A Message from the Bishop - Renewing our trust in our Good Shepherd
Dear Friends,
I beseech you to pray fervently for our nation. Pray for God’s just resolution of our election crisis. Pray for peace and for healing for our people.
Pray for the Church, that we would not be divided by the schemes of the Evil One. The polarization of our culture threatens to infect the Body of Christ and we must engage the spiritual battle against that demonic strategy. The Rev. John Yates recently published a very helpful letter of exhortation, particularly urging young leaders to safeguard the unity of the Church.
You may find the resources of the Book of Common Prayer to be of help in giving voice to the concerns of our hearts. The Great Litany (pages 91-98) has for centuries been prayed in times of national distress. Turn also to prayers such as the Collect for the Unity of All Christian People (page 646) and those for the Nation (pages 654-655).
And turn, of course, to the Psalms. After a restless night of much prayer and little sleep, I was led this morning to Psalm 77, where the Psalmist pours out his burdened heart to God:
2 In the time of my trouble I sought the Lord; *
my hands were stretched out in the night without rest; my soul refused comfort.
3 When I think upon God, I groan; *
when I ponder, my spirit grows faint.
4 You hold my eyelids open; *
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
Yet the Psalmist knew of God’s faithfulness in the past and the remembrance of that stirred his faith:
11 I will remember the works of the Lord, *
and call to mind your wonders of old time.
12 I will think also of all your works, *
and my talk shall be of your deeds.
He goes on to praise God’s holiness, his mighty power and his saving acts of deliverance:
13 Your way, O God, is holy; *
who is so great a God as our God?
14 You are the God who does wonders, *
and have declared your power among the peoples.
15 You have mightily delivered your people, *
even the sons of Jacob and Joseph.
He recounts God’s wondrous power that brought the people of Israel through the Red Sea. And he reminds us that the work of our Sovereign God is discerned only through the eyes of faith:
19 Your way was in the sea, and your paths in the great waters, *
yet your footsteps were not seen.
Through it all, God is faithful:
20 You led your people like sheep *
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
As we renew our trust in our Good Shepherd, we know that he will care for us in our great time of need.
So pray, friends, pray.
Faithfully yours in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. John A. M. Guernsey