This is Morning Prayer from Celtic Daily Prayer. I know you have watched live worship from home, and I recorded this brief (16 minutes) worship and teaching time from LIFEhouse to keep essential services in “home and temple” (Acts 5:46).
Friends,
We will be worshiping our risen Savior@ LIFEhouse this Sunday!
Here is a letter mailed out to the LIFEhouse community, Thursday.
http://bit.ly/33hlwGN
Here is a letter received Friday, from David Price, Liaison to The Faith Community for the Mayors’s Office.
http://bit.ly/2w6bqfM
We have followed all of the preparation guidelines as suggested. Since sending out our letter, however, here is more detail concerning worship.
– We will be live-streaming worship@ Facebook Live on our Church page https://www.facebook.com/lifehousela/
– For Holy Communion, I will wash my hands and sanitize, as usual. As an added precaution I will wear latex gloves and offer communion wafers only, an alternative option in our Lutheran worship tradition.
– We will not share the peace.
– We will not pass around plates during offering time. We will have plates to receive offering in the lobby (narthex).
Please remember to be generous during this time, even if you are not physically present in worship. The ministry of the church carries on during, maybe even especially, at this time.
This is a good time to consider giving online@ http://bit.ly/2vlEVdb, if you haven’t done this before.
I have personally spoken with all members of our community who are in the more at-risk category, suggesting they stay home, and will be checking on them throughout this time.
Obviously, we will be monitoring this current health situation, day-to-day and make decisions appropriately.
And now, in the words of the beloved hymn,
“Have no fear, little flock;
have no fear, little flock,
for the Father has chosen
to give you the kingdom;
have no fear, little flock!”
The transfiguration of Jesus is witnessed by Peter, James and John and Peter remembers it well, 30 years later…What does all this mean?
Actually, let’s think about two mountaintops…
2 Peter 1:16-18
Last weekend, we had a wonderful meal with friends from Pacifica Institute and Valley Vineyard. A great opportunity for Christians and Muslims to share fellowship and learning together.
Following dinner we had a very interesting presentation on “Mary in the Quran”, by Dr. Zeki Saritoprak, professor of Islamic Studies at John Carroll University. We learned of the similarities and differences between Muslim and Christian teachings on the mother of Jesus.
Here are some pictures from the event.
In my three part series on Spiritual Warfare, I spoke of the attack of Satan and his demons on faithful Christians. The more faithful we walk with Jesus, the stronger the attack. We are called by God to stand firm wherever he places us and do guard duty against the forces of evil. Here are links to the sermons:
Spiritual Warfare: Part One Standing Against The Liar Part Two Armor of God Part Three Protection
God gives us prayer as our primary weapon of defense. I gave some examples of ancient prayers from the Celtic Daily Prayer book. This is a prayer resource I use for prayer at different times of the day. I gave a couple of examples of prayers.
Here is a prayer to say in the evening before going to bed. This is especially helpful when you have trouble sleeping. The prayer is from Felgild, a hermit who lived on Inner Farne Island, of the NE coast of England, in the 600’s.
Calm me, O Lord, as You stilled the storm. Still me, O Lord, keep me from harm. Let all the tumult within me cease.
Enfold me, Lord, in Your peace.
Father, bless the work that is done, and the work that is to be.
Father, bless the servant that I am, and the servant that I will be.
Thou Lord and God of power, shield and sustain me this night.
I will lie down this night with God, and God will lie down with me;
I will lie down this night with Christ, and Christ will lie down with me;
I will lie down this night with the Spirit, and the Spirit will lie down with me; O God and Christ and the Spirit, be lying down with me.
The peace of God be over me to shelter me,
under me to uphold me,
about me to protect me,
behind me to direct me,
ever with me to save me.
The peace of all peace be mine this night + in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Northumbria Community. Celtic Daily Prayer (Kindle Locations 92226-92243). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition)
The devil most often attacks us at our conscience. Trying to influence us to be guilty over our sin or angry at those whom we, rightly or wrongly, think have sinned against us…Here is what we can do
We are not conquering territory for God. Through the victory of Jesus, the territory has already been won. We are on guard duty where God places us…
What does this look like? In Ephesians 6, Paul gives us a helpful picture of what it means to put on the whole armor of God…