Above:  Donatus

Image in the Public Domain

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Loving God, for whom to exist is to care,

may we refrain from being judgmental jerks in your name.

May our zeal for the truth, as we understand it,

not transform us into theologically rigid, off-putting people.

May we, without excusing the inexcusable,

not behave, write, speak, and think inexcusably and judgmentally,

thereby creating division and unpleasantness needlessly.

May we not imagine that we know more than we do.

May our imagined wisdom not feed our private forms of Donatism.

If we commit Donatism, please forgive us and help us to repent.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 15, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BONAVENTURE, SECOND FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT ATHANASIUS I OF NAPLES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF DUNCAN MONTGOMERY GRAY, SR.; AND HIS SON, DUNCAN MONTGOMERY GRAY, JR.; EPISCOPAL BISHOPS OF MISSISSIPPI AND ADVOCATES FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

THE FEAST OF GEORGE TYRRELL, IRISH ROMAN CATHOLIC MODERNIST THEOLOGIAN AND ALLEGED HERETIC

THE FEAST OF SAINT SWITHUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF WINCHESTER

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/07/15/a-prayer-regarding-donatism/

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Above:  Jesus in a Manger

Image in the Public Domain

Original Latin Text by Jean Mauburn (1450-1503), 1494

English Translation (1858) by Elizabeth Rundle Charles (1828-1876)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal 1940 (1943), The Episcopal Church

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Dost thou in a manger lie,

Who hast all created,

Stretching infant hands on high,

Saviour, long awaited?

If a monarch, where thy state?

Where thy court on thee to wait?

Royal purple, where?

Here no regal pomp we see;

Naught but need and penury:

Why thus cradled here?

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“Pitying love for fallen man

Brought me down thus low;

For a race deep lost in sin,

Came I into woe.

By this lowly birth of mine,

Sinner, riches shall be thine,

Matchless gifts and free;

Willingly this yoke I take,

And this sacrifice I make,

Heaping joys for thee.”

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Fervent praise would I to thee

Evermore be raising;

For thy wondrous love to me

Thee be ever praising.

Glory, glory be for ever

Unto that most bounteous Giver,

And that loving Lord!

Better witness to thy worth,

Purer praise than ours on earth,

Angels’ songs afford.

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Above:  Icon of the Good Shepherd

Image in the Public Domain

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Lord Jesus Christ, Good Shepherd, thank you for tending to us, members of your flock.

May we, rejoicing in your work of breaking down barriers,

recognize each other as sheep of your flock, and therefore, work together, for your glory.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Isaiah 49:1-6

Psalm 95

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

John 17:20-26

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 25, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARK THE EVANGELIST, MARTYR, 68

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This is post #1900 of GATHERED PRAYERS.

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/04/25/proper-for-ecumenists/

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ON THE OCCASION OF A DISASTER

Compassionate God, whose Son Jesus wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus:

Draw near to us in this time of sorrow and anguish,

comfort those who mourn,

strengthen those who are weary,

encourage those in despair,

and lead us all to fullness of life;

through the same Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer,

who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.  Amen.

Readings

Job 14:7-13 or Jeremiah 31:15-20

Psalm 60 or 130 or 80:1-7 or 23

Romans 8:35-38 or Revelation 21:1-7 or Romans 8:18-25

Luke 6:20-26 or Mark 13:14-27

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 733

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IN A TIME OF NATURAL DISASTER

O God, you divided the waters of chaos at creation.

In Christ you stilled storms, raised the dead,

and vanquished demonic powers.

Tame the earthquake, wind, and fire,

and all forces that defy control or shock us by their fury.

Keep us from calling disaster your justice.

Help us, in good times and in distress,

to trust your mercy and yield to your power, this day and for ever.

Amen.

–Andy Langford, in The United Methodist Book of Worship (1992), 509

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DURING A NATIONAL CRISIS

God of ages,

in your sight nations rise and fall,

and pass through times of peril.

Now when our land is troubled,

be near to judge and save.

May leaders be led by your wisdom;

may they search your will and see it clearly.

If we have turned from your way,

help us to reverse our ways and repent.

Give us light and your your truth to guide us;

through Jesus Christ,

who is the Lord of this world, and our Savior.  Amen.

—Book of Common Worship (1993), 818

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TIME OF CONFLICT, CRISIS, DISASTER

O God, where hearts are fearful and constricted, grant courage and hope.

Where anxiety is infectious and widening, grant peace and reassurance.

Where impossibilities close every door and and window, grant imagination and resistance.

Where distrust twists our thinking, grant healing and illumination.

Where spirits are daunted and weakened, grand soaring wings and strengthened dreams.

All these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 76

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TIME OF CIVIC MOURNING

God our creator, through whose providing care we enjoy all goodness and life,

turn our eyes to your mercy at this time of confusion and loss.

Comfort this nation as we mourn;

shine your light on those whose only companion is darkness;

and teach us so to number our days that we may apply our hearts to your wisdom;

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 77

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https://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2020/03/17/coronavirus-covid-19-prayers/

https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/03/17/coronavirus-covid-19-prayers/

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Above:  Throne of God

Image in the Public Domain

Text (published in 1925) by William Boyd Carpenter (1841-1918), Anglican Bishop of Ripon then Canon of Westminster

Hymn Source = The Hymnal 1940 (1943), The Episcopal Church

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Before thy Throne, O God, we kneel;

Give us a conscience quick to feel,

A ready mind to understand

The meaning of thy chastening hand;

Whate’er the pain and shame may be,

Bring us, O Father, nearer thee.

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Search out our hearts and make us true,

Wishful to give to all their due;

From love of pleasure, lust of gold,

From sins which make the heart grow cold,

Wean us and train us with thy rod;

Teach us to know our faults, O God.

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For sins of heedless word and deed,

For pride ambitious to succeed,

For crafty trade and subtle snare

To catch the simple unaware,

For lives bereft of purpose high,

Forgive, forgive, O Lord, we cry.

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Let the fierce fires which burn and try,

Our inmost spirits purify;

Consume the ill; purge out the shame;

O God, be with us in the flame;

A new-born people may we rise,

More pure, more true, more nobly wise.

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Above:  Icon of Christ Pantocrator

Scanned by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Original Syraic Text by St. Ephrem of Edessa (306/307-373)

English Translation by J. Howard Rhys (b. 1917)

English Translation adapted and altered by F. Bland Tucker (1895-1984)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal 1982 (1985), The Episcopal Church

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From God Christ’s deity came forth, his manhood from humanity;

his priesthood from Melchizedek, his royalty from David’s tree:

praised be his Oneness.

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He joined with guests at wedding feast, yet in the wilderness did fast;

he taught within the temple’s gates; his people saw him die at last:

praised be his teaching.

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The dissolute he did not scorn, nor turn from those who were in sin,

he for the righteous did rejoice but bade the fallen to come in:

praised be his mercy.

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He did not disregard the sick; to simple ones his word was given;

and he descended to the earth and his work done, went up to heaven:

praised be his coming.

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Who then, my Lord, compares to you?  The Watcher slept, the great was small,

the Pure baptized, the Life who died, the King abased to honor all:

praised by your glory.

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Above:  Parable of the Sower

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1863) by James Russell Woodford (1820-1885), Anglican Bishop of Ely (1873-1885)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal 1916 (1918), The Episcopal Church

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Not by Thy Mighty hand,

Thy wondrous works alone,

But by the marvels of Thy Word,

Thy glory, Lord, is known.

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Forth from the eternal gates,

Thine everlasting home,

To sow the seed of truth below,

Thou didst vouchsafe to come.

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And still from age to age,

Thou, gracious Lord, hast been

The Bearer forth of goodly seed,

The Sower still unseen.

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And Thou wilt come again,

And heaven beneath Thee bow,

To reap the harvest Thou has sown,

Sower and Reaper Thou.

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Watch, Lord, Thy harvest field,

With Thine unsleeping eye,

The children of the Kingdom keep

To Thy Epiphany;

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That when, in Thy great day,

The tares shall severed be,

We may be surely gathered in

With all Thy saints to Thee.

Above:  Snow-Covered Trail, Seward, Alaska, 1916

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-01960

Text (1769; published in 1772) by William Cowper (1731-1800)

Hymn Source #1  = The Hymnal (1941), Evangelical and Reformed Church

Hymn Source #2 = The Hymnal 1940 Companion (1949), The Episcopal Church

The original text was six stanzas long.

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O for a closer walk with God,

A calm and heavenly frame,

A light to shine upon the road

That leads me to the Lamb.

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Where is the blessedness I knew,

When first I saw the Lord?

Where is the soul-refreshing view

Of Jesus, and his word?

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What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!

How sweet their memory still!

But they have left an aching void

The world can never fill.

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Return, O Holy Dove, return,

Sweet messenger of rest;

I hate the sins that made Thee mourn,

And drove Thee from my breast.

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The dearest idol I have known,

Whate’er that idol be,

Help me to tear it from Thy throne,

And worship only Thee.

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So shall my walk be close with God,

Calm and serene my frame;

So purer light shall mark the road

That leads me to the Lamb.

Above:  A Crucifix

Photograph by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text (1928) by Walter Russell Bowie (1882-1969)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal 1940 (1943), The Episcopal Church

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Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to men,

Upon a cross they bound thee,

And mocked thy saving kingship then

By thorns with which they crowned thee;

And still our wrongs may weave thee now

New thorns to pierce that steady brow,

And robe of sorrow round thee.

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O aweful Love, which found no room

In life where sin denied thee,

And, doomed to death, must bring to doom

The power which crucified thee,

Till not a stone was left on stone,

And all a nation’s pride, o’erthrown,

Went down to dust beside thee!

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New advent of the love of Christ,

Shall we again refuse thee,

Till in the night of hate and war

We perish as we lose thee?

From old unfaith our souls release

To seek the kingdom of thy peace,

By which alone we choose thee.

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O wounded hands of Jesus, burn

In us thy new creation;

Our pride is dust, our vaunt is stilled,

We wait thy revelation;

O love that triumphs over loss,

We bring our hearts before thy cross,

To finish thy salvation.

Above:  Jack Layton Grave

Image Source = necropolis-107

This prayer includes language from the farewell letter by Jack Layton:

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

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God of compassion, may we, trusting in you,

act faithfully in the the knowledge that

love is better than anger,

hope is better than fear,

and optimism is better than despair.

In the name of Christ may we who follow him

be loving, hopeful, and optimistic,

and therefore change the world for the better

and glorify your holy Name.  Amen.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 6, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF FRANKLIN CLARK FRY, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA AND THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CLAUDE OF BESANCON, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MONK, ABBOT, AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF HENRY JAMES BUCKOLL, AUTHOR AND TRANSLATOR OF HYMNS

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM KETHE, PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2017/06/07/a-prayer-for-constructive-and-faithful-living/

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