Draw Near

Heb 4:16 - Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

I once worshipped under a pastor that everytime he called us to prayer said, "Let us draw near to the throne of grace." So much so that we made fun of him for it, but what a wonderful image and what a wonderful priviledge. In prayer, we approach a King that could just as easily send us away. That should inspire in us confidence and fear, awe and gratitude. As you approach God today, and as you pray for GBC and the other things in your life, recall this image and attempt to feel what you would feel were it more than an image.

Dunstan

While perusing pray sites, I cam accross this little story and pray -- I think it very applicable to blogging.

Dunstan was born near Glastonbury in the southwest of England about the year 909, ten years after the death of King Alfred. During the Viking invasions of the ninth century, monasteries had been favorite targets of the invaders, and by Dunstan's time English monasticism had been wiped out. In its restoration in the tenth century, Dunstan played the leading role. He was born of an upper-class family, and sent to court, where he did not fit in. At the urging of his uncle, the Bishop of Westminster, he became a monk and a priest, and returned to Glastonbury, where he built a hut near the ruins of the old monastery, and devoted himself to study, music, metal working (particularly the art of casting church bells, an art which he is said to have advanced considerably), and painting. A manuscript illuminated by him is in the British Museum. He returned to court and was again asked to leave; but then King Edmund had a narrow escape from death while hunting, and in gratitude recalled Dunstan and in 943 commissioned him to re-establish monastic life at Glastonbury. (Glastonbury is one of the oldest Christian sites in England, and is associated in legend with King Arthur and his Court, with Joseph of Arimathea, and with other worthies. It has been said that the Holy Grail, the chalice of the Last Supper, is hidden somewhere near Glastonbury.) Under Dunstan's direction, Glastonbury became an important center both of monasticism and of learning. The next king, Edred, adopted Dunstan's ideas for various reforms of the clergy (including the control of many cathedrals by monastic chapters) and for relations with the Danish settlers. These policies made Dunstan popular in the North of England, but unpopular in the South.

Edred was succeeded by his sixteen-year-old nephew Edwy, whom Dunstan openly rebuked for unchastity. The furious Edwy drove Dunstan into exile, but the North rose in rebellion on his behalf. When the dust settled, Edwy was dead, his brother Edgar was king, and Dunstan was Archbishop of Canterbury. The coronation service which Dunstan compiled for Edgar is the earliest English coronation service of which the full text survives, and is the basis for all such services since, down to the present. With the active support of King Edgar, Dunstan re-established monastic communities at Malmesbury, Westminster, Bath, Exeter, and many other places. Around 970 he presided at a conference of bishops, abbots, and abbesses, which drew up a national code of monastic observance, the Regularis Concordia. It followed Benedictine lines, but under it the monasteries were actively involved in the life of the surrounding community. For centuries thereafter the Archbishop of Canterbury was always a monk.

Dunstan took an active role in politics under Edgar and his successor Edward, but under the next king, Ethelred, he retired from politics and concentrated on running the Canterbury cathedral school for boys, where he was apparently successful in raising the academic standards while reducing the incidence of corporal punishment. On Ascension Day in 988, he told the congregation that he was near to death, and died two days later.

written by James Kiefer

Prayer

O God of truth and beauty, who richly endowed your bishop Dunstan with skill in music and the working of metals, and with gifts of administration and reforming zeal: Teach us, we pray, to see in you the source of all our talents, and move us to offer them for the adornment of worship and the advancement of true religion; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

We truly need to remember the source of our blogging capability.

Present

Rom 12:1 - I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, {which is} your spiritual service of worship.

When you pray, do you present your whole self before God? Do you feel "naked in public" when you pray? Intimacy with the Almighty, with anybody for that matter, involves self-revelation. You have to let the other see all of you. When you pray today, for yourself anf for GBC, lay yourself before God, hide nothing from Him.

Intercede

From the Greek Orthodox Prayer Book:

O Lord, Lover of men, forgive those who hate and wrong us. Do good to those who do good. Grant our brothers and relatives their saving petitions and eternal life. Visit the sick and grant them healing. Guide those at sea. Travel with travellers. Struggle alongside the Orthodox. To those who serve and are kind to us, grant remission of sins. On those who have charged us, unworthy as we are, to pray for them, have mercy according to Thy great mercy. Remember, O Lord, our fathers and brothers who have fallen asleep, and grant them rest where the light of Thy countenance shines. Remember, O Lord, those who bear fruit and do good works in Thy holy churches and grant them their saving petitions and eternal life. Remember also, O Lord, us Thy humble, sinful and unworthy servants, and enlighten our minds with the light of knowledge of Thyself, and guide us in the way of Thy commandments, by the prayers of our immaculate Lady, Mother of God, and Ever-Virgin Mary, and of all Thy Saints, for Thou art blessed to the ages of ages. Amen.

Add GBC to that prayer and it is as about a complete intercessions as you can get!

Devotion

Dan 6:10 - Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.

While I do not think this is a prescription for prayer, I admire the devotion to prayer. Are you that devoted? What is your first impulse when you get news -- is it to share that news with God? Don't you think it should be?

WHen you pray for GBC and your life today do so with a sense of commitment and urgency.

Prayer For America

You know, GBC could only happen in a place like America, so I think it appropriate that on this anniverssary of our independence that we pray for the nation:

I said a prayer for you today.
I hope you didn't mind.
I asked the Lord to comfort you
and put your tears behind.

I prayed for peace and mercy, too,
to help you through this day,
And for His loving guidance
as He leads you on your way.

You need not walk this path alone
so I prayed He'd hold your hand,
and offer you some guidance
in a way you'll understand.

I asked Him for little miracles
and to bless you today.
Keep searching for the Rainbows -
and let Him light your way.

Dear God,
Please bless America.

His Holy Hill

Ps 99:9 - Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His holy hill; for holy is the LORD our God.

Do you have a place to go to pray? Someplace that belongs just to God? Someplace where you know you rest in Him.

Sometimes we need a change of physical setting to put ourselves in the right frame of mind to converse with God. On those days where you just cannot seem to concentrate enough to pray, try going somehwere different. Then, please, pray for GBC, and for everything else that is on your heart.