A change of plans

Ephesians 5:8-14 (NIV)

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible — and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
   rise from the dead,
   and Christ will shine on you.”

I was supposed to be writing today from 30,000 feet in the sky, but I did not get to board a plane this morning. Long story short, the flight was canceled and we’ll try again Thursday. The upside was I decided to take off the rest of the afternoon from work so I could pick up Max and then Jack from school, and my unexpected presence let Kristie go to a school meeting tonight while I stayed home with the boys. Max knew I’d be getting him after school, but Jack had no clue. It was pretty neat to watch his facial reactions to seeing me standing in the gym. Some surprises he can handle just fine.

We got the automated phone call about the flight cancellation seconds before putting our items on the security scanner belt. We cleared the checkpoint, put our shoes back on, and in mere seconds were standing at the end of an overcrowded, understaffed customer service line. This is what happens when 37 rows of passengers need immediate answers on their new itineraries.

As soon as I got the phone call, my mood darkened. No one appreciates getting such unexpected news anyway, and a pending TSA screening isn’t exactly like waiting to ride Space Mountain. But I made the choice to try to deal with the frustration with as positive an attitude as I could muster. First I considered my advantages — only a short ride home from the airport, flexible plans at our destination, no checked bags to track down and so on. It did not take much chatting (or eavesdropping) to realize how few of our fellow passengers had such freedoms.

Then I took the next step and considered the plight of the airline agents. Even more so than newspaper editors who field angry phone calls and open “cancel my subscription” letters, airline customer relations employees almost never get to deal with happy customers. The best they can do is offer appeasement since it is beyond their power to offer the only thing people want: to get on the plane they paid for and arrive at their destination on time. How miserable it must be to clock in and get chewed out for issues far beyond your control for eight hours, then punch out only to do the exact same thing the next day and the day after that.

Maybe my facial expressions or body language weren’t the best. But I tried to be courteous in my interaction with the airline employee. I avoided joining in the idle threats, spoken to no one in particular, to never again fly this airline. I held back (I think!) from passing silent judgment on other passengers who were less composed and unafraid to use profanities while addressing people just trying to do their jobs.

In short, I worked hard at responding to unpleasantness with grace. I was attempting, as the cited passage suggests, to live as a child of the light. Allowing anger to creep in would have been poisonous, so I struggled to keep it at bay. This is not to brag, because I’m positive I left significant room for improvement, but to serve as a reminder to myself that I am capable of putting into practice the ideals I claim to seek. At least in part, and not without concerted effort, but still I feel validated.

On balance, I’d rather have just gotten on the plane. But at least I am far more at ease this evening than I was last night. Seeing as I didn’t really want to be away, I felt blessed to get a bonus afternoon with my boys. Hopefully tomorrow’s travel plans go smoothly, but I should remember I don’t need brazen adversity to be light in the Lord and to strive for what pleases God. Those opportunities are abundant as the breaths I draw in and the seconds that tick off the clock. Shine on me.

A prayer for January 23:

Lord, thank you for your guiding presence in the midst of strife. Please help me to remember your willingness to stand by me in every situation. No matter how positive or negative I might be feeling, I know you are always with me, ready to delight in my joys and comfort my sorrows. Help me do by best to be your light in this world. Never let me forget without you I am in the darkness, and that only you can illuminate the path of true righteousness. Guide me always. Amen.

Together in Christ

Luke 12:49-53 (NIV)

“I have come to bring fire on the Earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on Earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

That doesn’t exactly sound like the Jesus we most often encounter. If the question is: “Did Jesus come to bring peace on Earth?” my answer most likely is affirmative. My first instinct is to think about the Nativity story, especially the most repeated recounting from Luke 2, which in verse 14 (KJV) includes the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men.”

I also think of this passage, John 14:23-27 (NIV):

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

That said, Jesus is not exactly known for equivocating. He’s pretty good about laying it out in black and white. Just a few verses earlier in the same chapter of John comes one of his best-known proclamations: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Just a few chapters after the Luke passage at the beginning of this post he drops this bomb: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, even their own life — such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

I’m sure much has been written about all these passages. Perhaps one of my ordained friends would be interested in sharing some professional, academic and theological perspective. But seeing as this is amateur hour, here’s my take: if you are going to be serious about Jesus, you have to put Him above everything else. Everything. Now ideally, you never have to worry about your family coming between you and your faith. If you choose your spouse with the help of God and raise your children with the help of God then you can put Jesus in the center of your family and all support each other as Christians.

I guess in some way this is like the passage from Ephesians about wives submitting to husbands as they do to the Lord and husbands loving wives as Christ loved the church. While I didn’t get into it when I wrote about that passage a month ago, I’ve often heard the difficult nature of these verses explained by suggesting there is no worry about submitting to a husband who loves his wife as Christ loved the church. If everyone is living the Christ-inspired ideal, it is not that difficult to follow His commands.

The problem arises when someone doesn’t live the ideal. And since none of us are capable of perfection, the rough patches are inevitable. I bet everyone knows of a divided family in one form or another. And while not all of those divisions are related to the role of faith in the family, there are families divided three against two, father against son and mother against daughter, with Jesus as the breaking point.

I’m sure this a terrifically cheesy reference, but whenever I think about divided families, it brings to mind the scene from “Home Alone” where Kevin encounters his scary old neighbor. After they talk a bit, the man reveals a rift he has with his son that is so severe he’s not welcome around any more — he can only watch his granddaughter from a distance. While the origin of the schism is left unclear, what’s strikingly evident is it’s such a deep gap it can’t be bridged even in church, even on Christmas Eve (at least not until the world’s most precocious six-year-old nudges his neighbor in the right direction).

Watching this movie as a child, I could not imagine anything so horrible as to divide my own family so deeply. Considering this scene now, as a parent, I am of course terrified of what I might do that could cause such hurt (I wrote about this fear a bit more deeply in early May). I guess it’s a good sign I can’t imagine my kids being the ones to cause the problem. But they’re young. Who knows what will happen as they grow and change?

There’s no way I’m going to resolve all these issues at war with each other inside my brain. But I’ll tell you my best approach for making peace with it all — placing my trust in the Lord. The more I think about what God might want for me to do, the more I bring myself into prayer, the more I try to listen, the more I feel like I’m doing the right thing. And while there’s always abundant opportunities for me to insert my own agenda and foul up royally, I’m growing more and more secure in the notion of ceding control to God and trusting that will help keep me from the kind of situation where our family is divided against itself.

I can’t just pray and check out — I have to make the right choices and say the right things at every opportunity. But I’m pretty darn glad Kristie and I aren’t alone on this journey.

A prayer for June 24:

Lord, I desire your peace. I do not want my heart to be troubled, I do not want to be afraid of the challenges ahead. You have made it clear I may encounter times where choosing you puts me in a difficult position. Please help me remember where my focus belongs — not with anything on this Earth but on you. Give me the clarity to follow your way and trust the effort will be rewarded. And please help me put the pursuit of your will at the center of not just my life, but my family as well, that we may walk your path hand in hand, side by side, together in you. Amen.

Children, obey your parents

Ephesians 6:1-4 (NIV)

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” — which is the first commandment with a promise — “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

How could I resist the chance to share this passage? In fact, I think some day I’ll see if I can’t get the boys to memorize a few of these verses.

(And as I type, in the next room, I hear Max saying, “Hey, quit blocking the TV, idiot!”)

The word exasperate in the NIV translation amuses me, because I don’t feel I exasperate the kids so much as they exasperate me. The King James translation instructs fathers not to “provoke their children to wrath,” which probably is better advice for me personally. I know, from far too much experience, how quickly a situation with the kids can escalate. Sadly, more than once it’s been me escalating ahead of them, which should never be the case.

Sometimes when Jack and Max are pushing each others' buttons as quickly as possible, usually on weekend mornings, I find the best strategy is to disappear into a task, such as washing the dishes, sorting laundry or vacuuming one of our giant, regenerating piles of food crumbs. Usually the situation resolves itself. However, if things do continue to get worse and I have to intervene, chances are I’m calmer than I would have been had I jumped in at the outset, and also I’ve made sure I’m responding to an actual problem instead of just kids being kids. And one of the benefits of having all these children around is there’s always dishes to wash, laundry to process or messes to clean.

We’re hitting the road today to celebrate Kristie’s brother and his high school graduation, which I’m sure I’ll touch on more in Sunday’s post. But as such, I really ought to be gathering toiletries, packing the suitcase and doing all those other things good dads do so we can get in the car before Charlie falls asleep at home. But before I go, I wanted to also spotlight verse 18 from the same chapter of Ephesians I cited above: "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

A prayer for May 26:

Lord, again I thank you for my family. Not just my children, whom I hope to bring up in your love, but also my parents, who did so with me. Please be with us as we travel today, keeping us safe on the road but also granting us all the patience to stay in close quarters and attend important functions with minimal disruption. Please help us celebrate Uncle Kyle’s achievement and enjoy this time with our dear relatives. Amen.

How do they know we love?

Ephesians 5:21-32 (NIV)

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church — for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church.

You ever come across one of those Bible passages that makes you take a metal step back to try to make sure you just read what you thought you read? Not just a few sentences you might pass off as archaic like an obscure rule from Leviticus or a barely decipherable Old Testament prophecy, but a passage like this one from Ephesians, which follows some universally acceptable wisdom* kind of jumps out at you.

(*In this case, the preceding verses were: “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”)

My perception is this part of Ephesians — specifically the “wives should submit to their husbands in everything” phrase — is something of a hot button when people discuss to what degree they should take scripture literally. And if we’re being totally honest here, I don’t quite know how to respond when I read these words.

I’m totally on board with the instructions for husbands. We ought to love our wives as we love our own bodies, to strive to present ourselves to them as holy and blameless. I’m lucky enough to have found a life partner and a relationship that lets me understand how “the two will become one” actually works. And it’s because of that unity I don’t quite understand all the submission stuff in the earlier verses.

If this is all a metaphor for Christ and the church, it makes more sense. Christ is the head of the church, and while we strive to know and relate to Jesus, we certainly are not His equal. We as Christians ought to submit to Jesus, and in organized churches, we ought to ask constantly if we are moving in a way that would merit God’s approval. Once we institute our own will, chaos ensues.

But getting back to marriage, and I’m sure I’ve written this before, I think one of the best things we can do as parents is to remain committed our own relationship. Not just because all relationships require effort, and because kids (young ones especially) can make it hard for parents to have time together as adults, but because there probably is no better way to model good, Christian behavior for children than to have them exposed to it in a loving home.

Yeah, you should always be nice to waiters and not litter or cut in line at the grocery store or swear at opposing drivers (yes, opposing; highway driving is a competition) so your kids learn how a good person operates in the modern world. But you also need to treat your spouse with as much respect as you would afford anyone. Control your anger, offer and accept apologies, seek and grant forgiveness. If you can be nice to strangers and a jerk to your wife — even some of the time — what kind of message does that send?

If your kids hear you say, “I love you,” to your wife, and then you plainly act in a way that betrays those words, why should the kid trust you when they hear, “I love you” from you? Further, why should they believe it when they hear, “I love you” from anyone — even when someone is trying to explain God loves them?

Likewise, doing things the right way, putting actions behind your words, teaches the concepts of love and respect in a way words alone could never do. You say “I love you” and then you live it out. Similarly, it would be good for you to live so your kids know your value your faith as well. That way they can explain what it means to them to have God in their life.

As always, all of the “you should” and “we should” and “husbands should” terms in my writing are not me preaching to anyone, they’re actually instructions for myself. When I put this stuff in writing, it crystallizes the concepts in my mind and forces me to adjust the way I approach life — in a good way.

Next time I have some quiet time with Jack, I think I’m going to ask him if he can tell me how he knows I love Kristie, or how he knows I love him and his brothers. And if he can’t offer much more than “because you tell us,” then I think I have some work to do.

A prayer for May 25:

Lord, I thank you so much for the important people in my life, the ones I love more than myself. I am beyond blessed to be a son, a husband and a father, and I pray I am living up to the expectations of the responsibilities of those relationships. There are so many ways you reveal your love for us, please help me find ways to make sure my family knows of my love for them. Amen.

Accountability

Ephesians 4:1b-6 (NIV)

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

One of the great benefits of writing these blog posts is not just the regimen of reading different scripture passages each day, but the way I know feel more accountable to be the kind of parent I want to be. The more I write about my evolving parenting philosophy and how that philosophy is informed by scripture, the more I feel pressure — in a good way — to consistently live up to the standard I claim to pursue.

For eight years now I’ve been blessed to have my wife with me in this parenting adventure. From day one, I have always looked to her for parenting advice and approval. Maybe it’s because she’s the mother (and mothers have intuition, right?), maybe it’s because she was almost 13 when her brother was born, or maybe it’s because I generally find deferral to be a good strategy for a happy partnership. But even though we both became parents at the exact same moment, I’ve always considered her to be the authority on nearly every issue and rely on her, happily, as the team captain.

All of which is a nice, long-winded say of saying she’s pretty good at calling me on my bull. So it’s pretty hard for me to be dishonest or disingenuous in my writing, be it for newspaper columns or blogging or even a Facebook status. I might be able to put a nice spin on something, but I’m never going to slip anything by her. She knows me better than anyone, which is a leading reason I wanted to marry her.

But truth be told, the blog project is an exercise in me exploring things on a personal level. I’m not sure if she’s reading every post — she does have three children and is getting a home-based business off the ground, after all — but if she is she’s probably come across some things I hadn’t discussed with her before crafting a post. So if I write about planning to do something or change my behavior, and then I very clearly don’t, I can rely on her holding me accountable.

Of course, all I should need to keep me accountable is regular prayer — talking with God. But sadly it’s far to easy to (pretend to) hide things from God. And while I know you can’t really hide anything from God, you also can’t hide anything from your wife, and she is physically in the house with me. I never have to wonder if I’m hearing the voice of Kristie.

Yet the larger point is that writing these things out — or even thinking about them at all, rather than just shuffling along trying to be a generally good guy — is forcing me to examine myself to determine if I really am what I say I am, or more accurately, if I really am trying to be what I say I want to become. So when I come across a wonderful passage tonight, it feels like Paul is speaking directly to me. His words not only give me a road map for values I want my kids to embrace, but also for values I must first embrace and model for them. And for my wife, who thankfully lets me know when I fall short.

A prayer for May 23:

Lord, I am trying to live a life worthy of my calling as a parent. I strive to be humble and gentle, to be patient and to bear with my wife and children in love. Yet time and again, I fail miserably at every turn. I am ever grateful that you will not give up on me and I intend to repay that graciousness with an even stronger effort to live according to your will, rather than my own. God you are over all and through all and in all, and I pray that my heart and mind be continually opened to that influence through every step today, tomorrow and forever. Amen.

Hand-me-downs

Ephesians 2:14-22 (NIV)

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

One of the great things about having three boys — especially boys spread out yet born roughly the same time of the calendar year — is the ability to re-use old clothes over and again. We have a running joke about how bad the credit card bill might be if we ever have a girl… or perhaps it wouldn’t be bad at all if our extended family tripped over each other in their race to spoil a niece, granddaughter, etc.

Of course, boys being boys, not all articles of clothing survive to be worn by a younger brother. Shoes especially are a one-and-done proposition, especially since Jack and Max each just have one all-purpose pair of shoes. In fact, Jack tore through his last pair before he really grew out of it. So everyone always gets new shoes.

In a sense, nothing quite helps us mark the passage of time as putting away one size of clothes and reaching deep into the closet stacks to retrieve a favorite collection of outfits. Dressing Charlie in a pair of pajamas I remember picking out for Jack is for some reason very comforting to me. Of course, when I find myself putting Charlie (or Max, even) in certain Classic Jack outfits, I must confront the truth that all three kids are growing up, whether I like it or not.

With a few exceptions, I’m wearing the same stuff I did before we had kids. There are more high school- and college-era shirts in my dresser than probably ought to be. So while I’m cycling kids through all the 2T pajamas we own, my wardrobe never changes. And it strikes me that one day, we won’t have a baby around the house or one on the way. Clothes actually will be put away for the last time — or sold or donated or what have you.

There’s a chance that when that day comes, Kristie and I will look at each other and fully realize how different we are from the 23- and 24-year-olds who brought Jack home from the hospital. Looking at a familiar pair of pajamas I’d selected for Charlie the other night, shortly after they made it to his drawer for the first time, I told Kristie I understand why people keep having babies, implying that having a baby around helps the parents feel young, like they’re nowhere close to advancing beyond that stage in life.

Yet to view life through that narrow window is to do a great disservice to all your children, especially the ones at the other end of the age spectrum, wading their way through grade school while mom and dad are worrying about diapers and teething. Giving all the children equal attention is difficult now and will only grow more complex, I imagine, as their lives become more busy and less centered on what happens inside the walls of our home.

The needs of an infant are so obvious. They never hide beneath the surface, not even a smidgen. What an older child needs from his parents can be far more difficult to ascertain — especially because the child himself may not know. What I do know is that if our kids are going to be “built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit,” we as parents are going to have to fight to remain involved and aware and not just turn our attention to the eminently evident needs. After all, everyone needs food, shelter and safety. But the spiritual needs of our kids are going to vary wildly from boy to boy. It’s our job, with God’s help, to guide them well.

A prayer for May 19:

Lord, I thank you for your message of peace. Please help me to remember my connections with all your people as members of your household, just as our children are bound to us, their parents, and each other as siblings. May we strive to keep Jesus as the chief cornerstone of our family, and may each son rise to become a temple in you, a dwelling in which your spirit lives. In this way may they be a blessing to the family and specifically each other, yet also to all your people. Amen.

My sure Redeemer

Ephesians 1:3,7 (NIV)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. … In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.

I love old hymns. I love all sorts of music, actually, but given the church and the family I grew up in, I’m not sure I feel closer to God than I do standing in Sunday morning worship belting out an old standard with the organ, robust choir and willing congregation. I have so many favorites it would be nearly impossible to rank them. Yet there are a few that, for a variety of reasons, so move me I am no longer capable of singing along in church. I just kind of stand there like a goof, smiling through my tears and trying my best to mouth the words and soak in the moment. The only other times I can recall being overcome with that particular emotion to that degree are my wedding day and the moment Charlie was born.

And yes, if you’re keeping score at home, Charlie was baby three. I did not feel that same euphoric rush when Jack or Max were born. Perhaps with Jack it was absent because labor had stalled and he had to be physically removed with the giant, weapons-grade salad tongs that partially, but temporarily, misshaped his head. Or maybe it’s just because it was our first child and I had no idea what to expect for any part of the process.

With Max, well, I wasn’t actually in the room when he was born via emergency C-section. I was perceptive enough for my mood to shift quickly from “the baby is here!” to “Uh-oh, something’s not right with the baby.” And while I credit that entire day with my first real brush with the notion of the peace that passes all understanding (at least that’s my retrospective interpretation), there was nothing at all euphoric.

With Charlie, the table was set. It wasn’t my first rodeo. After the Max experience, Kristie and I both were on edge hoping everything would go well. And when it proved to be, by far, the easiest labor and delivery of the three, well, I was simply overcome. As I held him and looked down and said simply, “Thank you for being healthy,” I could not contain my joy. In that instant I loved him every bit as much as sons I’d known and bonded with for years.

In the same way, when it is Christmas Eve and the choir is walking in belting out “O Come, All Ye Faithful” and I see the familiar faces of so many people who have known and nurtured me my entire life, and I think about how much it means to them to be singing at that particular moment and how much it means for me to be standing there with my wife and my kids and letting the music wash over me, well, I can barely sing along through my tears of joy. And when the soprano descant kicks in, I can no longer make sounds of any kind, so I don’t even bother trying. I would say I wish I could have that experience every day of my life, but I think the rarity only enhances the special sensation.

Perhaps later I will address some of the other hymns in my life that hold special meaning. Not all of them are for as exceedingly positive reasons, but all of them make me feel closer to God. But I bring up the notion of my love for hymns for a more practical reason: none of the passages in today’s lectionary inspired any thoughts on parenting whatsoever. But the old Presbyterian hymnal I have tells me two verses from the Ephesians passage today (Ephesians 1:1-10) are the spiritual basis for the words to “I Greet Thee, Who My Sure Redeemer Art.” The words to the hymn are attributed to John Calvin, who is something of a big deal in the Presbyterian tradition.

As I read over this hymn tonight, it was a good reminder that sometimes, when I don’t know exactly what words to use in prayer, I let my mind wander to a favorite hymn. It turns out most of them work pretty good for speaking to God when I can’t come up with a coherent thought on my own. Here’s all five verses:

I greet Thee, who my sure Redeemer art,
My only trust and Savior of my heart,
Who pain didst undergo for my poor sake;
I pray Thee from our hearts all cares to take.

Thou art the King of mercy and of grace,
Reigning omnipotent in every place;
So come, O King, and our whole being sway;
Shine on us with the light of Thy pure day.

Thou art the life, by which alone we live,
And all our substance and our strength receive;
Sustain us by Thy faith and by Thy power,
And give us strength in every trying hour.

Thou hast the true and perfect gentleness,
No harshness hast Thou and no bitterness;
O grant to us the grace we find in Thee,
That we may dwell in perfect unity.

Our hope is in no other save in Thee;
Our faith is built upon Thy promise free;
Lord, give us peace, and make us calm and sure,
That in Thy strength we evermore endure.

A prayer for May 16:

Lord, my trusted redeemer and savior, I ask you to take the cares from my heart. Please shine on me today, tomorrow and every day, that my whole life might be worthy of you. Please give me strength in times of need. I give you my hope and faith and ask that you grant us all the grace to live peacefully with one another in the comfort of your power. Amen.