Now Send Us Out
Kenneth Kroohs
Amos 7:7-15
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be always acceptable to you - our strength and our redeemer. Amen
Every week, near the beginning of our service we say a prayer that we call the weekly "collect". It is spelled like - collect but pronounced "collect". The intention of this prayer is to pull together, or collect the primary scriptural themes for the week.
I know that some people in our society don't think a prayer should ever be read. All prayers should be "heart prayers" inspired by the Holy Spirit at that moment. I certainly agree with and love such heart prayers but I also enjoy hearing how the Holy Spirit has inspired other people. What they found in the Scripture and how it impacted them.
Today's collect really struck me for some reason. We began, "O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you" - Lots of depth in those few simple words. We acknowledge our relationship to God. We begin by saying "O Lord" acknowledging that God is our leader the source of our power and our security.
Then we acknowledge - gratefully acknowledge - God's relationship to us. "your people". We are not some foreigner begging for consideration. We are not an outsider crying out for help in a distant land where we do not know the procedures, do not know the law, do not even know the language. We are not outsiders but citizens of God's land - God's kingdom. In fact we are daughters and sons of God! We are sisters and brothers to Jesus Christ, the very son of God!!
(Don't get hung up on the logic of all that. Trinitarian theology is not possible to fully understand. Just accept the comfort of knowing that you are as close to God as any dearly beloved child could be.)
So as citizens - even children we have the right to ask God to submit petitions to God.
I was intrigued by how we ask God to receive our petitions. We ask God to receive them "mercifully" "O Lord, merci ...
Kenneth Kroohs
Amos 7:7-15
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be always acceptable to you - our strength and our redeemer. Amen
Every week, near the beginning of our service we say a prayer that we call the weekly "collect". It is spelled like - collect but pronounced "collect". The intention of this prayer is to pull together, or collect the primary scriptural themes for the week.
I know that some people in our society don't think a prayer should ever be read. All prayers should be "heart prayers" inspired by the Holy Spirit at that moment. I certainly agree with and love such heart prayers but I also enjoy hearing how the Holy Spirit has inspired other people. What they found in the Scripture and how it impacted them.
Today's collect really struck me for some reason. We began, "O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you" - Lots of depth in those few simple words. We acknowledge our relationship to God. We begin by saying "O Lord" acknowledging that God is our leader the source of our power and our security.
Then we acknowledge - gratefully acknowledge - God's relationship to us. "your people". We are not some foreigner begging for consideration. We are not an outsider crying out for help in a distant land where we do not know the procedures, do not know the law, do not even know the language. We are not outsiders but citizens of God's land - God's kingdom. In fact we are daughters and sons of God! We are sisters and brothers to Jesus Christ, the very son of God!!
(Don't get hung up on the logic of all that. Trinitarian theology is not possible to fully understand. Just accept the comfort of knowing that you are as close to God as any dearly beloved child could be.)
So as citizens - even children we have the right to ask God to submit petitions to God.
I was intrigued by how we ask God to receive our petitions. We ask God to receive them "mercifully" "O Lord, merci ...
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