Pastor’s Prayers

The feast day of your birth resembles You, Lord
        Because it brings joy to all humanity.
        Old people and infants alike enjoy your day.
        Your day is celebrated
        from generation to generation.
        Kings and emperors may pass away,
        And the festivals to commemorate them soon lapse.
        But your festival
        will be remembered until the end of time.
        Your day is a means and a pledge of peace.
        At Your birth heaven and earth were reconciled,
        Since you came from heaven to earth on that day
        You forgave our sins and wiped away our guilt.
        You gave us so many gifts on the day of your birth:
        A treasure chest of spiritual medicines for the sick;
        Spiritual light for the blind;
        The cup of salvation for the thirsty;
        The bread of life for the hungry.
        In the winter when trees are bare,
        You give us the most succulent spiritual fruit.
        In the frost when the earth is barren,
        You bring new hope to our souls.
        In December when seeds are hidden in the soil,
        The staff of life springs forth from the virgin womb

–St. Ephraim the Syrian

Lord…

Whom all the angels worship,
Lies hid in human nature;
     Incarnate see
     The deity,
The infinite Creator!

See the stupendous blessing
Which God to us hath given!
     A child of man,
     In length a span,
Who fills both earth and heaven.

Amen.

–Charles Wesley (Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord #6)

Lord God, You have appointed me as a Bishop and Pastor in Your Church, but
you see how unsuited I am to meet so great and difficult a task. If I had
lacked Your help, I would have ruined everything long ago. Therefore, I
call upon You: I wish to devote my mouth and my heart to you; I shall
teach the people. I myself will learn and ponder diligently upon You Word.
Use me as Your instrument — but do not forsake me, for if ever I should
be on my own, I would easily wreck it all.

–Martin Luther, the Sacristy Prayer, trans. J. Kellerman

Our God, God of all men
        God of heaven and earth, seas and rivers,
        God of sun and moon, of all the stars,
        God of high mountain and lowly valley,
        God over heaven, and in heaven, and under heaven.
        He has a dwelling in heaven and earth and sea
        and in all things that are in them.
        He inspires all things, he quickens all things.
        He is over all things, he supports all things.
        He makes the light of the sun to shine,
        He surrounds the moon and the stars,
        He has made wells in the arid earth,
        Placed dry islands in the sea.
        He has a Son co-eternal with himself…
        And the Holy Spirit breathes in them;
        Not separate are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
        (Patrick c389-461)

You are Christ,
my Holy Father,
my Tender God,
my Great King,
my Good Shepherd,
my Only Master,
my Best Helper,
my Most Beautiful and my Beloved,
my Living Bread,
my Priest Forever,
my Leader to my Country,
my True Light,
my Holy Sweetness,
my Straight Way,
my Excellent Wisdom,
my Pure Simplicity,
my Peaceful Harmony,
my Entire Protection,
my Good Portion,
my Everlasting Salvation.

Christ Jesus, Sweet Lord,
why have I ever loved,
why in my whole life
have I ever desired anything except You,
Jesus my God?
Where was I when I was not in spirit with You?
Now, from this time forth,
do you, all my desires, grow hot,
and flow out upon the Lord Jesus:
run… you have been tardy until now;
hasten where you are going;
seek Whom you are seeking.
O, Jesus may he who loves You
not be an anathema;
may he who loves You
not be filled with bitterness.

O, Sweet Jesus,
may every good feeling that is fitted for Your praise,
love You, delight in You, adore You!
God of my heart,
and my Portion, Christ Jesus,
may my heart faint away in spirit,
and may You be my Life within me!
May the live coal of Your Love
grow hot within my spirit
and break forth into a perfect fire;
may it burn incessantly on the altar of my heart;
may it glow in my innermost being;
may it blaze in hidden recesses of my soul;
and in the days of my consummation
may I be found consummated with You!

Amen.

–St. Augustine of Hippo

“O God, I see that I pass on to my body the health and unhealth of my mind and soul. I want, then, to be healthy in soul and in mind. Therefore, I would take into my very being the health of Your mind. Let me be saturated with Your ways and Your thoughts that I may live in radiant health through and through. Amen.”

–E. Stanley Jones