SACROSANCT: secure from violation, profanation, assault, or trespass GOSPEL: the good news of Jesus Christ, who rescues us from the wrath of God and secures for us His eternal favor
I restructured this prayer as a responsive reading to be used in worship during Thanksgiving…
“Praise and Thanksgiving: Responsive Reading” – (adapted from Valley of Vision, p. 15)
Leader: Thank You O my God Congregation: For You are the fairest of all things, the greatest, the first and the last My heart admires you, adores you, loves you My heart is as full as it can be And I would pour out all that fullness before You in a ceaseless flow
Leader: Thank You, that when I think about You and talk with You Congregation: Ten thousand delightful thoughts spring forth Ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed Ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart All these are sowing gospel happiness that will lead to eternal joy
The Valley of Vision, “The Divine Will” – Pg. 9 (my paraphrase)
O LORD, I weakly cling to you; but your grip on me is firm
I see, I believe, and I live, when Your will is called Divine, and so may Your will be done, not mine
There is no worthiness or goodness in me that could deserve Your grace
Your providence and promises are not mine because I’m good
But only Your good pleasure holds me firm and only Your good will holds my hand in Thine
So let Your will be done, not mine, for only Your Will is called Divine
If your mercy makes me poor and vile, then blessed are You!
Prayers arising from my current poverty are preparation for future grace;
Help me to honor You now, by believing before I feel
Help me to trust You now, before I know that you will come and heal
My sin is great if I make my feelings the cause of my faith, and
My worship is idolatrous if my comfort is the reason that I bring You praise
So show me what sins I hide from you that, in loathing shadows, eclipse the Son of Your love;
Open my eyes in humility and show me the evil lurking in my hidden plans
Reveal Yourself, so that I might walk in your light with your glorious presence giving me sight
For if I walk in darkness, how can I know that I am Yours, or trust the working of my hands
So let Your will be done, not mine, for only Your Will is called Divine
It is only the meek and humble
Who know Your will, are pardoned and healed
Who know Your covenant love in the favor of Your face
Who are sanctified and brought to life
Who by faith depend and rest upon Your grace
Who show the evidence of living in Your abundant care
So in humility, Help me to pray in faith, to find Your will, and know that You are there.
For Your will, not mine, is called Divine, so let Your will be done
Strengthen me to lean hard on Your rich free mercy
Help me to believe that You will give what You have promised and even more
Strengthen me to pray with the conviction that whatever I receive, it is your gift
Help me to pray until my prayers be granted; and then to pray some more
Strengthen me to believe that fullness of mercy arises from fullness of prayer
Teach me that when faith is begun it is imperfect and must from weakness grow
Teach me by Your grace to obey, and to hope, and to truly believe even before I truly know
Teach me to wait upon Your will, and pray Your will be done
Teach me that chapped ground opens wider and wider until the water finally comes
Teach me that your will is good even though it causes pain
Teach me to trust that my desert will become a garden when at last You send the rain
Teach me to believe with gospel hope that I will bloom when I see the Son
And that Your will, O Christ, is called Divine, not mine. So let Your Will be done!
The Valley of Vision, “The Trinity” – Pg. 3 (my paraphrase)
Three in One, One in Three
God of My Salvation
Heavenly Father, Blessed Son, Eternal Spirit
Who governs One Holy Nation
I adore You as One Being, One Essence, One God, Three Persons
Who brings outcasts to know You
Who brings outlaws to serve You
In your Kingdom as Citizens, Friends, and adopted Sons
Father, You have loved me by…
Sending Jesus to redeem me
Jesus, You have loved me by…
Assuming my nature to identify with my humiliation
Shedding Your blood to wash my sins
And Giving Your righteousness to cover my unworthiness
Holy Spirit, You have loved me by…
Entering my heart and making it Your home
Implanting eternal life in the dark recesses of my soul
And Revealing the glories of Jesus to me
Three Persons, One God
I bless and I praise Thee
Mighty in love unmerited and unspeakable
Glorious in love so wonderful and free
Saving all that was lost and raising me up to glory
Taking my ashes and weaving in me this redemptive story
Father, You have given me my Husband Jesus to be His sheep, His people, His bride Jesus, You accepted me, married me, and bound me to Your side Spirit, You revealed the Face of Jesus as my groom
Implanted good-faith within heart
Subdued my stubborn soul
So that in the King who makes me whole I might forever hide
Father, You are enthroned to hear my prayers as they fly to You above Jesus, Your hands are stretched to take my hands in the comfort of Your love Spirit, You are willing to help the sickness that poisons me against my King
Give me the words
Show me my need
Pray inside me
Strengthen my knees
That I might not faint and fall while begging you for these things
Triune God
The God who commands the universe and orders each star to shine
These things I beg of you as I am yours and you are mine
For Your Kingdom, my soul, and Your Fame
Let me live and pray as one, baptized into Your Name
The Valley of Vision, “Christ The Word” – Pg. 17 (my paraphrase)
Help me Father,
In a world of created things, changeable things, moving parts, and swirling pieces
Christ remains unshaken. Word and Sacrament stand firm in the middle of the storm
Like a stone I rest on His sure foundation
I abide in Him and rest in Him for all my mercies are found in Him
He designed, He purchased, He promised, He awakened, and he is perfecting…me
How comforting it is to recline in Him and rest upon His sure election
How sweet it is to be near my Groom and to find peace within my King’s affection
When I sin against His Cross, pursuing my own will, my own love, my own life
My sin is not so much this or that particular evil
My sin is that I run from Your Son. In desperation seeking…
Separation from your Son
Disunion from your Son
Distance from your Son
Embracing the heart of a whore toward your Son
And I have no comfort. There is no consolation.
There is no hand to hold but the nail scarred hand of old
And yet I will not bow before that blood soaked crown nor love that King
And hatefully I frown upon that hand…those fingers…and that ring…that ring…that ring
O my Father, you have given me this gift, this Husband-King – Jesus, your own beloved Son
He’s a mediator between my soul and Thee
With wounded Hands, over a pit, holding on to you above and never letting go of me
For only He can span the breach created by my sinful hate
And only He could bear the weight that rightly should fall on me
So, help me Father…
Help me to lay hold of the One you have called upon to lay hold of me
May I take Him as the object of my Faith and trust what I have not seen
May I call Him worthy, by His Love, to bridge the gulf between
Teach me Father to hear His Word that I might learn to love each line
For His Word is the power that breaks and binds and gives me faith to call him mine
If I oppose His Word, I oppose my King
If I receive His Word, I receive my King
So teach me Father to receive His Word that He might teach my heart to sing
Please, help me Father…
You have the hearts of men resting in your hand
So form my heart to the Word of my Husband
And bind my heart to the Song of my King
And strengthen my heart to the Will my Husband
And arrest my heart to Bow before my King
And soften my heart to hold forth my hand…and to receive my Husband’s love, His hand, His fingers – and my ring.
O God whose conquers Everything,
There is no comfort in anything,
apart from the enjoyment I find in You,
and being engaged in serving You;
You are Everything in everything,
and all my pleasures are pleasures,
only as you make them so – no less, no more
In every way, I wish to be pleased with Your will,
no matter what it is, or ever should, or ever more will be
If You call me to decide for myself in any anything
I pray to refer to You in everything,
for You are wise and cannot sin or err,
as I am always prone to do
So may everything that belongs to me,
fully belong instead to You – My Everything in everything
Christ, You are my Everything
I rejoice to think that everything is at Your disposal,
and it is my delight to leave everything in Your hands
Then my prayers of lament turn to Holy praise,
and I adore and bless Your Holy Name – Christ, in everything You are my Everything
What shall I give You for all Your bounty?
I am bewildered in Your presence, not knowing what to do;
I long to give You something back, but I have nothing in my hands to bring,
I can only rejoice and sing that in Everything, You take care of everything
No one in heaven or earth can share this Honor;
Of myself, I can’t do anything to glorify Your blessed Name,
Yet, through Your grace in everything,
I cheerfully surrender my body, my soul, my very life to You
I know You are the Author and Finisher of my faith,
that the whole work of redemption is Yours, and Yours alone,
that every good work or thought that’s found in me
is the sole result of Your power and grace,
that Your sole motive in working in me
Is to will and to work for Your good pleasure,
So I might see Your glorious Face – in everything, My Everything,
Christ, you are my Everything
O God, it is amazing that men boast so loud
about our human power and love,
when, if You did but hold back Your grace for one moment,
we would raging devils be, defiling and destroying everything we see
This You taught me through bitter pain,
That without Your mercy, satanic darkness, reigns in me
So, guard me from myself O Christ.
And save me from my wretchedness,
So that in Your glorious righteousness,
You might be my Everything in everything,
O Christ, You are my Everything
Adapted from “The Mover”
The Valley of Vision – Pg. 8 (my paraphrase)
O Supreme Moving Cause,
Spirit of God who orders the Heavens, and counts each Wave
Shepherd of my soul
May I always be subordinate to You…
Be dependent upon You Be found in the path where You walk, Be where Your Spirit moves Be more and more sensible to Your Love. Be afraid of estrangement from You
You do not move men like stones,
But You endow them with life, Not to enable them to move without You, But to be in Submission to the First Mover, the Giver of Life
O Lord, I am astonished at the difference
Between my receivings and my deservings, Between the bounty I am now in and my past gracelessness, Between the heaven I am bound for and the hell I merit.
Who made me to differ, but You?
For I was no more ready to receive Christ than were others;
I could not have begun to love You, had you not first loved me,
Or been willing, unless You had first made me so.
O that such a crown, should fit the head of such a sinner!
Such high advancement, for such an unfruitful person!
Such joys, for so vile a rebel
Infinite Wisdom cast the design of my salvation into the mold of Your purchase and freedom
Let “Wrath Deserved” be written on the door of hell,
But may “The Free Gift of Grace” be engraved on the gate of heaven.
I know that my sufferings are the result of my sinning and of living in a sinful world,
Yet both will cease in heaven;
Grant me to attain Your Rest and be done with sailing against the gale,
May the breezes of Your mercy blow me toward the lighthouse of Your Word.
May Your love draw me nearer to Yourself,
Wean me from sin,
mortify me to this world,
Secure me by Your grace as I sail across this stormy sea
and at last may Your gentle breath, deliver me safe home into the harbor of Thy Love.
Adapted from “Valley of Vision”, Valley of Vision – p. 1
Lord, High and Holy, meek and lowly,
You have brought me to the Valley of Vision,
Where I live in the depths that I might see You in the heights;
Where I am hemmed in by mountains of sin, I behold Your glory.
Let me learn by paradox…
That the way down is the way up,
That to be low is to be high,
That the broken heart is the healed heart,
That the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
That the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
That to have nothing is to possess everything,
That to bear the Cross is to wear the Crown,
That to give is to receive,
That the Valley is the place of Vision,
Lord, in the daytime the stars can be seen from inside the deepest wells,
And so it is, the deeper the well I am in, the brighter Your stars shine;
So, let me find Your light in my darkness,
Let me find…
Your life in my death,
Your joy in my sorrow,
Your grace in my sin,
Your riches in my poverty,
Your glory in my valley
May the scales that blind my eyes be destroyed in this valley of suffering,
so that this valley becomes…A Valley of Vision
Adapted from “Self Knowledge”, Valley of Vision – p. 69
Searcher of Hearts, hold Thy mirror before my soul…
You are so good to give me a glimpse of myself;
Revealing my Sin as my greatest evil,
Revealing Yourself as my greatest good;
As I gaze at my reflection,
I have cause to loathe myself and find no reason to seek self-honor,
For no one should desire to commend their own dunghill.
Adapted from “Continual Repentance” The Valley of Vision p. 76 (my paraphrase)
O God of Grace,
You have counted my sin to my Substitute
You have counted His righteousness to me
You have Clothed me with a Bridegroom’s Robe
You have Decked me with the Jewels of Holiness.
But in my Flesh – I am still in Rags
My best prayers, stained with sin;
My best tears, filled with impurity
My confessions of wrong, aggravated with pride
My receiving of the Spirit, subverted with selfishness
I restructured this prayer as a responsive reading to be used in worship during Thanksgiving…
