Easter 2016

Christ is risen!

Easter 2015

Christ is Risen!

Easter 2014

Christ is risen!

Easter 2013

Christ is Risen!

Easter 2011

Christ is Risen!

Easter 2010

Christ is Risen!

Christ is Risen!

Christ is Risen!

A Puritan Prayer

Compassionate Lord,

Thy mercies have brought me to the dawn of another day,
Vain will be its gift unless I grow in grace,
increase in knowledge,
ripen for spiritual harvest.
Let me this day know thee as thou art,
love thee supremely,
serve thee wholly,
admire thee fully.
Through grace let my will respond to thee,
Knowing that power to obey is not in me, but
that thy free love alone enables me to serve thee.
Here then is my empty heart,
overflow it with thy choicest gifts;
Here is my blind understanding,
chase away its mists of ignorance.
O ever watchful Shepherd,
lead, guide, tend me this day;
Without thy restraining rod I err and stray;
Hedge up my path lest I wander into unwholesome pleasure,
and drink its poisonous streams;
Direct my feet that I be not entangled in Satan’s secret snares,
nor fall into his hidden traps.
Defend me from assailing foes,
from evil circumstances,
from myself.
My adversaries are part and parcel of my nature;
They cling to me as my very skin;
I cannot escape their contact.
In my rising up and sitting down they barnacle me;
They entice with constant baits;
My enemy is within the citadel;
Come with almighty power and cast him out, pierce him to death,
and abolish in me every particle of carnal life this day.

Source:

Arthur Bennett ed., The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions. East Peoria, IL: Versa Press Inc., 2005, p.117.

Happy Canada Day!

May He have dominion from sea to sea! (Psalm 72:8)

Reformation Day

October 31 is Reformation Day, the day we celebrate the start of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on a Wittenberg castle door 489 years ago today. It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to reflect on the sixteenth-century reformers. May we be edified by their example, challenged by their courage and encouraged by their eagerness to glorify God.