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St. Thomas' Episcopal Church "Within the fellowship of our Lord, Jesus Christ, St. Thomas' mission is to encourage everyone in spiritual growth, a sense of community, healing worship and service, so that, through his grace, we may become committed servants of our Lord and one another."
In the New York Times Sunday Magazine on Sept 27, there was a really interesting article on prayer. In it, Rabbi Gellman (a Reform rabbi of God Squad fame) said, “When you get right down to it, there are only four basic prayers. Gimme! Thanks! Oops! and Wow! Wow! are prayers of praise and wonder at the creation. Oops! is asking for forgiveness. Gimme! is a request or a petition. Thanks! is expressing gratitude. That’s the entire Judeo-Christian doxology.” I’ve also recently read an article that said that nobody is ever satisfied with their prayer life, and I think that’s probably true. We always feel that we should pray more or better. As long as that motivates us to in fact pray more and better, it’s a good thing. But we must not let our feelings of inadequacy and intimidation keep us from praying at all. We can’t give up just because we don’t feel like we’re good at it. How about if we made a point each day to include at least one Wow!, one Thanks!, one Oops! and one Gimme! in our conversations with God? Or if that seems too big a step, start with a Wow! or a Thanks! and gradually add the others as time goes on. The prayers we’ve memorized, like the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd psalm are important and we should definitely keep saying them, but perhaps we can branch out a little into more of a conversation with God. When we love someone, one of the most important things we do is talk to them. It’s the same with God—if we love God, let’s talk to him in prayer, however and whenever we can. Wow! Thanks! Oops and Gimme! are good places to start. Yours in Christ, Last Sunday after The Epiphany - February 14, 2010
8:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist Scripture
Readings:
(Click for the full text of the readings from The Lectionary Page) Collect: (Contemporary): O God, who before the passion of your
only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that
we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear
our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus
Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for
ever and ever. Amen. "The
Hands and Feet of Jesus"
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Dear Friends,
