Daily Devotion 1 2 2015

[Suzuki Johnny]

Morning Prayer
Let me not forget my prayers as I go out into the world. Holy Spirit, be with me, and let me praise you and remember you in my every action and thought, for the entire day long. In Christ's name I ask this.
Amen




Religious Observances

Christian : Feast of SS Valerius & Rufinus
Luth : Commem of Gregory of Nazianzus & Gregory of Nyssa, bishops
Luth-Manheim, Penn : Rose Day anniversary
Methodist : Student Day (2nd Sunday in June)
old RC, Luth, Ang : Comm of St Basil the Great, bp of C‘sarea, doc
RC : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Trinity Sunday)
Religious History

1715 Robert Norden became licensed pastor of the Baptist congregation in Prince George County -- the first Baptist church organized within the American colony of Virginia.
1940 Auschwitz, largest of the Nazi concentration camps, was first opened near Krakow, Poland. Before its liberation by the Allies in 1945, over 3 million Jews would be exterminated there.
1956 President Eisenhower signed a congressional resolution which added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. The last phrase now reads: '...one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'
1966 The Vatican announced that its 'Index of Prohibited Books' (created by Pope Paul IV in 1557) had been abolished.
1984 The Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution opposing the ordination of women for ministry in the Baptist Church.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

For the Day Ahead
Lord God, I come to you this morning, full of hope that the day to come might be filled with joy and energy. Grant that I may do my work with a light and happy heart; and if there are tasks that I do not look forward to, or even dread, let me undertake them with courage and resolve. For this day could be perfect, if I can only live it in You and with You and for You.
Where I face frustration today, let me handle it with acceptance and faith that the outcome is in Your hands. Lead me away from anger or judgment of other people. Let me tend to my own garden instead of looking over the fence. If my neighbor's yard is filled with weeds, help me not to criticize, and keep me from envy of those whose tree bears more fruit.
And let everything I attempt be filled with the knowledge and guidance of Your Holy Spirit. I pray that the Spirit will be with me at every moment, and that I will always be aware of Him, and live every moment of this day in Your presence. In Christ's name, I pray,
Amen

Religious Observances

RC : Commemoration of SS Modestus, Crescentia, martyrs
RC : Commemoration of St Vitus, martyr, protector of epileptics
Religious History

1520 Leo X issued the papal encyclical 'Exsurge Domine,' which condemned German Reformer Martin Luther as a heretic on 41 counts and branded him an enemy of the Roman Catholic Church.
1649 Margaret Jones of Charlestown became the first person tried and executed for witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts.
1686 In Boston, the King's Chapel was organized. It was the first Anglican church established in colonial New England.
1950 American missionary martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'A man without Christ has his roots only in his own times, and his fruits as well.'
1979 Greater Europe Mission moved its headquarters from Chicago to Wheaton, Illinois. Founded in 1949, GEM is an evangelical missionary agency involved in church planting and evangelism in over a dozen European countries.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer for the Holy Spirit to Pray for Me
Lord God, sometimes there is something in my heart and I cannot find the words, or sometimes, there are prayers I have wanted to pray and have forgotten. Come to me in your Holy Spirit, Lord God, I humbly ask of you, and find the prayers of my heart.
Holy Spirit of God, come to me. Pray for me. Pray all of the things in my heart that have escaped my mortal memory. Pray for all that I cannot find words to pray.
And come to me, O Holy Spirit, and make your will known to me. What would you have me remember today? What may I do to show my love for you?
Thank you, Lord God for the gift of your Spirit, and I pray for your help in obeying your will. In the name of Christ I pray,
Amen

Religious Observances

Christian : Feast of St Quiricus (St Cirycus)
RC : Feast of Madonna of Carmine, Italy
Ang : Commemoration of Joseph Butler, bishop of Durham
Religious History

1539 German Reformer Martin Luther declared: 'Faith justifies not as a work, nor as a quality, nor as knowledge, but as assent of the will and firm confidence in the mercy of God.'
1654 Queen Christina, a convert to Roman Catholicism, abdicated her Swedish throne to devote the remainder of her life to religion and art.
1752 Death of Joseph Butler, Anglican theologian. His 1736 'Analogy of Religion' demonstrated the strong probability for the existence of a caring God over against that of a disinterested Creator Deity.
1804 Anglican missionary to Persia, Henry Martyn wrote in his journal: 'My soul, alas, needs these uneasinesses in outward things, to be driven to take refuge in God.'
1833 Anglican-turned-Catholic Cardinal John Henry Newman, while traveling on a ship from Italy to France, penned the words to the hymn, 'Lead, Kindly Light, Amid the Encircling Gloom.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer of St. Richard
Thanks be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, For all the benefits thou hast won for me,
For all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me.
O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother,
May I know thee more clearly,
Love thee more dearly,
And follow thee more nearly
For ever and ever.

Religious Observances

Ang : St Alban's Day [0622]
Religious History

1703 Birth of John Wesley, English founder of Methodism. The systematic disciplines of the 'Holy Club,' which John and his brother Charles founded, elicited the nickname 'Methodies' from their critics.
1822 In New York City, the first elders of the newly founded African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church were ordained.
1846 Iowa College was chartered in Davenport under the joint sponsorship of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches. The school changed location in 1859 and was later renamed Grinnell College.
1859 Birth of J. Wilbur Chapman, Presbyterian pastor and evangelist who authored a number of hymns, including 'One Day When Heaven Was Filled with His Praises.'
1963 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave it with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer to Live for God's Glory
Lord God, help me this day to live entirely to Your glory. Let me be deaf to unmerited criticism and the praise of men. Keep me humble, dependent, supremely joyful, as calm and quiet as a dependent child, yet earnest and active. I wish not so much to do as to be, and if You make me right, I shall be right; Lord, I belong to You, make me worthy of Yourself.
Amen


Religious Observances

RC : Commemoration of SS Mark & Marcellianus, martyrs
RC : Commemoration of St Ephrem, confessor, doctor
Ang : Commem of Bernard Mizeki, catechist, martyr in Rhodesia
Religious History

1464 Pius II led a brief 'crusade' into Italy, against the Turks. However, he soon became ill and died, before the rest of his allies arrived. Soon after, the three-centuries-old 'crusades mentality' among European Christians came to an end.
1781 The first Baptist church established in Kentucky was organized at Elizabethtown. (Kentucky was first visited by Baptist missionaries in 1772 when Squire Boone, brother of explorer Daniel Boone, began exploring the eastern Kentucky regions.)
1819 Birth of Samuel Longfellow, an American clergyman who composed the words to the hymn, 'Father, Give Thy Benediction.'
1830 Birth of Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane, an orphaned Scottish poet who penned two of the most haunting hymns in the English language: 'Beneath the Cross of Jesus' and 'The Ninety and Nine.'
1906 Birth of Gordon Lindsay, missions pioneer. In 1948 Lindsay and he wife Freda founded Christ for the Nations, an interdenominational foreign missions support agency.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer to Live this Day with God
Dear Lord, I thank you for this day. I thank you that I can see or hear this morning. Let me give thanks all day for what I have, especially your eternal love, and forgive me this day when I go astray, by my thoughts or actions; my only aim is to please you, to know and do your will. Guide my every step.
Help me to live this day with wisdom and discretion so that I may not fall short of your glory. Protect me from danger, both in the world and in my attitude. Give me the gift of a clear mind, that I might hear the quiet voice of your Spirit. Help to massage away resentments and blame for things gone by, that would eat my energy and poison my mind; but instead, help me to look to the moment, to what I can do, to work for the future. And let me never become frustrated where I lack control of events, for you are in charge, not me; and I put my entire faith in your power, your knowledge, your plan for humanity.
Your are my leader and my coach, Lord. Help me to keep this in mind for just today, in Christ's name I pray,
Amen


Religious Observances

RC : Commemoration of SS Gervase & Protase, martyrs
RC : Memorial of Romuald, abbot (opt)
RC : Feast of St Juliana Falconieri, virgin
Moslem : Ashura (Muharram 10, 1415 AH)
Religious History

0325 The month-long Council of Nicea closed. Known as the first ecumenical council in the history of the Church, it formulated the Nicene Creed and established the method for calculating Easter.
1566 Birth of James VI of Scotland. Upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, he ascended the English throne as James I. He is best remembered for authorizing the publication known today as the 'King James Version' (KJV) of the Bible.
1910 In Spokane, Washington, under sponsorship of the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA, Father's Day was observed for the first time.
1977 Paul VI canonized John Nepomucene Neumann, the first American-born male saint. As fourth Bishop of the Philadelphia Diocese, Neumann is remembered for developing the parochial school system.
1987 The Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring public schools to teach creationism if they taught evolutionism. The court ruled that the state law violated the First Amendment.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Lord Eternal and Creator of all things, who with your unknowable goodness called me to this life; I have no life, no light, no joy or wisdom, no strength except in you God. I entreat you, teach me to pray aright. Purify me from all taint of flesh and spirit. Bless this day which you give to me, your unworthy servant.
By the power of your blessing enable me, throughout this day, to speak and act to your glory with a pure spirit, with humility, patience, love, gentleness, peace, courage and wisdom. Let me be always aware of your presence. By the power of your love, grant me to hold fast to that which is good. Preserve me from every word or deed that corrupts the soul; from every impulse unpleasing in your sight and hurtful to my fellow man, my brothers and sisters.
This in Christ's name, I pray,
Amen

Religious Observances
RC : Feast of St Silverius, 58th pope [536-37], martyr
Religious History
1529 Clement VII and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V signed the Peace of Barcelona, which ended attacks on Rome by the Lutheran armies.
1599 The Synod of Diamper reunited a native church in India with Rome. Discovered in 1498 by Portuguese explorers, this isolated pocket of worshipers traced their Christian origins back to the missionary efforts of the Apostle Thomas.
1776 Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'A Christian is not of hasty growth...but rather like the oak, the progress of which is hardly perceptible, but in time becomes a deep-rooted tree.'
1779 Birth of Dorothy Ann Thrupp, English devotional writer and author of the hymn, 'Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us.'
1885 A band of Moravian missionaries landed on the shores of Alaska and founded the Bethel Mission. During the first year of their mission work among the, eskimoes, winter temperatures outside their makeshift housing plummeted to 50 degrees below zero!

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Love Like God
To love someone means to see him as God intended him.
Amen


Religious Observances

Christian-Colombia : Sacred Heart Day [moveable feast]
RC : Memorial of St Aloysius Gonzaga, religious, patron of youth
Luth : Commem of Onesimos Nesib, translator/evangelist
Islam : New Year's Day (Muharram 1, 1414 AH)
Religious History

1639 Birth of Increase Mather, early American theologian. He published nearly 100 books, and is credited with helping end executions for witchcraft in colonial America.
1821 Birth of Henry W. Baker, compiler of 'Hymns Ancient and Modern' Ä the unofficial Anglican church hymnal. He also authored the hymn based on Psalm 23: 'The King of Love My Shepherd Is.'
1821 The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church was formally constituted in New York City. Nineteen clergymen were present, representing six African-American churches from New York City; Philadelphia; New Haven, CT and Newark, NJ.
1963 In Rome, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected Pope Paul VI, the 261st pontiff of the Catholic Church.
1968 Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth wrote in a letter: 'Faith in God's revelation has nothing to do with an ideology which glorifies the status quo.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

To Use My Leisure Time Fruitfully
I pray, Lord, that you will fill me with discernment, so that I can use my leisure time wisely and well, that I might have some recreation and rest in my life; let me not become stressed-out, but neither let me fritter away my hours in activities that help neither myself nor others. Send me the strength to combat obsession. Send me your Spirit to see the vanity of excessive self-indulgence. Let me know the true joy of time well-spent. In Christ's name, I pray,
Amen


Religious Observances

RC : Mem of SS John Fisher, bp, martyr, & Thomas More, martyr (opt)
witch : Alban Hefin sabbat
Ang : Feast of Alban, 1st martyr of Britain
RC : Feast of St Paulinus, bishop of Nola, confessor
Religious History

1559 In England, Queen Elizabeth's Prayer Book was issued. During her 45-year reign, Elizabeth I rejected the Catholic faith, adopting instead the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church.
1745 Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'I am often weary of this world, and want to leave it on that account; but it is more desirable to be drawn, rather than driven out of it.'
1750 Clergyman Jonathan Edwards was dismissed from his Congregational pulpit in Northampton, MA, after serving there 23 years. Maintaining his ultra- conservative theology, Edwards had grown to become administratively too inflexible for his congregation.
1865 The society known today as the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) was first organized. Its purpose is to provide information about the archaeology, the history and the people of the Holy Land.
1870 Scholars began translation work on the English Revised Version of the Bible. Released in 1881, the ERV became the textual basis for the American Standard Version (ASV), first published in the United States in 1901.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Scripture Reading: Exodus 3:1-10
I have come down to rescue them . . . and to bring them . . . into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Exodus 3:8
One of my sons and I keep bees. We have learned a great deal about these fascinating creatures in God’s garden. Bees are an intricate part of the ecosystem, especially for the pollination of fruit trees and vegetables. We have developed a deep respect and love for bees. So I was bothered to see that bees are mentioned in the Bible—in passing or negatively—only a few times.
But our verse for today does mention “milk and honey” to describe the bountiful promised land to which God would bring his people. That phrase crops up again and again in the history of God’s people. A land flowing with honey signals a great harvest of fruit and vegetables made possible by bees pollinating plants and trees. And the honey they produce is really their food, but they “share” it with us and other creatures.
I don’t think it bothers bees that they don’t get more credit for how they benefit the ecology of God’s garden as they produce their sweet honey. They are “fearfully and wonderfully made” creatures that simply go about the work God has given them in his world. The bees teach me also to simply go about my work and “not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

Lord, thank you for bees and for their work that blesses us with fruits and honey. Teach us to be like bees in your kingdom, sharing the bounty of your creation. Amen.

Religious Observances

RC, Ang : Vigil (eve) of St John the Baptist
RC : Feast of St Audrey (St Ethelreda), virgin
RC : Commemoration of St Joseph Cafassio, Italian priest
Religious History

1415 Bohemian reformer and martyr Jan Hus wrote in a letter: 'It is difficult to...esteem it all joy in various temptations. It is easy to talk about...but difficult to fulfill it.'
1683 English Quaker William Penn signed his famous treaty with the Indians of Pennsylvania. Voltaire once remarked that it was the only treaty never sworn to, and never broken.
1738 Birth of Samuel Medley, English Baptist clergyman and author of the hymn, 'O Could I Speak the Matchless Worth.'
1775 Anglican hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'True religion is not a science of the head so much as an inward and heartfelt perception.... Here the learned have no real advantage over the ignorant.'
1967 Paul VI issued the encyclical 'Sacerdotalis Caelibatus,' reaffirming the Catholic Church's requirement of celibacy with the priesthood.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

[Suzuki Johnny]

For a Sense of Wonder at God's Creation
Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of your universe. Delight me to see how your Christ plays in ten thousand places, in limbs and eyes not His, to be the father through the features of men's faces. Each day enrapture me with your marvelous things without number. I do not ask to see the reason for it all; I ask only to share the wonder of it all.
Amen.

Religious Observances

Christian : Feast of St Prosper
RC : Commemoration of St William, abbot
Luth : Commemoration of the Augsburg Confession
Luth : Commemoration of Philipp Melanchthon, renewer of the Church
Religious History

1115 St. Bernard founded a monastery in Clairvaux, France. It afterward became a strategic center for the Cistercians, a religious order that flourished up until the Reformation.
1580 The German 'Book of Concord' was published, containing all the official confessions of the Lutheran Church. (English translations of the entire work were not available before 1851.)
1744 The first Methodist conference convened, in London. This new society within Anglicanism imposed strict disciplines upon its members, formally separating from the Established Church in 1795.
1865 English pioneer missionary J. Hudson Taylor founded the China Inland Mission. Its headquarters moved to the US in 1901, and in 1965 its name became Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) International.
1957 During a convention in Cleveland, Ohio, the United Church of Christ (UCC) was formed by a merger of the Congregational Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Lord God and Father; thank you for this day,
Help me to follow you in every way.
Let me speak as you speak, and do as you do;
Let me help others, as you help them, too.
Help me to be honest, don't let me play games,
Help me to grow, yet still stay the same.
Help me not to be selfish, to give of my heart, my mind and my labor;
Give all - not just part.
Help me to love others, my family, my friends,
Bless all of my foes, help me make amends.
Help me be kind, Father, where I am needed, let
Me give warm attention, and see all needs are met.
Help keep me busy, to strive for the best,
Help me not to be lazy, but find needed rest.
Let me come to you, Father, throughout the day,
Often to thank you, often to pray.

Religious Observances

RC : Feast of SS John & Paul, martyrs in Rome
Religious History

1097 The armies of the First Crusade (1096-99) occupied the ancient Byzantine city of Nicea.
1702 Birth of Philip Doddridge, an English Nonconformist clergyman. Doddridge authored 370 hymn- texts, of which 'O Happy Day That Fixed My Choice' is still sung today.
1839 Scottish clergyman and missionary Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'Joy is increased by spreading it to others.'
1892 Birth of Pearl S. Buck, American Presbyterian missionary to China and author of the 1931 best-seller, 'The Good Earth.'
1955 The first Southern Baptist congregation was formally organized in Las Vegas, with 33 charter members. It was the second Southern Baptist church established in Nevada.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Tuesday, June 27, 2017 12:00 AM
Scripture Reading: John 12:20-26
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
John 12:24
Father, thank you for sending your one and only Son to die, rise, and multiply his life in all who follow him. Inspire and ­strengthen me to lay down my life and serve others. Amen.

Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
RC : Memorial of Cyril of Alexandria, bishop & doctor (opt)
Christian : Commem of St Ladislas I (St Lazlo), king of Hungary

Religious History
1299 In his encyclical 'Scimus fili,' Pope Boniface VIII claimed that Scotland owed allegiance to the Catholic Church.
1739 English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'Christ's servants have always been the world's fools.'
1760 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'Every one, though born of God in an instant, yet undoubtedly grows by slow degrees.'
1844 Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons, and his brother Hyrum were lynched by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, resulting in part from the community's moral outrage at Smith's recent authorization of polygamous Mormon marriages.
1961 In England, Arthur Michael Ramsey was enthroned as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury, the principal see of the Established Church of England.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

American Prayer for the Work Day
Almighty God, I thank Thee for the job of this day. May I find gladness in all its toil and difficulty, its pleasure and success, and even in its failure and sorrow. I would look always away from myself, and behold the glory and the need of the world, that I may have the will and the strength to bring the gift of gladness to others; that with them I stand to bear the burden and heat of the day and offer Thee the praise of work well done.
Amen
 
 
 
 Religious Observances
Ang, RC, Luth : Feast of St Iren‘us, Bishop of Lyons, martyr

Religious History
1577 Birth of Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter. His most famous canvasses include 'Descent from the Cross' and 'Erection of the Cross.'
1851 Birth of Eliza E. Hewitt, American Presbyterian church worker and devotional author. Four of her hymns still endure: 'Will There Be Any Stars?', 'More About Jesus I Would Know,' 'When We All Get to Heaven' and 'Sunshine in the Soul.'
1914 Birth of Lester Roloff, American evangelist. In his later years he founded the 'City of Refuge,' a work specializing in reforming children who came from broken homes.
1962 The Lutheran Church in America (LCA) was formed with the merger of four Lutheran synods: the United Lutheran Church in America, the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, the American Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church.
1971 The U.S. Supreme Court declared that state underwriting of nonreligious instruction in parochial schools was unconstitutional.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer for the Day
Give me grace Almighty Father, so to pray, as to deserve to be heard, to address you with my heart, as with my lips. You are everywhere present, from you no secret can be hidden. May the knowledge of this, teach me to fix my thoughts on you, with reverence and devotion, that I may not pray in vain.
May I now, and on each return of morning, consider how I will spend the day ahead; what thoughts will prevail in my mind? What words will I speak? Will my actions reflect your will, or my own? How far can I acquit myself of evil, and live in the goodness and beauty of my Lord Christ?
Give me always a thankful sense of the blessings in which I live, of the many comforts of my lot; that I may not deserve to lose them by discontent or indifference. Hear me almighty God, for his sake who has redeemed me, and taught me thus to pray.
Amen

Religious Observances

RC, Ang, Luth : Solemnity of SS Peter & Paul, apostles
Religious History

1757 Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote ina letter: 'Whatever we may undertake with a sincere desire to promote His glory, we may comfortably pursue. Nothing is trivial that is done for Him.'
1810 In Bradford, Massachusetts, the first U.S. missionary society was organized: the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
1875 The first 'holiness' conference opened at Keswick, England. Keswick conferences stress a non- charismatic, 'crisis' form of sanctification, in contrast to the older traditional view of Christian sanctification as being a lifelong 'process.'
1908 Birth of Cyrus H. Gordon, American Jewish archaeological scholar. Having taught Assyriology and Egyptology at Dropsie College in Philadelphia, his his technical writings include the 'Ugaritic Handbook' (1947).
1931 The Unevangelized Fields Mission was founded, in England. UFM missionaries today work primarily in Latin America, Europe and Africa, as well as in Haiti and Indonesia.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

To Help Others This Day
Heavenly Lord, I pray that this day, you will continue to bless me, that I may be a blessing to others. Keep me strong that I may help the weak. Keep me uplifted that I may have words of encouragement for others. I pray for those that are lost and can’t find their way. I pray for those that are misjudged and misunderstood. I pray for those who don’t know you. I pray that others will find your strength, so that they can love and help one another. I pray for those who don’t believe, that they may find you.
And when this world closes in on me, let me remember the example of my Lord and Savior: to slip away and find a quiet place to pray. Remind me, nudge me, let me remember to find you when I’m feel like I'm pushed beyond my limits. In Christ's name, I come to you,
Amen

Religious Observances

RC : Commemoration of St Paul
RC : Memorial of the 1st Martyrs of the See of Rome (opt)
Religious History

1629 The settlers of Salem, Mass. appointed Samuel Skelton as their pastor, by ballot. Their church covenant, afterward composed by Skelton, established Salem as the first non-separating congregational Puritan Church in New England.
1780 Benjamin Randall organized a fellowship of churches known as Free Will Baptists in New Hampshire. It became one of the early branches of the National Association of Free Will Baptists, which was formed in 1935.
1909 In Rome, the Catholic Pontifical Biblical Commission issued a decree interpreting the first 11 chapters of Genesis as history, not myth.
1973 In Korea, the Far Eastern Broadcasting Co. began transmitting the Gospel from HLAZ, its first radio station in this country. FBEC is active today through radio missions outreach, and focuses its work among the islands of Eastern Asia and the Pacific.
1974 Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr., and a church deacon were slain by a crazed gunman in Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her son, the assassinated civil rights leader, once preached.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer of Thanks for God's Creation
O Lord God of Israel and God of the nations, you are the only God in heaven above or the earth below. I walk before you with all my heart. I bless your name in the morning when I rise and in the evening when I sleep, and all the day when your creation fills my eye. Bless me to remember you this day. When I see and hear the thousand miracles of your creation, let me see them anew, recalling that you have made them, and no other; that I may live in your presence among the common miracles I take for granted. Through Christ I pray,
Amen

Religious Observances

Luth : Commem of Catherine Winkworth, John Neale, hymnwriters
Old Catholic : Feast of the Precious Blood of Jesus
RC : Comm of St Oliver Plunkett, Irish martyr/theologian/primate
Religious History

1643 The Westminster Assembly first convened in England, from which would emerge theWestminster longer and shorter catechisms.
1800 The earliest recorded Methodist camp meeting in America was held in Logan CountyKentucky, near the Gaspar River Church.
1899 In Wisconsin, the Gideons were founded by three traveling businessmen. They placedtheir first Bibles in 1908 at the Superior Hotel in Iron Mountain, Montana.
1942 Birth of Andrae Crouch, African-American sacred music artist. His most enduringgospel songs have been 'Soon and Very Soon,' 'My Tribute' and 'Through It All.'
1985 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public school teachers may not enter parochialschool classrooms, to provide remedial or enrichment instruction.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer to Look Beyond Appearances
Heavenly Father, help me, I pray, to see other people as you see them, as my fellow souls struggling to find you. Let me not be deceived by appearance; let me not be misled by my prejudice. Let me not compare the outside of other people to the inside of myself, nor believe that the circumstances of my birth define a standard that others are supposed to meet. Let me see my own imperfection and not that of my fellow man. This I pray,
Amen
 
 Religious Observances
Old Catholic : Visitation of Mary

Religious History
0311 Miltiades was elected 32nd pope of the Catholic Church. During his pontificate,Christianity was finally tolerated by Rome, following the Emperor Constantine's conversionto the Christian faith.
1489 Birth of Thomas Cranmer, first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury and primaryauthor of the 'Book of Common Prayer' and 'Thirty-Nine Articles' of the Anglican Church.
1752 The first Bible in America printed in English was published in Boston.
1918 Death of Washington Gladden, 82, a popular Congregational theologian of the SocialGospel. He also authored the hymn, 'O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee.'
1930 Pioneer linguistic educator Frank C. Laubach wrote in a letter: '[God has saidto me,] If I do not speak to you in words at times, it is because the reality all about youis greater than the imperfect symbols of things which you have in words.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer of Submission
Dear Lord, I give you my hands to do your work; I give you my feet to go your way; I give you my eyes to see as you see; I give you my tongue to speak your words; I give you my mind that you may think in me; I give you my spirit that you may pray in me. Above all, I give you my heart that you may love in me. I give you my whole self, Lord, that you may grow in me, so that it is you who lives, works and prays in me.
Amen


Religious Observances

RC : Feast of St Thomas, apostle
RC : Commemoration of St Leo II, 80th pope (681-83)
Religious History

1756 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'One who lives anddies in error, or in dissent from our Church, may yet be saved; but one who lives and diesin sin must perish.'
1894 Birth of Don R. Falkenberg, founder in 1923 of the Mid-West Businessmen's Councilof the Pocket Testament League. In 1967 the name of this evangelical agency was changed toBible Literature International.
1907 Pope St. Pius X, in his encyclical 'Lamentabili,' formally condemned the'modernist' intellectual movement, as it exhibited itself in the Catholic Church.
1959 Pope John XXIII, in his encyclical 'Ad Petri Cathedram,' expressed the hope thatnon-Catholic Christians would see in the upcoming Vatical II Ecumenical Council 'a warminvitation to seek and find unity.'
1979 Thirty-four years after the end of World War II, the West German government votedto continue prosecution of Nazi war criminals by removing the statute of limitations onmurder.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)