Evening Prayers

 

I intended to write just one blog about prayer. However, the response from my siblings to that blog has given me reason for further reflection. Roy commented about “someone” getting a detention in the Eastern Christian High School class of ‘65 for praying, “Lord, bless this bunch as we munch on our lunch."

Helen suggested that I write about a nighttime prayer that we said as children:

“Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

I remember praying this “Now I lay me…” prayer at bedside on my knees as a child. I wonder if children are still being taught this prayer. I am curious to know if there are adults who continue to use this prayer. I want to take a few moments to reflect on the prayer and the idea of ending the day with a prayer.

The prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep…,” became popular after being included in the New England Primer. This was one of the first reading textbooks of the American colonies and was published at around 1690 AD. Other similar rhyming prayers are recorded in German and English literature in the early 1600’s and even as far back as 1100 AD.

The prayer appears to have emerged from Scripture and the context of the times. Psalm 4:8 is thought to be the basis for part of the prayer. “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” The time period when the prayer was written included a high infant mortality rate which provided a good reason for children, and their parents, to pray, “If I should die before I wake.” Even in the 1800’s, the child mortality rate was 462.9 per 1,000 or 46%. This is in dramatic contrast to the 2020 rate of seven deaths per thousand.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041693/united-states-all-time-child-mortality-rate/

Evening prayers have never been limited to children. There are examples of evening prayers (as well as morning prayers) throughout church history. These are formally referred to as Vespers, Evensong, or as a part of Liturgy of the Hours. Most of these are fairly long (long enough to put this feeble writer to sleep). Here are a few prayers, or excerpts of prayers.

Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight,
and give Your Angels and Saints charge over those who sleep.
Tend Your sick ones, O Lord Christ.
Rest Your weary ones.
Bless Your dying ones.
Soothe Your suffering ones.
Pity Your afflicted ones.
Shield Your joyous ones.
And all for Your love's sake. Amen.
A prayer of Augustine, 354-430 AD, https://www.beliefnet.com/prayers/catholic/bedtime/watch-o-lord.aspx

I adore You, my God, and I love You with all my heart. I thank you for having created me, for having made me a Christian, and for having preserved me this day. Pardon me for the evil I have done today. If I have done anything good, be pleased to accept it. Protect me while I take my rest and deliver me from all dangers. May your grace be always with me. Amen.  
A Catholic prayer, https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/evening-prayers.html

I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
A Lutheran prayer, https://catechism.cph.org/en/daily-prayers.html

Lord God,
Since Thou hast made the night for man to rest as Thou hast created the day for his work, I beseech Thee to give my body a restful night and to grant that my soul may be lifted up to Thee and my heart always filled with Thy love.
Teach me, O God, to entrust all my cares to Thee and constantly remember Thy mercy, so that my soul may enjoy spiritual rest…
Grant, O God, that just as now Thou hast hid all things in the shadows of the night, Thou wilt also bury my sins in Thy mercy, through Jesus Christ my Savior. Amen.”
A prayer of John Calvin, https://tollelege.net/2011/04/25/an-evening-prayer-by-john-calvin/

The above prayers, childhood and adult, include a variety of meditative ways to approach the night. My own pattern involves meditating on selected Bible passages before going to sleep and reflecting on memories of these verses when waking during the night. I currently am drawing from fourteen passages. The following are especially meaningful to me as a way of entering the hours of evening sleep.

Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4, The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:16-21
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge---that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Hebrews 13:20-21
Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

I close this post in wishing you eventide blessings. Whether you enter into the night with a simple, “Now I lay me down to sleep…” or a more theologically sophisticated prayer like that of Augustine saying, “Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight…;” I pray that…
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
Numbers 5:24-26

 

 

Prayer Before Meals

There is a unique prayer that caught my attention. We were watching the movie, Sister Act (1992), starring Whoopi Goldberg as Sister Mary Clarence. She prays, “Bless us, oh Lord, for these thine gifts which we are about to receive. And uh... yeh, Lord, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of no food, I shall fear no hunger. We want you to give us our day of daily bread. And to the republic for which it stands. By the powers vested in me, I pronounce us ready to eat. Amen.”

I come from a tradition of offering prayers before meals. As a child, we recited, “Dear Lord, bless this food and drink, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.” When in Bible college I learned that one of the reasons for offering thanks (or grace) before meals is because Jesus did so in the Gospels. In Matthew 14:19, for example, it says, “He gave thanks and broke the loaves.” And, in Matthew 26:26, we are told, “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it.” 

Marlene and I continue the practice of prayer before meals. We generally take turns praying. Whoever fixes the meal, offers the prayer. I admit that I am not always prepared or have not thought through what I am going to say in the prayer. This lack of preparedness has led me to seek out prayers-before-meals that are offered by different Christian groups and to learn from them. Following are representative prayers. Since these are prayers from the distant past, they use some terms that seem archaic today. These include Thy, Thee, Thou, givest, and openest. Most of the sources for these prayers are internet-based and are noted at the end of this post.

"Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen." (Preceded and followed by the Sign of the Cross.) Latin Catholic

"The eyes of all wait upon Thee, O Lord, and Thou givest them their meat in due season; Thou openest Thine hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing. Our Father... Lord God, Heavenly Father, bless us and these Thy gifts which we receive from Thy bountiful goodness, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen." Luther's Blessing and Thanks at Meals

"Come, Lord Jesus, be our Guest, and let Thy/these gifts to us be blessed. Amen." Lutheran

"Be present at our table, Lord. Be here and everywhere adored. These mercies bless and grant that we may feast in fellowship with Thee. Amen." Methodist/Wesleyan

"Come, Lord Jesus, our Guest to be and bless these gifts bestowed by Thee. Amen" Moravian

"Come, Lord Jesus, be our Guest, let this food of ours be blessed. Amen." Australian (any denomination)

"For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful/grateful. Amen." Church of England

"Our Father, for this day, for our friends, for this food, we thank Thee. Amen." Used at some YMCA summer camps

"Gracious God, we have sinned against Thee and are unworthy of Thy mercy; pardon our sins, and bless these mercies for our use, and help us to eat and drink to Thy glory, for Christ’s sake. Amen." Presbyterian

“Almighty God, faithful Father, you have made the world and uphold it by your powerful Word. You provided Israel in the desert with food from on high. Also bless us, your humble servants, and renew our strength by these gifts, which, through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have received from your bountiful, fatherly hand. Give that we may use them in moderation. Help us to put them to use in a life devoted to you and your service, for we do acknowledge that you are our Father and the Source of all good things. Grant also that at all times we may long for the lasting food of your Word. May we so be nourished to everlasting life, which you have prepared for us by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Savior. In his name we pray. Amen.” Canadian and American Reformed

Based on the above, I have written my own prayer before a meal, and it looks like this:

“Bless us, Lord, and these the gifts that you have so generously and graciously given. May we show moderation in our eating and drinking and extravagance in our love and spiritual service. Forgive us our sins and help us to live with joy and thanksgiving through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

The above prayers are reminders of our dependence on God, his faithfulness to us, the many ways that he blesses his people, and that we are to give him glory and praise continually. I have enjoyed reflecting on the above prayers and hope that you have as well. May God help us to honor him with our prayers before meals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_(prayer)

https://canrc.org/prayers/7/a-prayer-before-meals

 

Basic English Language Learning

 

B.E.L.L. was the name given to the program that Marlene and I developed for teaching a Basic English Language Learning. It was a ministry of LifeQuest Church to Vietnamese, Cambodian, Bhutanese, Hispanic and other employees of a company in Zeeland, Michigan called Integrated Fabric Resources. We have been asked to provide an overview of BELL for a group from another church. This blog is a summary of my part of the presentation.  

Most of the resources that we developed are available on the BELL web site and its companion site Bells and Whistles. https://sites.google.com/view/english-language-learning/home, https://sites.google.com/view/bellsandwhistles/supplemental-resources

The goal of BELL was to provide training, supervision, and resources for mentors who are helping beginning English language learners. BELL mentors established relationships and support, conducted informal assessments, and provided beginning English tutoring. It was not a formal English learning program. The amount of one-on-one time spent was about an hour a week; most participants did not do homework and outcomes were not measured.  

The remainder of this page summarizes resources that I (Burt Braunius) found especially helpful as an educator who is not a literacy specialist.

ABC English: Books One and Two: The abc English books can be used as primary textbooks in teaching basic English. The goal of these books is to have teachers and students systematically, page by page, work their way through the books at a comfortable pace. The Teacher’s Activity Guide: abc English gives creative ideas for teaching each page in the student book. The abc English books can also be used as a basis for assessing progress. https://www.teachabcenglish.com/book-1-activities.html

Relational Conversation discussion sheets: We used these along with questions and sentence completions to help connect with the lives of students. The idea is to learn about one another and find topics that mentors and students can enjoy discussing together.

These are examples of relational sentence stems regarding background and free time. (The discussion sheet is available through the provided link.)

 1. I am from...

 2. I work at...

 3. My family is made up of...

 4. I spend weekends... 

 5. My favorite TV program...

https://sites.google.com/view/english-language-learning/processes/planning

Southwest Adult Basic Education Project: This is an online program of Minnesota Adult Basic Education. It aims “to provide adults with educational opportunities to acquire and improve their literacy skills necessary to be self-sufficient and to participate effectively as productive workers, family members, and citizens.” The activities on this site provide multi-leveled stories to read together, along with pre-reading questions, definitions, and post-reading questions.  https://www.readingskills4today.com/level1

Two other areas seem especially important; i.e., developing a student’s personal dictionary and having a relevant way to document lessons (journaling or record keeping). The following links give examples of each of these. https://sites.google.com/view/english-language-learning/processes/planning

https://sites.google.com/view/bellsandwhistles/supplemental-resources

Additional support: Feel free to contact me. bbraunius@yahoo.com

A Wedding Prayer

Petra, our favorite granddaughter, was married this weekend to Daniel Gonzalez in the presence of family and friends at Fellowship Reformed Church, Holland, MI. The officiating pastors were Rev. Ross Dieleman and Petra’s mother, Rev. Lisa Braunius. The spiritually moving wedding ceremony included the couple partaking in communion together. Music was by members of the worship team from Daniel’s church.

A reception was held on the front lawn of Fellowship Church under three large white tents and with a bounce house for kids.  The granddads, Burt Braunius and Garrett Veld were asked to give an opening prayer at the reception. Following is the prayer.

Prayer

We pray for your blessing on Daniel and Petra as we celebrate their marriage with this wedding reception. May their reception of us as their guests, be reciprocated by our desires to receive Daniel and Petra into our hearts and lives throughout the journey of their life together.

As we fellowship and feast with them and with one another, may their lives and ours be guided and grounded in your Word. We pray that you would help Daniel and Petra, as well as us all, to live in commitment to these biblical truths.

• What God has joined together, let no one separate.
• Outdo one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
• Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
• Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 
• Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
• Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
• In the words of Christ, "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."
• And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

We also pray, Lord, that you would care abundantly for Daniel and Petra as is testified to in Psalm 23 where David writes, “I have all that I need” and “my cup overflows with blessings.”  We pray that you would provide them with enough:

·        enough goodness and grace to meet their daily needs, 

·        enough sunshine to brighten their days no matter how challenging they may be,

·        enough rain to bring refreshment and an appreciation of the sun,

·        enough joy to keep them celebrating each day of their shared journey,

·        enough good memories so they will not forget your blessings,

·        enough faith to endure difficulties,

·        enough hope to look forward to whatever the future may hold, and

·        enough love to sacrifice for one another as Christ gave of himself for the church.

 

We pray this benediction on Daniel and Petra.

Now may the God of peace… equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in you what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

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We are blessed to see the faith and love of this couple. Being at such a wedding is not only witnessing the beginning of a new home and family, but also experiencing God’s faithfulness in being true to his covenant promises, building his church, and expanding his kingdom. Thank you, Lord!

(Scripture references: Mark 10:9, Romans 12:10, Ephesians 5:21, Proverbs 3:3,4, 1 Corinthians 13:4, Ephesians 4:32, John 15:12, Hebrews 13:20,21, Colossians 3:14)