Sacred Meditations

Today we thank our Lord Jesus Christ for His brother, James the Just. Here we pray that the Church may follow James’ example by giving ourselves continually to prayer and to the reconciliation of all. Saint James of Jerusalem (October 23), from The Book of Common Prayer.

God, our merciful Creator, satisfies the needs of every living creature. So we pray that He would make us thankful for His loving providence and make us faithful stewards of His good gifts of creation. “For Stewardship of Creation,” from The Book of Common Prayer.

In His earthly life, our Lord Jesus Christ shared our toil and hallowed our labor. We pray that He would be present with us where we work and give us pride in our work, as well as a just return for our labor. “For Commerce and Industry,” from The Book …

We pray that Almighty God, the Lord of heaven and earth, would graciously give us the harvests of land and seas, that He may prosper all who labor to gather those harvests, and that He would give us the gift of thanksgiving to Him. “For Fruitful Seasons,” from The Book …

All Christians have a vocation given by God, whether butcher, baker, candle stick maker, or pastor. We pray that all members of Christ’s holy Church may truly and devoutly serve Him in their various vocations. “For All Christians in Their Vocation,” from The Book of Common Prayer.

God has revealed His glory among the nations in His Son Jesus. We pray that He would keep His Church in mercy that she may persevere in the true confession of His Name. Collect for Proper 24 (the Sunday closest to October 19), from The Book of Common Prayer.

Johann Gerhard has contrasted our love for God with our love for other things—created things and even ourselves. In this fifth and final part of his Meditation IX, “Loving God Alone,” Pastor Gerhard leads us to ponder God’s love for us, which then leads to our love for God. And …

Johann Gerhard has contrasted loving God over against loving created things (Part 1). He has reminded us that created things cannot love us back, but God does (Part 2). And last time Gerhard led us to meditate on God’s love leading us to know Him (Part 3). In today’s part …

Here we continue with Johann Gerhard’s Meditation IX, “Loving God Alone.” In this installment, Gerhard leads us to ponder how God’s love leads us to a saving knowledge of Him and when loving God alone will be perfected. (Listen to Part 1 and Part 2.) Source: Sacred Meditations by Johann …

In his Meditation IX, “Loving God Alone,” Johann Gerhard contrasts loving God with loving created things (Part 1). In today’s installment of that meditation, Gerhard stresses that created things cannot love us back. But God does, because He loves us first. Source: Sacred Meditations by Johann Gerhard, pages 50-51, alt.