The following is a Puritan communion prayer that I read last night in church for our monthly communion service.
God of All Good
I bless thee for the means of grace;
teach me
to see in them thy loving purposes
and the
joy and strength of my soul.
Thou hast prepared for me a feast;
and
though I am unworthy to sit down as guest,
I wholly
rest on the merits of Jesus,
and hide
myself beneath his righteousness;
When I hear his tender invitation
and see
his wondrous grace,
I cannot hesitate, but must come to thee in love.
By thy Spirit enliven my faith rightly to discern
and
spiritually to apprehend the Saviour.
While I gaze upon the emblems of
my
Saviour's death,
may I ponder why he died, and hear him say,
'I gave my life to
purchase yours,
presented
myself an offering to expiate
your sin,
shed my blood to blot
out your guilt,
opened my side to
make you clean,
endured your curses
to set you free,
bore your
condemnation to satisfy divine
justice.'
O may I rightly grasp the breadth and length of this
design,
draw near, obey, extend the hand,
take the bread, receive the cup,
eat and drink, testify before all men
that I do
for myself, gladly, in faith,
reverence and love, receive my Lord,
to be my
life, strength, nourishment, joy, delight.
In the supper I remember his eternal love,
boundless grace, infinite compassion,
agony, cross, redemption,
and
receive assurance of pardon, adoption, life, glory.
As the outward elements nourish my body,
so may
thy indwelling Spirit invigorate my soul,
until
that day when I hunger and thirst no more,
and sit
with Jesus at his heavenly feast.
No comments:
Post a Comment