Tag Archives: parenting

A Family Day Prayer

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Sometimes certain prayers will resonate with us more than others. Our associate pastor, Monica McClure, gave such a prayer yesterday and I’d like to share it with you, with her permission. It not only touches on Family Day but our world issues which certainly need much prayer.

 Prayers of the People

Abba Father,  As a people who dwell in the shelter of the Most high, we praise you for being our refuge. Lord, there is safety for us in the shelter of your wings. We thank you for our mountain top experiences of your grace which have strengthened our faith and given us hope for the future.

As we continue to walk with you on life’s journeys…through the valleys as well as on the mountain tops…draw near to us so that that we might dwell forever in your presence.

Generous God, you have blessed us with life. You have placed us in families giving us a place to call home.

On this family day weekend we think about our own families. We thank you for our parents who gave us life, our family members who have shared and enriched our lives and with whom we share many memories…

We thank you Heavenly Father for setting the solitary in families. But, we are also mindful that for some of us the word “Family” brings mixed emotions or heartache…some of us have experienced much pain within our family relationships…People who should have loved us and cared for us have failed us…Some of us feel the pain of abandonment, of abuse, of neglect…of heartbreaking loss, the pain of disappointed hopes and missed expectations, the pain of alienation from loved ones. Have mercy on us Lord, and minister to us your healing grace even in the messiness of our family relationships.

Father, today we pray for those who long to be married and have their own children…for childless couples who long to be parents…hear and answer the desires and prayers of their hearts. We pray for those that are in the midst of parenting infants, children, and young people.   Give them wisdom, courage and stamina in raising their children to be well-adjusted citizens of the world, with a real desire to love and serve you.

We thank you for our St. Andrew’s church family today…another family to which we belong…one branch of the body of Christ…with almost 200 years of family history!  Remind us of our commitment as a church to provide for and participate in the spiritual nurture of our children and young people. Continue to bless us, encourage us and keep us faithful to your call to share the good news of Jesus with everyone.

Prince of Peace, we continue to lift up the needs of our own broken world in the turmoil that surrounds us…We ask you to give wisdom, discernment and courage to elected representatives in government. We pray for people who are very anxious about what the future holds for them. For those who feel powerless to effect decisions that will have a direct impact on their lives. Remind us,  that although we do not know what the future holds we know that you hold the future…and give us your peace. In Jesus’ name we pray.  AMEN

 Pastor Monica McClure

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Scarborough

February 19th, 2017

 

 

 

That Darned Ark

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The story of the flood and Noah’s ark (Genesis 6-9) appears to be giving a lot of people a lot of trouble.

For instance, how could a loving, caring God drown the whole world except for one man, his family, and a pair of every species of animal…just enough to repopulate planet earth.

Is it purely allegorical and if so what is allegory? Here is one explanation from the internet.

Allegory Definition 

Allegory is a figure of speech in which abstract ideas and principles are described in terms of characters, figures and events.It can be employed in prose and poetry to tell a story with a purpose of teaching an idea and a principle or explaining an idea or a principle. The objective of its use is to preach some kind of a moral lesson.

So, I kind of see it as God creating this beautiful planet filled with beautiful people and other creatures for the purpose of living in harmony and good will, and expecting them to be thankful and obedient to him in return. After all He’s the parent…we’re the kids.

Isn’t that what we expect from our children? We provide them with love, shelter, food, clothing, lessons for living life, and in return we expect co-operation, respect, obedience…not to mention a reciprocated love. Who of us hasn’t punished, or threatened to punish a wayward child for not living up to their end of the bargain? Except we don’t go as far as God is depicted to have done.

So, I’m thinking that whoever wrote that story, supposedly Moses, had a vivid imagination, a keen (if not warped) sense of justice, and pegged God as someone not to be tangled with. In other words, is the story of the flood one big empty threat…just like the dad who told his son, “Don’t touch that (whatever) or I’ll chop your hand off!” Really? Is it simply meant to make us pay attention to what is expected of us in God’s world?

The sad part about the people who let the flood story stop them from reading any further is that they missed the beautiful ending to the story…the part where God promised he would never do anything like that again and sent a beautiful rainbow as a sign of that promise. I don’t know about you, but I love seeing that rainbow in the clouds (Genesis 9:13).

So why am writing about that darned ark? It makes me sad that so many people are missing the rest of the story, God’s story, and all that it entails for our earthly sojourn, simply because they cannot let go of that segment with all it’s depicted horrors. All I can say is read on…you don’t know what you’re missing.