IN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

This is the introduction to a prayer booklet that I have written for the congregation I serve for Lent 2013.  I am posting the prayers on facebook.  If you are not on facebook, please friend me there.

     I had some difficulty coming up with a theme for a Lenten guide for this year.  I hope that my decision to write prayers related to the work of the Holy Spirit among us was a decision inspired or influenced by the Holy Spirit.

     Writing about the Holy Spirit for Lent may seem to be jumping ahead of things a bit, since we don’t see the dramatic outpouring of the Spirit until after the resurrection, at Pentecost.  But as we look at the life of Jesus, as witnessed to in the gospels, we see that Jesus’ birth is described as a work of the Spirit, and we see Jesus invested with the Holy Spirit at his baptism.  In other words, Jesus’ entire life and ministry are done with the guidance and in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

     If I were to write a more systematic treatise about the work of the Holy Spirit, I could reasonably include discussion of every event in Jesus’ life and in the life of the church as described in the book of Acts.  I have not written something like that.  So, I have had to make some choices: first, I have chosen to write prayers related only to passages that actually mention the Spirit or Holy Spirit; second, I have chosen not to write prayers related to parallels.  So, for instance, there is only one prayer related to the Holy Spirit’s presence at Jesus’ baptism, even though there are four baptism stories.  Third, I have chosen not to be comprehensive.  So, instead of trying to cover all that the Bible says about the work of God’s Spirit, I have started at Matthew and written until I had enough prayers for the forty days of Lent.  This has taken me most of the way through the book of Acts, which means I can keep writing on this theme for a prayer guide for 2014 (a sequel including much more about the gifts and fruit of the Spirit!).

     There is plenty of theology in these prayers if you are inclined to think about a theology of the Holy Spirit.  In some quarters of the church, we sometimes seem to forget about the Holy Spirit’s presence and work in our lives.  Our God seems more like a duality than a Trinity.  Perhaps these prayers will be a reminder of the Spirit’s presence and God’s fullness.

     The primary point of the prayers is to get us or keep us praying for God’s guidance and empowerment in our lives. 

     Please use these prayers to guide you into more personal and specific prayer for yourself and for the life of the Christian community to which you are committed.  Edit the prayers for yourself.  Go off on tangents.  Let the Spirit lead you!

     I have followed my usual pattern of writing prayers in the first person plural, as a reminder that we always pray as part of the church.  We are part of the holy people that God is creating for communion and for God’s own glory.  We are not individual stragglers in the faith, even though it sometimes seems that way.

     I have not followed my usual pattern of providing an overwhelming number of scriptural passages to read.  Anyone who previously felt compelled to read all of them can breathe a sigh of relief.

     I always welcome feedback (try: facebook David Antieau, send a message through my blog, or speak to me at church). If I receive positive feedback, I smile, thank God, and move on with some sense that I’m on the right track in terms of the use of the gifts God has given me, while trying to keep my head from expanding beyond the size of my hat.  If I receive negative feedback, I get a little bit grumpy at first (maybe more than a little sometimes!), then think about the feedback until I have discerned the truth that may be contained therein.  I then try to let that feedback correct my own thinking, theology or writing as it seems appropriate.

     If I haven’t lost you already, I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide and empower you for your journey of faith as you pray these prayers and add your own.

David K. Antieau

Pastor

St. Nicolai United Church of Christ

Prayer for February 10-16, 2013 

Sermon Text: Luke 9:28-43

That we may comprehend your promises and your justice more fully

Christ our Teacher - You whom we follow at your bidding - at times when we join You in prayer for the full expression of God’s reign among us, we encounter glory and mystery.

You pull the veil wide so we may see You in your dazzling glory and beauty.  You pierce our drowsiness so we may comprehend more fully that God’s covenant promises and God’s restorative justice are summed up in You.

     You stand with us as we respond in fear and uncertainty, engulfed in mystery that is beyond our penetration or our comprehension.

     You stand among us, affirmed by God as God’s Chosen One, God’s Son, when our moment of terror has passed.

     Speak to us; we will listen.  Walk ahead of us; we will follow, for You know the way.  Amen.

Prayer for February 3-9, 2013 

Sermon Text: Luke 4:21-30

That we may be open to your word and unwavering in zeal

Christ Jesus, we rejoice that You have come among us preaching:

       good news for those who are poor,

       freedom for those who are in prison,

       vision for those who are blind,

       release for those who are oppressed -

       a season of widespread blessing.

We have heard your liberating words and have seen your healing action, and have responded with amazement and with words of praise spoken and sung.

In our familiarity with You, however, we sometimes come to expect little that is out of the ordinary or new.  We want life to flow smoothly, easily, unperturbed.  We close our minds, close our hearts to divine action that might unsettle us, disrupt our lives, challenge or change us thoroughly.

Christ our Sovereign, we do not want to be like Israel, or like your apostles, in their moments of reluctance or doubt.  We want to be like them in their moments of openness and unwavering zeal.  And we want to be like their surprising neighbors who trusted You boldly in their odd circumstances.

Sometimes, when You confront us with your word, our anger is aroused.  Enable us to see past our anger to the truth about who You are and what You can accomplish among us by your powerful word.  Amen.

Prayer for January 27-February 2, 2013 

Sermon Text: Luke 4:14-21

That we may preach and enact your good and liberating news

God of all, we rejoice that Christ Jesus has come among us as your agent of holiness, truth and peace.  We rejoice that in 

Christ Jesus many have heard the good news about the forgiveness and freedom that You offer.  Many have received your healing touch that restores vision.

     But many have not heard good news.

     Many have not been liberated from bondage to sin, or from their prison cells.

     Many have not received your healing touch or restored vision.

     Many do not know, or do not believe, that Jesus of Nazareth has fulfilled many of your promises to Israel and welcomed others to share in those promises.

     Enable us, as your servants, and followers of Jesus, whom You sent among us, to continue to preach and enact good news to the poor that frees them from poverty; to preach and enact liberation for those who are in bondage to sin or incarcerated in jails and prisons, or oppressed under immovable burdens of debt.

     Enable us to be agents of your healing who bring light and insight to those who are blind.

     Gracious God, enable us to hear the good news of Jesus in ways that energize us to extend his ministry, in fresh ways, to many neighbors, one neighbor at a time.  Amen.

Prayer for January 20-26, 2013 

Suggested Text: John 2:1-11 (I did not use this text)

That we may experience more fully your holy and awesome presence

God, our God, You came among us in Christ Jesus and quietly became the life of the party.

As we celebrate the life You have given to us, with all of its oddities and perplexities, with its moments of grandeur and moments of anxiety and abasement, You provide for us in ways that we could not foresee.  In spite of our experience of your faithfulness, You continue to give better than we expect of You.

We rejoice that You have entered into solidarity with us through Jesus Christ.  We rejoice that You provide surprising goodness.  We rejoice that the wondrous signs Jesus did declare your love for us and draw us into your holy and awesome presence, where we may taste your goodness and rejoice in You with joy.  Amen.

Prayer for January 13-19, 2013 

Sermon Text: Luke 3:15-22

That we may be beloved and pleasing daughters and sons

God of all, help us to be clear about our relationship to Christ Jesus: he is strong while we are weak and unworthy of his presence, though we depend upon him, constantly, for your mercy.

Help us to be clear about and faithful to our responsibility to point to Jesus as the bearer of your Holy Spirit and to receive and live the life of the Spirit. 

Help us to be clear about and prepare ourselves for the judgment Jesus will bring upon all that does not honor You.  Eliminate all that is useless and fruitless from our lives.  Gather us to yourself as the harvest of Christ’s labor.

God of all, we rejoice in Christ Jesus’ solidarity with us in baptism.  We rejoice in your affirmation of Jesus as your beloved and pleasing Son.  And we rejoice that the ministry of Jesus has extended through the ages to touch and embrace our lives, and through us, to touch and embrace others.

In Jesus’ name, let us also be your beloved and pleasing daughters and sons.  We rejoice in You.  Amen.

Prayer for January 6-12, 2013 

Sermon Text: Matthew 2:1-12

That we may bring You all of our gifts

God of new life and new beginnings we worship You.  We come before You with joy for You have drawn us to yourself.  You have lit the pathway to your presence so that we might seek You and find You.  You have given us hearts that could not rest until they rested in your presence.

     All of our gifts are for You.  We offer ourselves as followers of your Chosen One, not for a single moment of gift giving, but for a lifetime of faithful obedience and dedicated love.

     God, may we never grow tired of your presence.  May our zeal for you never waver.  May our sensitivity to your guidance through your Word and your Spirit increase as we trust in You.  You are our daily delight.  Amen.