Transcript Mission Goal for the Southeastern District

“O come, Holy Spirit, inflame my heart, set it
on fire with love.
Burn away my self-centeredness so that I can
love unselfishly.
Breathe Your life-giving breath into my soul so
that I can live freely and joyously, unrestricted
by self-consciousness, and may be ready to go
wherever You may send me.
Come like a gentle breeze and give me Your still
peace so that I may be quiet and know the
wonder of Your presence, and help diffuse it in
the world. Never let me shut You out; never let
me try to limit You to my capacity; act freely in
me and through me, never leave me, O Lord
and giver of life!”
Michael Hollings and Etta Gullick
“O Spirit of God, brooding over the formless
world: Brood over my spirit. Blest Holy Spirit.
O Spirit of God, giving form to the formless:
fashion my spirit. Blest Holy Spirit. O Spirit of
God, bringing order out of chaos: order my
spirit. Blest Holy Spirit. O Spirit of God, giving
life to the lifeless: give life to my spirit. Blest
Holy Spirit.
O Spirit of the Lord, inspiration of the prophets:
Speak of my spirit. Bless Holy Spirit. O Holy
Spirit, author of holiness: sanctify my Spirit.
Blest Holy Spirit. O Holy Spirit, knowing the
deep things of God: Move in the depths of my
being. Blest Holy Spirit. Fire of the Spirit! Burn
all that is not holy, Blest Holy Spirit.
Fire of the Spirit! Shine with thy light.
Blest Holy Spirit.
Fire of the Spirit! Kindle with thy warmth.
Blest Holy Spirit.
Fire of the Spirit! Generate in us power.
Blest Holy Spirit.
Fire of the Spirit! Generate in us power.
Blest Holy Spirit.
Fire of the Spirit! Inflame us with love.
Blest Holy Spirit.
Wind of the Spirit! Breathe in us thy gentleness.
Blest Holy Spirit.
Wind of the Spirit! Blow in us thy strength.
Blest Holy Spirit.
Let us pray for the gift of the Spirit.
The gift of the Spirit is wisdom and understanding,
resourcefulness and spiritual strength, knowledge
and true godliness, and holy fear. Grant us
thy sevenfold gift, O Holy Spirit.
Blest Holy Spirit.
Let us pray for the fruit of the Spirit. The
harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, good
temper, gentleness, goodness, humility and
self-control. Produce in us thy harvest, O Holy
Spirit. Blest Holy Spirit.”
George Appleton
“You are holy, Lord, the only God, and Your
deeds are wonderful.
You are strong.
You are great.
You are the Most High,
You are almighty.
You, holy Father, are King of heaven and earth.
You are Three and One, Lord God, all good.
You are Good, all Good, supreme Good, Lord
God, living and true.
You
You
You
You
You
You
You
You
You
You
are
are
are
are
are
are
are
are
are
are
love,
wisdom.
humility,
endurance.
rest,
peace.
joy and gladness.
justice and moderation.
all our riches, and you suffice for us.
beauty.
You are gentleness.
You are our protector,
You are our guardian and defender.
You are courage.
You are our haven and our hope.
You are faith, Our great consolation.
You are our eternal life, Great and wonderful
Lord, God almighty, Merciful Saviour.”
St. Francis of Assisi
“O Lord, prepare my heart, I beseech Thee, to
reverence Thee, to adore Thee, to love Thee;
to hate, for love of Thee, all my sins and
imperfections, short-comings, whatever in me
displeaseth Thee; and to love all which Thou
lovest, and whom Thou lovest. Give me, Lord,
fervour of love, shame for my unthankfulness,
sorrow for my sins, longing for Thy grace, and
to be wholly united with Thee. Let my very
coldness call for the glow of thy love;
let my emptiness and dryness, like a barren and
thirsty land, thirst for Thee, call on Thee to
come into my soul, who refreshest those who
are weary. Let my heart ache to Thee and for
Thee, who stillest the aching of the heart. Let
my mute longings praise Thee, crave to Thee,
who satisfies the empty soul that waits on
Thee.”
E. B. Pusey
“Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to
be filled. My Lord, fill it. I am weak in the faith;
strengthen Thou me. I am cold in love; warm
me and make me fervent that my love may go
out to my neighbour. I do not have a strong
and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable
to trust Thee altogether. O Lord, help me.
Strengthen my faith and trust in Thee. In Thee I
have sealed the treasures of all I have. I am
poor;
Thou art rich and didst come to be merciful to
the poor. I am a sinner; Thou art upright. With
me there is an abundance of sin; in Thee is the
fullness of righteousness. Therefore, I will
remain with Thee of whom I can receive but to
whom I may not give. Amen”
Martin Luther
“O Behold my Lord Jesus Christ
my misery, needy and poor am I
and yet so loathe to accept thy
remedy that I do not sigh for the
riches of thy Grace.
Set aflame in me, O Lord
the desire for thy grace and faith in thy promise
that I may not offend thee my most gracious God
by my perverse unbelief. Amen”
Martin Luther
“Lord Jesus Christ, who returned from this
world to the Father and loved those who were
here in this world, make my mind turn from
worldly preoccupations to the contemplation of
heaven, to despise everything transitory and to
yearn only for celestial things, and to burn with
the glowing fire of your love. And you, Lord,
who deemed Yourself worthy to wash the feet
of your holy Apostles with your sacred hands,
cleanse also my heart by pouring in the
radiance of the Holy Spirit, so that I may be
able to love You, our Lord Jesus Christ, in all
things and above all else.”
Latin, 11th century tr. Bernard Muir
Disturb us, Lord,
when we are too well pleased with
ourselves; when our dreams have come
true because we dreamed too little;
when we arrive safely because we sailed
too close to the shore.
Disturb us Lord,
when with the abundance of things we
possess we have lost our thirst
for the Waters of Life;
having fallen in love with life, we
have ceased to dream of eternity;
and in our efforts to build a new
earth, we have allowed our vision of the
new heaven to dim.
Disturb us Lord,
to dare more boldly, to venture on wider
seas where storms will show your mastery;
where losing sight of land, we shall find
the stars.
We ask you to push back the horizons
of our hopes, and to push us in the
future with strength, courage, hope and
love.
Sir Francis Drake
“Let not the world ensnare our hearts by its
attractions nor overburden us by its cares. Enable
us to abandon all hope of lasting consolation from
created things, and to esteem nothing honorable,
nothing pleasing, nothing great and worthy the
affections of our souls, but thee, the Lord, and
that which directly tends to the improvement of
our state in thee.
Lord, thou art the chief among ten thousand, and
the one altogether lovely. It is only by abiding in
thy truth that we can taste the consolations of
grace or the hopes of glory. Whenever we look for
support out of thee, we find nothing but weakness
and distress. If thou dost not strengthen, illumine,
deliver and preserve us,
the friendship of mankind can give no consolation,
the strength of the might bring no support, the
counsels of the wise and the labors of the learned
impart no instruction, the treasures of the earth
purchase no deliverance, and the most secret
places afford no protection.
Thou, Lord, thou
alone art the supreme, the essential and final
good, the perfection of life, and light, and love.
Oh grant us thyself; may we ever abide in thy
doctrine; then shall we have both the Father and
the Son, and then shall we be able to do all things
through Christ who strengtheneth us.”
Lutheran Prayer Book p. 146-147
“We face a choice to be worldly Christians or
world Christians.”
Paul Borthwick
“The church is by nature missionary to the
extent that, if it ceases to be missionary, it
has not just failed in one of its tasks, it has
ceased being church.”
J. Andrew Kirk
“But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the
praises of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light. Once you
were not a people, but now you are the
people of God; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
I Peter 2:9-10
“But even if you should suffer for what is
right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear what
they fear; do not be frightened.’ But in your
hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be
prepared to give an answer to everyone
who asks you to give the reason for the
hope that you have. But do this with
gentleness and respect.”
I Peter 3:14-15
“Then Jesus came to them and said, "All
authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
“Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your mind.‘ This is the first and greatest
commandment. And the second is like it:
'Love your neighbor as yourself.‘”
Matthew 22:37-39
“Spirituality wrongly understood or pursued
is a major source of human misery and
rebellion against God.”
Dallas Willard
“We are not Christians because of what we
believe, but because we have been called to
be disciples of Jesus. To become a disciple is
not a matter of a new or changed selfunderstanding, but rather to become part of a
different community with a different set of
practices …”
Stanley Hauerwas
“The church is not something we make or
compel to happen.
We do not plan its
emerging future; we do not define it in a
vision statement that can be realized through
a controlled and managed strategic plan. The
church’s future is elicited from among the
people who make up the ecclesia. Leaders
who get people to follow their strategies and
plans do not build the future of the church.
Missional leaders cultivate a way of life
among a people through which God’s future
is elicited among the people. God eludes our
systemizing; God’s ecclesia cannot be mastered
or managed or made. God gives us our future
by the Spirit; we are invited to participate in the
unfolding of the present and the future of the
kingdom in the concrete places where missional
communities live.
The Missional Leader
Alan J. Roxburgh/Fred Romanuk
“’Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man
of unclean lips, and I live among a people of
unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the
LORD Almighty.’ Then one of the seraphs flew to
me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my
mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips;
your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom
shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said,
‘Here am I. Send me!’ “
Isaiah 6:5-8