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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, 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, Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost - September 5, 2010
10:00 a.m. Combined Service - Holy Eucharist
- Rite II Scripture
Readings:
(Click for the full text of the readings from The Lectionary Page) Collect: (Contemporary): Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with
all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own
strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and for ever. Amen. "The
Hands and Feet of Jesus"
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