A Prayer in a Time of Change

The Church Times is published in England. Founded in 1863, it is the world's leading Anglican newspaper. The following article by the Rev. Richard Lamey is from the June 26, 2009 issue.

Lord, take my heart and break it: break it not in the way I would like, but in the way you know to be best. And, because it is you who break it, I will not be afraid, for in your hands all is safe and I am safe. Lord, take my heart and give to it your joy, not in the ways I like, but in the ways you know are best, that your joy may be fulfilled in me. So, dear Lord, I am ready to be your deacon, ready to be your priest.

Archbishop Michael Ramsey (1904-1988)

THIS prayer by Archbishop Michael Ramsey was used with ordinands on the eve of their ordination. It is the climax of an ordination charge built on St Paul’s description of life as a disciple of Christ: “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6.10).
It is the perfect prayer for ordina­tion-eve. It is the perfect prayer for any time of change, of fresh chal­lenge, of moving deeper into God’s purpose. It says that serving God will not always be easy or smooth or com­fortable, but that it is the only way to be fully alive, fully human, fully our­selves.
For those about to be dea­coned, there is a real sense of standing on the cusp of something at once ex­citing and uncertain. It has been a long road to this moment, but now the ques­tions rush in. Am I ready? Will I be able to bear the expectations placed on me? How will it feel to wear a clerical collar? Will I still be me? How will I cope when I don’t know the words to say, the comfort to offer, or the chal­lenge to give?
Deacons about to be priested know perhaps a little more, and have begun to work out something of what it is to be called to this place in the life of the Church. Sometimes that brings only more questions.
All of us, at different times, face un­certainty and disorientation. All of us lose our landmarks, the things we take for granted. Illness, grief, be­trayal, and un­employment have that effect on each of us. So does the call to take a risk for God, to dare to love, to dare to be vulnerable.
We do not always know where God and experience will lead. But we do know that God promises to be with us in everything, redeeming what wounds us, and laughing with us when we re­joice.
This prayer reminds us that the Risen Christ is both Lord and scarred. We meet the God of our salvation. We put our trust in him. And we place our­selves at his disposal.
When self-image and laziness in­ter­rupt, we ask God to break us out of our selfishness. When we need en­couragement, we ask God to fill our hearts with unexpected joy.
Archbishop Ramsey says that, in everything — in brokenness and joy, in frustration and fulfilment — he will not fear because he knows that he is safe in the hands of God. This is the prayer and the confidence he offers to those he will ordain in the morning.
Here is a prayer for everyone facing fresh adventures for the gospel. It is a prayer for those coming to terms with tragedy, for those waiting for the light of Christ to dawn, for those who feel joy bubbling within them.
This is a prayer for everyone who would take the immense risk (which is no risk at all) of giving their heart and their life back to God. “In your hands all is safe, and I am safe.”

The Revd Richard Lamey is Priest-in Charge of Newton in Mottram and Rural Dean of Mottram, in the diocese of Chester.

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=77099

Trinity Sunday Pt. I

The Te Deum is one of the Church's great hymns of praise to the Holy Trinity. This version is sung by the Monks of La Grande Chartreuse in France (the head monastery of the Carthusian Order). The Te Deum is said to have been chanted by St Ambrosius and St Augustine. It is part of the midnight prayers, the vigil, and is chanted at night before Sundays and feast days. This one is chanted in the darkness by candlelight. Very beautiful.

The English translation of the Latin is below.

I remember loving singing this as a child chorister at Trinity Church, Columbia. The phrase "thine adorable, true and only Son" might have been my favorite line...somehow I don't think adorable meant what I thought it meant. Jesus is pretty adorable though - in both senses.

Te Deum laudamus - We Praise Thee O God

We praise thee, O God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee the Father everlasting.To thee all the angels cry aloud the heavens and all the powers therein.To thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory. The glorious company of apostles praise thee.The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise thee. The noble army of martyrs praise thee. The Holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee; the father of an infinite majesty;thine adorable true and only Son; also the Holy Ghost the comforter. Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ. Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb. When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Thou sittest at the hand of God in glory of the Father. We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge. We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. Make them to be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting.

O Lord save thy people and bless thine heritage.Govern them and lift them up for ever.Day by day we magnify thee;and worship thy name, ever world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord to keep us this day without sin. O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee. O Lord in thee have I trusted let me not be confounded.

English Translation - Wikipedia

Trinity Sunday, Pt. 2

...and here is another hymn of praise to the Holy Trinity. This one very different but equally wonderful.

Happy Pentecost!

Thanks to David Dubay for finding this great video

The Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ

"This Ascension Day is properly the most solemn feast of our Lord Jesus: for this day first in his manhood he began to sit on the Father's right hand in bliss and took full rest of all his pilgrimage before. Also this is properly the feast of all the blessed spirits in heaven: for this day they had a new joy of their lord whom they saw never before there in his manhood. And also for that day began first to be restored the falling down of their fellows, and that in so great multitude and number of blessed souls of patriarchs and prophets and all those holy souls that this day first entered into that blessed City of heavenly Jerusalem, their kind heritage above."
The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ (translated by Nicholas Love).

Illustration from The Hermanoleom Collection

A Rescuing Hug

Jesus said to his disciples, "Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." Touch communicates what is most real...here is a wonderful story about the power of touch.

Heidi and Paul Jackson's twin girls, Brielle and Kyrie, were born October 17, 1995, 12 weeks ahead of their due date. Standard hospital practice is to place preemie twins in separate incubators to reduce the risk of infection. that was done for the Jackson girls in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Medical Center of Central Massachusetts in Worcester.
Kyrie, the larger sister at two pounds, three ounces, quickly began gaining weight and calmly sleeping her newborn days away. But Brielle, who weighed only two pounds at birth, couldn't keep up with her. She had breathing and heart-rate problems. The oxygen level in her blood was low, and her weight gain was slow.
Suddenly, on November 12, Brielle went into critical condition. She began gasping for breath, and her face and stick-thin arms and legs turned bluish-gray. Her heart rate was way up, and she got hiccups, a dangerous sign that her body was under stress. Her parents watched, terrified that she might die.
Nurse Gayle Kasparian tried everything she could think of to stabilize Brielle. She suctioned her breathing passages and turned up the oxygen flow to the incubator. Still Brielle squirmed and fussed as her oxygen intake plummeted and her heart rate soared.
Then Kasparian remembered something she had heard from a colleague. It was a procedure, common in parts of Europe but almost unheard of in this country, that called for double-bedding multiple-birth babies, especially preemies.
Kasparian's nurse manager, Susan Fitzback, was away at a conference, and the arrangement was unorthodox. But Kasparian decided to take the risk.
"Let me just try putting Brielle in with her sister to see if that helps," she said to the alarmed parents. "I don't know what else to do."
The Jacksons quickly gave the go-ahead, and Kasparian slipped the squirming baby into the incubator holding the sister she hadn't seen since birth. Then Kasparian and the Jacksons watched.
No sooner had the door of the incubator closed then Brielle snuggled up to Kyrie - and calmed right down. Within minutes Brielle's blood-oxygen readings were the best they had been since she was born. As she dozed, Kyrie wrapped her tiny arm around her smaller sibling.
By coincidence, the conference Fitzback was attending included a presentation on double-bedding. This is something I want to see happen at The Medical Center, she thought. But it might be hard making the change. On her return she was doing rounds when the nurse caring for the twins that morning said, "Sue, take a look in that isolette over there."
"I can't believe this," Fitzback said. "This is so beautiful."
"You mean, we can do it?" asked the nurse.
"Of course we can," Fitzback replied.
Today a handful of institutions around the country are adopting double-bedding, which seems to reduce the number of hospital days. The practice is growing quickly, even though the first scientific studies on it didn't begin until this past January.
But Heidi and Paul Jackson don't need any studies to know that double-bedding helped Brielle. She is thriving. In fact, now that the two girls are home, they still steep together - and still snuggle.

(From, Nancy Sheehan, Readers Digest, May 1996)

Happy Easter Season...Tell a Joke!

Easter Season is my favorite time of year for humor. Here is a YouTube piece that sums up Church History in a mere two minutes and thirty-three seconds. Enjoy!
Please note: A single click on the play button below will allow you to view the video on this page. A double click will take you to the YouTube website where other works of this comedian are posted. One church member has alerted me to the fact that while this video is "good clean fun", other videos by him which are posted closeby are fairly bawdy. Please be forewarned and look at the video right here with a single click. O the joys of the internet!