestors and wiping the dust away.

Mt 13:52 He said, “Then you see how every student well-trained in God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it.”

Water To Wine

I hated grapefruits growing up. Not to be over-dramatic, but to literally touch a piece of grapefruit to the tip of my tongue would have induced the ever-hilliarious gagging response we witness from so many childhood videos gone viral. Today, I crave them. They are life-giving, delicious vitamin packed, immune system building, weight loss promoting, diabetes preventing, heart healthy, antioxidant rich, sweet-nectar-of-the-gods, little orbs of delight. What happened between 7 and 38? My pallet changed. I grew. I changed. I developed a dissatisfaction with the sugary, cheap, nutrient deplete, mass-produced, pre-packaged edible objects and began to yearn for something natural, simple, nutritious and beneficial.

Brian’s Zahnd’s Article “Water to Wine” begins to articulate a similar progression that many of us within american pop-culture religion can relate to. He writes about his journey from cotton-candy-christianity to a more deep and robust faith by developing a palate for the aged-wine of historic Christianity.

“I was halfway to ninety, midway through life, and I’d reached a full-blown crisis. Call it a garden variety mid-life crisis if you want, but it was something more than that. You might say it was a theological crisis, though that makes it sound too cerebral. The unease I felt came from a deeper place than a mental file labeled “theology.” My life was like that U2 song stuck on repeat — I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. I was wrestling with an uneasy feeling that the kind of Christianity I had built my life around was somehow deficient. Not wrong, but lacking. It seemed watery and weak. In my most honest moments I couldn’t help but notice that the Christianity I knew seemed to lack the kind of robust authenticity that made Jesus so fascinating. And I’d always been utterly fascinated by Jesus. Jesus wasn’t in question, but Christianity American style was.

I became a committed Christian during the Jesus Movement. I was the high school “Jesus freak” and by the tender age of twenty-two I had founded a church — as ridiculous as that sounds now! After a prolonged slow start I eventually enjoyed what most would call a “successful ministry.” At one point during the 1990’s our church was dubbed “one of the twenty fastest growing churches in America.” I was a success. Ta-da!

But by 2003, now in my mid-forties, I had become, what shall I say?…bored, restless, discontent. From a certain perspective things couldn’t have been better. I had a large church with a large staff supported by a large budget worshiping in a large complex. I was large and in charge! I had made it to the big time. But I had become increasingly dissatisfied. I was weary of the tired clichés of bumper-sticker evangelicalism. I was disenchanted by a paper-thin Christianity propped up by cheap certitude. The politicized faith of the Religious Right was driving me crazy. I was yearning for something deeper, richer, fuller. Let me say it this way — I was in Cana and the wine had run out. I needed Jesus to perform a miracle.

Don’t misunderstand me, my faith in Jesus never wavered. This wasn’t a “crisis of faith” in that sense. I believed in Jesus! What I knew was that Jesus deserved something better than “cotton candy Christianity.” Like Bilbo Baggins I felt “thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” I’d reached the point where something had to be done. I was no longer satisfied with the “cutting edge” and “successful.” I had lost my appetite for the mass-produced soda-like Christianity of pop-culture America. I wanted vintage wine from old vines. I don’t know exactly how I knew this, but I knew it.

Guided by little more than instinct I began reading the Early Church Fathers. I started with Clement and Polycarp and moved on from there. I found Athanasius more relevant than the Christian bestsellers. I resonated with Gregory of Nyssa. I found a kindred soul in Maximus the Confessor. I read Augustine’s Confessions several times in different translations and was deeply moved by it. I was beginning to develop a palate for the aged wine of historic Christianity.”

— Brain Zahnd

For more check out Brian Zahnd’s book, “Water to Wine”

Worship, Bottom-up or Top-down?

Ever see someone take credit for something they didn’t do? Proud parents are guilty of this quite often. Sometimes little kids, with big smiles on their faces, will take credit for an arts craft that, for the most part, was assembled by an adult. From the over-exaggerated to the irrational assumption that everything we have is due solely to our ingenuity (and not the varying levels of privilege we were born into) we tend to overemphasize human efficacy. Could it be possible that we do the same with our understanding of worship? Is worship primarily a human endeavor? Or is it primarily a divine encounter? Is it merely bottom-up human action? Or is it, at it’s core, a top-down encounter? How we answer this question, whether consciously or subconsciously, and how we’ve been formed to view this subject will have a dominating impact on how we view liturgical form (which every church has). Is repetition in worship bad? Is it insincere?

(the following is an excerpt from the book “You Are What You Love”)

“When we unhook worship from mere expression, it completely retools our understanding of repetition. If you think of worship as a bottom-up, expressive endeavor, repetition will seem insincere and inauthentic. But when you see worship as an invitation to a top-down encounter in which God is refashioning your deepest habits, then repetition looks very different: it’s how God rehabituates us. In a formational paradigm, repetition isn’t insincere, because you’re not ‘showing’, you’re ‘submitting’. There is no practice that isn’t repetitive. We willingly embrace repetition as a good in all kinds of other sectors of our life - to hone our golf swing, our piano prowess, and our mathematical abilities, for example. If the sovereign Lord has created us as creatures of habit, why should we think repetition is inimical to our spiritual growth? Learning to love anything takes practice and practice takes repetition.”

— James K.A. Smith

A Life of Prayer

At the Sacred Commons we believe that our worship extends into every aspect of our daily lives, including prayer. We recommend The Book of Common Prayer 1979 as a unifying structure for prayer that unites our personal commitment to daily prayer with the unified prayers of other Christians around the world. This means that we are praying WITH our sisters and brothers in Christ, agreeing together all around the globe, in all time zones, continually! While the extemporaneous prayer of the individual believer is still welcomed, there is a unifying and powerfully grounding thing that happens when we approach God collectively, together, not just in the now, but with Christians throughout time and space. Praying common prayers together help us to transcend the wishlist / me, myself and I paradigm. We celebrate the historical reality that Jesus prayed written prayers (the Psalms), even from the cross, and when his disciples asked him to “teach them how to pray” he answered with a form that would go on to bless and center the prayer life of christians throughout the ages, “This, then, is how you should pray” (Matt 6:9). Here at The Sacred Commons we encourage others to explore how the Spirit creatively moves within form.

Here are some prayers and practices that we would like to share with you. Feel free to print them out, hang them up, make bookmarks and get creative!

A Prayer attributed to St. Francis

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen.

BCP page 833

My Daily Examen

• I quiet my mind and my heart for prayer. I believe in God’s presence with me…

• I offer gratitude to God for the blessings of the day and begin by savoring my gifts.

• I review the events of the day noticing the feelings that surface: my hopes, fears, regrets, joys, and sorrows.

• I pray from the feelings that surface: talking to God as a friend, listening with my heart for God’s response of love.

• I look forward in hope, asking for the grace to better serve God.

  Conclude by praying, “Our Father…”

Ignatian prayer method, Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name.

thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Matthew 6:9-13

We invite you to join us in Common Prayer. While we encourage everyone to practice daily prayer on their own at home, we also host a weekly prayer gathering online via Zoom and would love for you to participate! If this is something you’d like to practice with us, email us at sacredcommons@gmail.com

Post-Christian America?

“59 percent of young people ages eighteen to twenty-nine with a Christian background have dropped out of church. Among those of us who came of age around the year 2000, a solid quarter claim no religious affiliation at all.” - Pew Research, Public Life Project

“The number of religiously unaffiliated adults has increased by roughly 19 million since 2007. There are now approximately 56 million religiously unaffiliated adults in the U.S., and this group – sometimes called religious “nones” – is more numerous than either Catholics or mainline Protestants.” - Pew Research Group

“One of the most important factors in the declining share of Christians and the growth of the “nones” is generational replacement. As the Millennial generation enters adulthood, its members display much lower levels of religious affiliation, including less connection with Christian churches, than older generations. Fully 36% of young Millennials (those between the ages of 18 and 24) are religiously unaffiliated, as are 34% of older Millennials (ages 25-33). And fewer than six-in-ten Millennials identify with any branch of Christianity” - Pew Research Group

Discover your religious typology: Take The Quiz

“I can’t provide the solutions church leaders are looking for, but I can articulate the questions that many in my generation are asking. I can translate some of their angst, some of their hope. […] I told them they’re tired of the culture wars, tired of Christianity getting entangled with party politics and power. We want to be known by what we’re for, I said, not just what we’re against. We don’t want to choose between science and religion or between our intellectual integrity and our faith. Instead, we long for our churches to be safe places to doubt, to ask questions, and to tell the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. We want to talk about the tough stuff - biblical interpretation, religious pluralism, sexuality, racial reconciliation, and social justice, but without predetermined conclusions or simplistic answers. We want to bring our whole selves through the church doors, without leaving our hearts and minds behind, without wearing a mask. […] And I told them that, contrary to popular belief, we can’t be won back with hipper worship bands, fancy coffee shops, or pastors who wear skinny jeans. We have been advertised to our entire lives, so we can smell b.s. from a mile away. The church is the last place we want to be sold another product, the last place we want to be entertained. […] We aren’t looking for a hipper Christianity, I said. We’re looking for a truer Christianity, a more authentic Christianity.”

— Rachel Held Evans (Searching For Sunday)

What is a convergent church?

THE CONVERGENCE MOVEMENT [Click to download PDF] WRITTEN IN 1992 BY BISHOP WAYNE BOOSAHDA AND RANDY SLY FOR THE COMPLETE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP, ROBERT WEBBER, ED. (See list below for summary).

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“Those who are being drawn by the Lord into this convergence of streams are characterized by several common elements. […] The walls between groups and denominations are already becoming veils which can be torn open, giving those from other branches greater opportunity to experience another’s faith and practice. […] The final verses of the Old Testament close with a promise that the spirit of Elijah will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. While these verses have been used in recent days to characterize the need to return to family values, the hope also exists that a new spirit in the church will turn the hearts of this generation of believers back toward the apostolic fathers and others who formed and fashioned vital faith in the centuries following Christ’s ascension. They had envisioned and worked for a Christianity that was orthodox and durable, generation upon generation, operating in strict adherence to the revelation of Christ for His church. The church of the twentieth century is now eagerly looking back to these fathers of faith and discovering new life in the forms and structures God built in their midst. ”

— Bishop Wayne Boosahda

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1. A RESTORED COMMITMENT TO THE SACRAMENTS, ESPECIALLY THE LORD’S TABLE

2. AN INCREASED APPETITE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE EARLY CHURCH

3. A LOVE AND EMBRACE FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH, AND A DESIRE TO SEE THE CHURCH AS ONE


4. THE BLENDING IN THE PRACTICES OF ALL THREE STREAMS (EVANGELICAL, CHARISMATIC, SACRAMENTAL), YET EACH CHURCH APPROACHES CONVERGENCE FROM DIFFERENT BASES OF EMPHASIS


5. AN INTEREST IN INTEGRATING MORE STRUCTURE WITH SPONTANEITY IN WORSHIP


6. A GREATER INVOLVEMENT OF SIGN AND SYMBOL IN WORSHIP THROUGH BANNERS, CROSSES, CHRISTIAN ART AND CLERICAL VESTMENTS


7. A CONTINUING COMMITMENT TO PERSONAL SALVATION, BIBLICAL TEACHING, AND TO THE WORK AND MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT