After prayers I found a note from Jean Hardwick. You might remember Denis our Vicar back in the day (late 1980s I think). He died this year in August and will be fondly remembered. He wrote about his favourite prayer before he died. Lord, for thy tender mercies sake lay not our sins to our charge; but forgive us all that is past and give us grace to amend our lives, to decline from sin and incline to virtue, that we may walk before thee with a quiet mind and a thankful heart through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen He added St. Paul said that we were two natures, physical and spiritual. So I value this prayer which uses language which is seldom used in everyday speech. Such words as tender, charge, grace, amend, decline and virtue hint at a different world, one with special values and considerations. It is a prayer which I have learned off-by-heart purposely so that it can pull me up sharp to remind me that I need Gods help, that he expects a certain approach to life from me, and that at the end of it there should be peace of mind through the knowledge of having my having done my best to make the most of Gods gift of life. As Christ stilled the storm with his saying Peace! Be still! So there should be a key which opens the door to inner peace in order that all the storm and unrest which can sometimes surge in ones life can be replaced by calm and reflection. No doubt on the Lake at Galilee when the storm had abated and the sea was stilled the disciples could look over the side of the boat and see the reflection of their faces in the water. They would see things more clearly, themselves and their humanity in relation to God and realise that in the long term it was their spiritual nature which was most important. God bless, Denis Hardwick. He was a good man and loved his congregations at Holy Trinity & St. Oswalds.......
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 08:51:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015