Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope that your New Year’s Eve and Day were better than mine! Our family spent the day laying low recuperating from flu symptoms, well, all except the one who had those symptoms days before. Sorry that I missed out on the final prayer meeting of the year and on the Empower Gathering that happened at church!
Last night, I began reading through a book that was gifted to me over Christmas. In the book, there was a prayer which I thought would be a good one to share with you as we begin this year. It is a prayer that Henri Nouwen committed to praying daily, even though it is a humbling, challenging prayer. It is a prayer that I prayed last night and am praying today. Will you join in praying the following prayer (from Charles de Foucald)?
“Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you.
I am ready for all; I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul.
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
For I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
To surrender myself into your hands without reserve,
And with boundless confidence,
For you are my Father, Amen.”
Please continue to pray for the nations of Israel/Gaza and Ukraine/Russia and Sudan. Here is a suggested list of prayers if you are at a loss for words in how to pray: https://send.org/story/hh_pray_for_ukraine. And https://worldrelief.org/blog-prayer-for-israel-and-gaza/ And here are other prayers for peace in general: https://worldrelief.org/prayers-for-peace-in-the-world/ Thank you for kneeling on behalf of the people of Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Gaza and Lebanon, and Sudan, and taking a stand (or a knee in prayer) against the forces of darkness in this present age.
Further announcements can be found in the weekly spotlight. And other church wide announcements can be found in our weekly bulletin.
For Prayer:
1. From Bishop J.C. Ryle – “To be prayerless is to be Christless, Godless, and in the high road to destruction…It will always be found that when prayers are few, grace, strength, peace, and hope are small.” Please join our Wednesday night prayer meeting (7:45 – 9:00 pm) even if you can’t participate the whole time.
https://zoom.us/j/758587937?pwd=aS9sZUdxcm1janNNM2I2aXJ6Smx2QT09
Meeting ID: 758 587 937
Password: 030086
Join by phone: +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
2. We’d be glad to pray for you. If you need prayer, you can submit your prayer request via the following link: https://www.cbcgl.org/pray/
In Christ, your servant, SDG,
Pastor Nathan Willems
Associate Pastor of CrossPoint Community – A Ministry of CBCGL