What a beautiful day for getting some outside things done, Father! Thank You for the sunshine and the companionship, as well!

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One thing that I pray for is unity amongst followers of Jesus. Our witness to those who don’t believe is greatly weakened because we who do believe do not see eye to eye on many things.

Unity – oneness – was something for which Jesus prayed. As a part of this High Priestly Prayer following the Last Supper, He is recorded as saying in John 17:22-23 (and for clarification here, “I” is Jesus, “them” is His disciples – us included, and “You” is the Heavenly Father.)

I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected and completed into one, so that the world may know [without any doubt] that You sent Me, and [that You] have loved them, just as You have loved Me. AMP

If we would live out Jesus’ prayer, oh, what a different world we would find ourselves in!

What got me thinking along these lines was the preface of my book The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, written by editor and compiler, Arthur Bennett, when it was published in 1975.

Unbeknownst to me, there is a substantial and largely forgotten deposit of Puritan spiritual exercises, meditations and aspirations.

They are by no means a run-of-the-mill collection of prayers but as he said, they testify to the richness and colour of evangelical thought and language that animated vital piety in an important stream of English religious life.

The Puritan Movement was a religious phenomenon of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (i.e., the 1500-1600s). The way they went about following God wasn’t well accepted in England, but they pushed ahead in their diligence of personal devoutness. While the opposition they experienced tapered off in 1660 – and here is the particular part of the preface that impacted me – its theological ground-swell carried forward distinct forms of practical religion for many decades, particularly family worship and private devotion. In these spheres, and in that of the authority of Scripture over the whole of life, New England Presbyterians and Congregationalists were at one with English Dissenters and Anglican evangelicals in a close-knit union that transcended differences of worship, discipline and polity. They spoke the same spiritual language, shared the same code of values, adopted the same attitude towards the Christian religion, and breathed out the same God-centred aspirations in a manner that makes it impossible to distinguish the voice of conformist from that of non-conformist. Thus, this book of Puritan prayers has a unity not often found in similar works. The strength of Puritan character and life lay in the practice of prayer and meditation. (emphasis mine)

Now I realize a simple book isn’t the answer to our prayers, but all those who truly believe know that Jesus is!

Lord Jesus, help us to seek out that common ground that is found only in You. Our own mindsets and devices, which we hold so tightly to as “truth” pale in reality when held up to Your perfection. May our goal be to also speak the same spiritual language, share the same code of values, adopt the same attitude towards our faith, and lastly, breathe out the same God-centered aspirations! Amen!

Aug 18th, 2022, Thurs, 7:52 pm