What I suspect is an under-utilized part of our wonderful Treasury of Daily Prayer, is the Daily Prayer for the Christian, beginning on page 1306. The person who offers these intercessions regularly will soon realize what a blessing they are, for they teach us to remember before God the needs of all sorts and conditions of men. By the time the weekly round is finished, you'll have prayed for:
* the proper observance of the Lord's Day
* the unity, preservation and spread of the Church
* your pastor
* the spread of the Gospel throughout the world
* the troubled and sorrowful
* women with child
* the needy
* the persecuted
* strength and opportunities to confess Christ's name
* the needs of the dying
* deliverance from eternal death
* forgiveness for arrogance
* a hunger for the true Body and Blood of the Savior
* growth in the fruit of the Spirit
* a right use of the Sacrament
* the power of the Passion to comfort us and to snuff out our evil desires
* forgiveness for inner blindness, disbelief, doubt, feeble-mindedness, impatience, evil desires and other sins
* power to hate our sin
* preparation to join in the eternal liturgy sung before God's throne
* the appearing of Christ in glory
And I left out a ton of other stuff. One prayer is assigned for each day, and you soon slip into the rhythm of the Church's prayers:
Sunday - Resurrection
Monday - general intercessions
Tuesday - the persecuted church
Wednesday - the dying
Thursday - the Eucharist
Friday - the Passion of Christ
Saturday - Confession and preparation for Sunday's liturgy
If you've not added these wonderful prayers to your daily round in the use of the Treasury, a good time to grow in your prayer life is soon coming: the Advent Fast. Join with your brothers and sisters in Christ in praying them. You'll be blessed!
Thank you for this and similar posts. I'm still feeling my way through the Treasury. And what a Treasure it is!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome, Sue. I'm glad they're a help. The Treasury is massive, and so it is easy to miss some of the goodies tucked away within its pages.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to talk about the Ember Days? Hopefully soon if you do! When did we as a church stop observing them? I'd never heard of them before I got my Treasury. I asked my own pastor about them and he'd never heard of them. He plans to buy his own copy soon.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite parts of the Treasury is this very collection of daily prayers. Coming only recently to Lutheranism, I am not accustomed to written prayers. However, I now revel in the heritage of faith that permeates many of the ones I’ve encountered.
ReplyDeleteIn the Treasury, I found these prayers difficult to pray at first…thinking so much about why they were there, why they were chosen, what they should be representing to me. But then I stopped thinking and simply allowed the words to fill my ears.
Thursday, I sorrow for my arrogance and hunger even more for His gifts. Monday I marvel how He cares for us and works in a world that has lost sight of the beauty of His Bride. Saturday I cry for redemption from my sin, for yours, for all sin in the forgiveness of Christ, in the coming Body and Blood. Tuesday, I defeat the wiles of the deceiver beneath the Name that fells him. Friday, I struggle to speak of His passion, knowing well my sin and marvel how great His love for one like me to endure what He did, not merely as a man, but as God, who could have blinked every accuser, every torturer, every taunter off the face of the earth. Yet He chose to stay on that cross!
Each day, the prayers, those spoken just a week ago, are new. They teach me of my faith. They sustain me. They show me how to cling to Christ. But they also are the cry of generations. They are the words of our past, our present, and our future as children of God. To me, they are, in a sense, the Church, and as I pray them, I stand shoulder to shoulder with all those, in all times, who fall before the feet of our High Priest, who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin, so that we may draw near with confidence and receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. A High Priest who loves us enough to remain on the cross and endure being brutally murdered, when it was our agony, our death.
The one I savor most is the Prayer on Wednesday. I see this not only as a prayer for the dying, but also for myself. We are, after all, dying a little every day we age in this fallen world, inexorably moving from our birth to our death. The cry for mercy bespeaks the misery this world offers, yet points repeatedly to the wondrous mercy we have from the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Comforter of all. Whenever I pray this prayer, I feel it is too short, as if I am not ready for it to be over, much as I do praying Psalm 136. This is more so when I have the opportunity to pray it with others. The ending I could recite all evening and never tire.
Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.
Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.
Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant them your peace.
O Christ, hear us.
O Lord, have mercy.
O Christ, have mercy.
O Lord, have mercy.
Amen.
Holy Lord God, holy and mighty God, holy and most merciful Redeemer; God eternal, leave us not to bitter death. Lord, have mercy.
Holy Lord God, holy and mighty God, holy and most merciful Redeemer; God eternal, allow us not to lose hope in the face of death and hell. Lord, have mercy.
Holy Lord God, holy and mighty God, holy and most merciful Redeemer; God eternal, keep us steadfast in the true faith. Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Amen, Myrtle!
ReplyDelete