An Amazing Time of Lenten Prayer

I will miss quite a few things when we move from Bolivia back to North Carolina in June – most of those “things” have something to do with the people who have impacted our lives for the past two years.  Some of these are fellow teachers (who have ruined other schools for me), some are missionaries from other agencies – SIM, International Justice Mission, Samaritan’s Purse, Word Made Flesh – some are locals (like the Peruvian guy who makes amazing croissants and looks like the world’s greatest grampa).

Many of these amazing people – not, unfortunately, the croissant man – are part of our little monthly “house church” we call Community Group.

This month (last night, to be exact), they blessed our socks off.

We had a Lenten prayer service, and I asked folks to come with scripture passages pertaining to prayer.  Also, instead of a linear list of prayers, I printed a number of diverse prayers (from prayers of pennance to ones of intercession, to praise and doxologies) from diverse sources, cut them out so folks could each take one to read as the Spirit led, and passed them out along with the service guide/songsheet.

What I expected to be kind of messy and disorganized (because of my own logistical failings) turned into a time of, not only prayer, but a spoken-word praise service.  A non-stop chorus of prayers and scriptures (many provided by our friends!) went up before the Throne of Grace for quite a while.

By the time that segment ended with the singing of John Michael Talbot’s “Only in God” (a song everyone should know), my spirit was soaring, and I was just so… thankful?… proud?… thrilled?… with the blessed community God has provided our family here in this faraway land.

Here’s a printout of the prayers, in case you’re curious.  These sheets were cut apart so each prayer was on a separate little sheet of paper. I found them collected in The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle, the Book of Common Prayer (especially Form V) and Listening Prayer by Leanne Payne.  I paraphrased or compressed a few of the prayers.

In His Peace,

Tom

Song of the Week: “Thanks Be to God”

done

Thanks Be to God – Lead Sheet for Voice and Guitar

I lead music in three of the four chapel services we have weekly at our school: lower elementary, upper elementary and middle school (the high school, for better or for worse, is pretty much doing it on their own).

In our liturgically-starved environment, I like to bring little moments of reverence and consistency into the worship setting, and it’s surprisingly easy and well-received.

At my first-ever Anglican church experience (Church of the Resurrection, near Chicago) my then-girlfriend/now-wife, Anne led children’s church. It was an odd, yet rich and beautiful experience for me to see. One of the things I learned was how the kids were led into and out of the reading of God’s Word, with a little song – “This is the word of the Lord, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks be to God” (before) and “Thanks be to God for the reading of His Word; thank You, God, thank You, God” (after).

For the youngest group at our school, I began using that exact tune (which I’ll post sometime, because it’s really sweet and easy for the kiddos to learn!), but for the upper elementary, I wanted something a little less sing-songy, so I created the simple tune you hear on the video above.

It’s the first of several liturgical songs I’ll post in the coming weeks. I hope you can use them or – better – be inspired to sing these ancient words with your own tune!

In His Peace,
Tom

This week’s collect, according to the Divine Hours

This week’s prayer really resonated with me, and I wanted to share it:

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the Light of the world: Grant that Your people, illumined by Your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that He may be known, worshiped and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord who, with You and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Wow… shine with the light Christ’s glory.

Prayer with Avery: an excerpt

Okay, so we’re doing our Saturday morning prayer time.  Avery says, “I have a song.”  Okeedokee, I think.  This oughta be good (as it usually is; though adopted, she has my songwriting gene).

“This is my Father’s world, so sing to Him a prayer.  The trees and bees, but we don’t know bees, so sing hallelula.  This is my Father’s work, so to tell Him all your problems.  The bees they sing, but we don’t know bees, so sing your song to the Lord.” (and of course, “Lord” is pronounced with a “w”).

And on, and on, and on.  Apparently, my theology had been devoid of the non-knowledge of bees all this time!  Thank you, daughter.

Caught as Much as Taught

One of the reasons I am so passionately adamant that all forms of Christian fellowship need to predominantly be welcoming to children – not child-centered, but conducive to children worship with, and then playing near, adults (sometimes, even at adult Bible studies!) – is because they benefit so much from watching the Faith happen, seeing it as something you grow up with, not grow out of.

It’s a cliche because it’s true: “the Faith is caught by our children as much as it is taught to them”.  I saw that this Saturday morning, and was much overjoyed.

This morning, my daughter Avery woke up a little after me.  Once I was finished washing the dishes, I showed her the valiant defeat suffered by her mommy and me at the hands of one of our friends in a board game last night (she asks me to report on these types of late-night activities; I think all kids are curious about what grown-ups actually do after their kids’ bedtimes!).

But then, when I was finished telling her, she looked rather seriously at me (the kind of look like, “I have something rather important to share with you”), and said, “Daddy, you know how on Saturdays, when you don’t have to go to work, you sit and read your prayers with me?”

It’s true that Avery has walked in on me praying from my prayer book (The Divine Hours, compiled by Phyllis Tickle) several Saturday and Sunday mornings (and many weekdays during a recent hiatus from our work here in Bolivia), and it’s true that she has many times sat down to listen (and to echo certain parts, like the “Our Father” or the Gloria).  I’ve even occasionally altered things on the fly, such as singing “This is the Day” when the psalm on which it is based came up in the prayers, to make it more interactive and accessible for her.

But no way did I expect her to be anticipating that time together.  For her, I thought the specialness of this simple fellowship was the act of cuddling on the couch, which I’m sure it is, in large part.  However, there was no mistaking it: she wanted to do prayer-time with daddy.  She wanted to meet Our Father with her daddy.

So, with a wink and a shrug, I decided, there’s no such thing as too much prayer.  I found the next Office in the prayer book, sat with her, and we prayed.

Now, that’s something I’m glad she’s catching from me!

It’s good to be back!

I hope I don’t turn out to be a guy who never blogs on vacation.  This summer (winter, from our Bolivian students’ perspective) I wrote one (ONE!) measly little blog posting.  With my wife, daughter and me traveling all over creation (Anne counts eight home-bases in seven weeks), trying to see as many friends and relatives as possible, I guess it can’t be helped.  This time next year, we will not be visiting the States, but we will have returned to life in the Carolinas, so (I hope) things will be more “normal” and allow me to be more faithful to all three of my readers (chuckle).  Seriously: thanks, Cory, Kerri and Paul for your faithfulness!

Anyway, here we are, on our second Sunday back in La Paz, Bolivia.  Admittedly, I doubt we will ever have two mellower Lord’s Days for a long time to come: last Sunday, practically our whole church was on vacation, and today, a big referendum in Bolivia (and certain leaders’ paranoia?) rendered driving, drinking and large gatherings (including the Church, rebels that we are) illegal.

So, what’d we do?

Well, I think two churchless days couldn’t have come at a better time!  Our Avery (age 4) has gone thru a crazy summer vacation, and returned from home to home (she asked us during the summer, “Where are we from?”, the classic Third Culture Kid question).  Nothing like a couple of mellow days to ease her back in.

So, what did we do?

Well, we began a new tradition of family worship, partly inspired by the knowledge that our little church here in La Paz is moving to an afternoon service time next Sunday.  We started a morning home-worship time.  Here’s what we’ve begun to do:

1. I welcome us into the presence of God for this special time with a new, simple tune for the Gloria Patri (Glory be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and evermore shall be; world without end, amen.)
2. We sing songs of praise that Avery knows.
3. Avery picks some of her favorite songs from a poster of song-titles (with illustrations), and we sing them (this was created because she loves to contribute song ideas, and sometimes needs a little, um, guidance)
4. Anne leads us in a Bible story and accompanying activities.
5. We pray.  Here’s how we pray: I have made a poster that has the sections of the Lord’s Prayer separated out with space to add post-it-note praises, requests and sorries.  Today was our first time with this.  As we pray thru His Prayer, we stop and write prayers on the post-its.
6. We mess around and have fun for the rest of the Lord’s Day!

The Sunday Collect – Proper 5

Third Sunday after Pentecost (BCP, p. 229)

O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by Your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Worshiping When You Are Just… Spent

If you don’t know me, I should start by saying that my wife, daughter and I have spent the past year (our first of two), in La Paz, Bolivia.  Anne and I both work at a Christian school here.

All things considered, the year was great.  I know I’ve grown closer to my girls (Anne and Avery) and to my Lord than ever before.  I’m so glad we responded to Christ’s (and our principal’s, an old friend) invitation to come.  Can’t wait till we start up again in August, quite frankly.

But tomorrow, while we pack for an early Tuesday morning flight, most of the rest of our dear friends with whom we have taught and labored these past 10 months will be heading out to Machu Pichu; having a 4-year old and major visa problems will discourage one from planning to take ridiculously long bus-rides across South America.

It’s so weird to have basically had nothing but these friends, these fellow laborers, these few dear faces day in and day out… just… leave.  There’s a gap, an emptiness.  As I told the one friend who is not coming back (Kristen, who served three years here and we don’t know what we’ll do without her), “This bites.”

My prayers have been pretty half-hearted today.  I love my Lord, and I so value my dear family (and I cannot wait for that plane ride and that first morning I wake up in Charlotte, NC!), but I just feel like part of me is not here with me anymore.

All-school Prayer and Praise at Highlands School, La Paz

The Sunday Collect – Proper 3

Third Sunday after Pentecost:

Grant, O Lord, that the course of this world may be peaceably governed by Your providence; and that Your Church may joyfully serve You in confidence and serenity; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

This prayer has some of the greatest modifiers the Church could ever hope to pray for.  Imagine: us, Christ’s Body and Bride, His beloved people, … peaceably governed… joyfully serv[ing]… in confidence and serenity… Picture that Church!

That’s what the season of Pentecost is about.  A season to remind us Who is Boss, and for us to rest in that knowledge; for us to put down our swords and pick up our plowshares, and to, side by side, hand in hand, “joyfully serve”.

I have nothing to add to this; I just want to draw your attention to that picture, that unity, that… rightness.

Our pastor here in La Paz, the guy who, along with his wife has been kind enough to do an English-Speaking service for a few Americans, a couple of New Zealanders and a British missionary all these months, had a story to share about God’s peaceable governing and the strange way it sometimes looks.