A Prayer for Every Season

   I am writing to you as the summer is starting to dwindle and the children are returning to school. Before we know it, we will be preparing for Fall. It is a perfect time to reflect on the many ways that God has blessed and preserved us– in both our joys and our sorrows. For “to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). And in every trial and season of life we should never cease to turn to our Lord. Whether for hope or sorrow, for thanksgiving or consternation, we should never forget to seek and find Him.

   As Anglicans, we are never at a loss for words. At every baptism of a child, godparents are instructed to make sure the child is taught to says the “Our Father”. Also called the Lord’s Prayer, for the Our Father is the prayer that Jesus Christ taught His disciples to say when He walked with them on the earth. What better example of faith in Jesus can we have than to use the prayer that He taught us? Yet why did He teach us this prayer? One reason is that it demonstrates how we should approach our Heavenly Father– who sent His only Son into the world to die for our sins, so that we might be saved unto eternal life.

   When we pray, we should begin by acknowledging our God as the Creator of the whole visible world, who exist outside and above it. Therefore, we start by saying, “Our Father, who art in heaven”. We should acknowledge that our God is Holy, so next we say, “hallowed be thy name”. We should always love and desire Him and His will, over and above our own, which is why we say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven”. Asking Him to bring heaven to earth, as He has revealed He will do on that final day.

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   We can never forget that everything we have in this life is from Him, in both body and soul. Even our faith is a gift, so we should seek Him for our continuous material and spiritual needs. We do this when we ask, “Give us this day, our daily bread”. Knowing that our God is holy and that we have sinned against Him in thought, word, and deed, we must seek His forgiveness by saying, “And forgive us our trespasses”. Being faithful servants of Him must do to others, what we would ask Him to do for us, so we continue, “as we forgive those who trespass against us”. Always acknowledge that all things are under His dominion and control, we ask our Lord in His sovereignty not to test our faith, by allowing it to be tried, but to preserve us from all temptations. Saying, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever”. Then finally we ask that all these things may be so in heaven and on earth by saying, “Amen” (i..e., “let it be so” to all our petitions, intentions, and desires).

   So as the seasons turn and this life continues to bring new challenges, trails, and tribulations, let us never forget to seek the Lord in our prayers. Instead, remembering always this sacred prayer that He has given us. In every success and in every fear. For in Him are to “live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). What better way can we thank Him than by keeping his statues and His commands.