Just as grace notes in music accentuate the principal note, the grace notes of our prayers accentuate our relationship with our Lord as we sing a new song and live a new life.
Jan. 8th, 2012 NewSong Covenant Church 409-781-1635
www.newsongcovenant.org
The GraceNotes of Prayer
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)
Recharging Our Batteries
By Christine Moor Sanders
“You shall not go out with haste, . . . for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 52:12)
How can we best prepare ourselves for the new year? For the second time I’ve felt the call to write about the significance of the worshipful act of taking communion and for the second time, my attention has also been directed to something else that has caught my eye. Now I see that the two themes can become one as we recharge our batteries for the new year.
Writing GraceNotes is kind of like cooking a stew. As most of you know, I write it every other month and other members of NewSong’s congregation write their offerings in between. Just after the guests have finished their offerings, I begin to cook my stew for the next month. Sometimes this is done while horseback riding or driving the car or just musing through the woods.
It is a slow pot with a little seasoning coming from here and there, but I begin in restful assurance that the Lord will drop a little tidbit in my lap to start the stew. This month’s stew was started by a quote from Shawn McCain in the Anglican Missions Quarterly Magazine. He says, “In the Eucharist, we re-learn, re-live and realize Christ’s real presence.” I was very struck by the simplicity of this short statement and its ability to be fully encompassing. What a clear definition of the power of Holy Communion! Isn’t this exactly the right place to recharge our batteries as we prepare to go out into the new year? Isn’t this contemplative time the way to honor the directive in the scripture, “You shall not go out with haste. . .”?
I was also very struck by Oswald Chambers’ meditation in his book, My Utmost for His Highest. He wrote the following for the last day of December in preparation for the coming of the new year. I selected to use this one titled Yesterday for the chapel service last Sunday on the first day of this new year. I have reprinted it in its entirety as it contains a great deal of truth in these few short paragraphs. Oswald starts with his scripture selection and then says:
“You shall not go out with haste, . . . for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 52:12)
Yesterday
Security from Yesterday. “. . . God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.
Security for Tomorrow. “. . . the Lord will go before you . . . .” This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.
Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste . . . .” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.
Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.
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GraceNote of Prayer: “You shall not go out with haste, . . . for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” May we take the time to recharge our batteries, as the Rev. Charles Wyatt Brown use to say, through the partaking of Holy Communion as we thoughtfully go forth into the new year. “. . .as we re-learn, re-live and realize Christ’s real presence.” “Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.”
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NewSong Covenant Church opens the new year with many opportunities for all of you to learn more about our Lord Jesus Christ. We hold the door open for you in welcome. We invite you to pray about how you might join us in our pursuit of Christ so that you too will become equipped to go forth in pursuit of Christ’s priorities in the world. Come help us sing a new song and live a new life as we worship in the park! Please call Pastor Rick Conrad at 409-781-1635 for any needed information about any of our programs.
You are cordially invited to attend our informal Chapel prayer time at Pastor Rick and Sherry’s home each Sunday at 9:00. This is a quiet time to help each of us prepare for the 10:30 service in the park. Hope you will keep those GraceNotes of prayer flowing!
