God's Minute

August Fourth

Whatsoever you shall ask in My name, that will I do.--John 14:13

THOU, O God, art our Father. We are the children of eternal love. Help us, we pray Thee, to live our lives in Thy sight. Let nothing unworthy claim our hearts, and may we find in Thy will our peace.

We pray that Thy likeness may be formed in us, and that our lives may abound in the love and peace and joy of Thy Holy Spirit. Help us to love Thee with a pure heart fervently, and to love those who love Thee and are loved by Thee.

Bless, we pray, all for whom we should pray. We name their names in the silence of our hearts. Pity the ungrateful, the wayward, the wanderer. Comfort the lonely and the desolate. Let Thy peace rule in our hearts and in our home. Whom have we in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon the earth that we desire but Thee.

When we stumble, may Thy strength support us, Thy wisdom lead us, Thy love redeem us. Open our hearts to receive Thee, the Divine Guest, into the home of our souls, and may we hold fellowship with Thee as we walk the path of life. We ask all in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Hugh Thomson Kerr, D.D.,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

If you've never yet read any of the links I've supplied that provide a little background to the men and women who have written these prayers, this would be the one to read. Hugh Tomson Kerr was founder and editor of Theology Today for nearly 50 years up until his death in 1992. The link I have provided takes you to the memorial which was written by the Editors of Theology Today and printed in the magazine. Tim, as he was called, must have been a remarkable man. I would like to have known him and had a chance to talk with him.

A short exerpt:

As an editor, Tim had clear and distinct tastes in religious writing. His blue pencil was a scalpel, slicing away jargon and puffery, healing ailing theological prose. He was convinced that theologians had become too timid, too cautious, too ready to tether their own insights with the cords of qualifications, and he encouraged them to say what they meant and to say it boldly. "What we need today," he once wrote in a THEOLOGY TODAY editorial, " are hard-hitting articles, growing out of deep conviction, by authors who have something to say and are not afraid of taking a stand, unfurling a banner, going out on a limb, engaging in critical controversy." He was particularly negative toward the passive "compare this to that" style of writing so prized in the seminar and so dreaded by journal readers.

When I read much of what is being written today, it makes me long for God to raise up more men like this, ready and willing to "cut the cords of qualifications, say what they mean and say it boldly."

Related Tags: prayer, morning prayer, Hugh Thomson Kerr, Theology Today