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This prayer is from the “Book of Common Prayer.”

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! [Psalm 133:1]

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Written by Bryan O’Keefe, a contemporary lawyer and writer. The message was inspired by a sermon “The Gospel for the Pagan” given in 2013 by Tim Keller (1950-2023), an American pastor, speaker, and author.

Everybody is living for something. For many people that is their job or career. For other people it is achievement and success — getting the A on the test, having to be the best at whatever you do. For others, they are living for money, houses, cars, boats, and other types of materialistic goods. For others, they are living for romance or sex. For others, they are living for their spouses, their children, their pets, their parents. For others, it is political or social causes, on the left or the right. Anybody who tries to deny that they are living for something else isn’t being honest with themselves. All of these things can be good things, don’t get me wrong. But the problem is that when we live for these things, we turn good things into ultimate things. And these ultimate things become idols that end up enslaving us and driving us… Christianity is radically different. When you make Christ the center of your identity, and not these earthly idols, you find that there is a God who fully satisfies you and always forgives you. And you aren’t living life based on your own achievements but what has already been done for you through Christ and the grace that is freely available to anybody who has faith in him. This transformed my entire outlook on life and made me happier, more content, filled with more gratitude, and better able to deal with the inevitable ups and downs that face me everyday. This is the very heart of Christianity, not just following a bunch of rules in the hope of “earning” your own salvation.

And he [Jesus] is before all things, and in him all things hold,together. [Colossians 1:17]

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Written by Philip Graham Ryken, a contemporary pastor, author,  and president of Wheaton College. This is an excerpt from his book “I Have My Doubts: How God Can Use Your Uncertainty to Reawaken Your Faith.”

God always invites us to take our troubles straight to him. This is what godly people have done throughout history… Even when we think that God is the problem and not the solution—even when we think he is incriminated by what we are experiencing—we should talk things over with him. In every dark night of the soul, we should take our troubles to the secret place and meet with God in prayer. Where else can we open our hearts so freely? Who else could possibly address our concerns? There is never any need for us to hide our feelings. We can always take our struggles to the Lord in prayer… If we believe that God is with us and has the power to help us, then we should ask him for the help that only he can give.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, la′ma sabach-tha′ni?” that is, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  [Matthew 27:46]

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Written by Randy Newman, a contemporary seminary professor and author. This is an excerpt from the panel discussion “A Christian Response to Anti-Semitism.”

God chose the nation of Israel to be the object of His plan—that they would be a light to the Gentiles. So there’s God’s choosing, not because they were worthy of it, not because they were sinless or perfect or even better. God chose them because God chose them. And then they are a light to the Gentiles of a message that none of us is worthy to be chosen or called by God. Yet that’s the connection we have to this God. It’s by grace…We’re not saying Jewish people are better than others or more important. But they do have a distinct and unique role in God’s plan. We may differ about how that plays out in the future, but I think all Christians have to look to the Scriptures and say God chose the Jewish people, He has a unique plan for them, and there will be a role they play in the future also, in God’s plan.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the
wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.      [1 Peter 2:9]

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Written by Mark Roberts, a contemporary author and speaker.

God speaks to us in different ways. Sometimes God speaks when we are alone and quiet. Sometimes God speaks through Scripture. At other times God speaks through the wisdom of our sisters and brothers in Christ. If we want to hear from God, we need to be ready both to hear and to obey. A posture of willingness readies our hearts to attend to the voice of God.

For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.  [Job 33:14]

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Written by Malcolm Guite, a contemporary English poet, singer-songwriter, academic, and Anglican priest.

In the Beginning, not in time or space,

But in the quick before both space and time,

In life, in Love, in co-inherent Grace,

In three in one and one in three, in rhyme,

In music, in the whole creation story,

In His own image, His imagination,

The Triune Poet makes us for His glory,

And makes us each the other’s inspiration.

He calls us out of darkness, chaos, chance,

To improvise a music of our own,

To sing the chord that calls us to the dance,

Three notes resounding from a single tone,

To sing the End in whom we all begin;

Our God beyond, beside us and within.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.   [John 1:1-3]

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Written by Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), and English Baptist preacher.

Remember that we have no more faith at any time than we have in the hour of trial. All that will not bear to be tested is mere carnal confidence. Fair-weather faith is no faith: only real faith in Jesus Christ can trust him when it cannot trace him, and believe him when it cannot see him.

So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. [Revelation 3:16]

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Written by Mark D. Roberts, a contemporary writer.

Gracious God, how many times have I forgotten you? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand? I shudder to think of the number. It’s not that I stopped believing in you or that my theology has changed. But practically, and especially in my emotions, I forget your presence in my life. Your faithfulness disappears from my consciousness for a while. I feel afraid . . . afraid of where my life is heading, afraid of how my children will turn out, afraid of missing your blessing, afraid of dying young, afraid of losing my job, afraid that this world will never know your true peace. .. you name it. (Indeed, Lord, you can name it!) Forgive me, Lord, for living as if you weren’t there. Forgive me for the times when I forget you and your strength. Help me to live each moment of each day with the sense of your presence. May I claim your promises and stake my life upon them. Even as you never forget me, dear Lord, may I never forget you. Amen.

I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass,  that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? [Isaiah 51:12-13]

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Written by Margaret Bottome (1827-1906), an American reformer, organizational founder, and author.

I remember a summer in which I said, “It is the ocean I need,” and I went to the ocean; but it seemed to say, “It is not in me!” The ocean did not do for me what I thought it would. Then I said, “The mountains will rest me,” and I went to the mountains, and when I awoke in the morning there stood the grand mountain that I had wanted so much to see; but it said, “It is not in me!” It did not satisfy. Ah! I needed the ocean of His love, and the high mountains of His truth within. It was wisdom that the “depths” said they did not contain, and that could not be compared with jewels or gold or precious stones. Christ is wisdom and our deepest need. Our restlessness within can only be met by the revelation of His eternal friendship and love for us.

The deep says, “It is not in me”; the sea says, “It is not with me.”  [Job 28:14]

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Written by Brian Doyle (1956-2017), an American writer.

A haunted day, September 11, here in the States that are still United in the wild idea that inter-independence is possible and glorious. A shivering day. It always will be.  I pray it never becomes a mere anniversary, an event only to remember murder and terror and fire and fear—or even worse, a day only to celebrate vengeance. No, I pray it becomes a day to remember courage and grace and love. I pray that will someday be the story of September 11. To remember right is to pray right, says my dad, and he knows about murderous souls; he fought against Hitler. He says to remember the roaring courage of the people who rushed to help, and the people who helped others out of the fire and ash, and the people who used their last minutes on earth to call their families and say “I love you. I love you. I will love you forever,” is to pray for them and us and even for the poor silly murderers, themselves just lanky, frightened boys, in the end, bloody boys terrified of a free world. He says to remember the firemen who ran up, knowing they would never come down, the passengers storming the cockpit, the sergeant who ran out of the Pentagon to catch women leaping from high windows is the way to erase the name of the chief murderer. He says that if we remember right, if we pray with our hearts in our mouths, maybe someday no one will remember the architect of ruin, but everyone will remember a day when the courage and mercy and glory of human beings rose to such a tide that no one will ever forget.

Pray for each other so that you may be healed. [James 5:16]

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