Today was Baccalaureate chapel. I was asked to say the benediction near the end of the service, and this is the prayer I came up with. These prayers are all taken and edited from the Oxford Book of Prayer, with the loving assistance of my professor, Julia Young.
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Please stand for the benediction.
This is to be a charge for us, so you need not bow your heads, close your eyes, or fold your hands, but in your listening, I hope you may focus on these words, compiled from the prayers of past people of faith. May these words take root in your hearts today.
After the benediction, please remain standing for the doxology and the recessional.
Now receive the benediction.
Almighty God, bestow upon us the meaning of words, the light of understanding, the nobility of diction and the faith of the true nature.
And grant that what we believe we may also speak.
O Thou who through the light of nature has aroused in us a longing for
The light of grace, to Thee, I give thanks, Creator and Lord.
For from God, through God, and in God, all is, which is perceptible as well as spiritual;
That which we know and that which we do not know, for there is still much to learn.
Eternal Light, then, shine in our hearts,
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil.
Eternal Power, be our support,
Eternal Pity, have mercy on us.
God, who art three in One,
Grant us love’s eternal three –
Friendship, rapture, constancy;
Lord, till our lives be done,
Grant us love unending.
Bless us, God of loving.
You are wisdom, uncreated and eternal,
The supreme first cause, above all being,
Sovereign Godhead, sovereign goodness,
Watching unseen the God-inspired wisdom of Christian people.
Raise us, we pray, that we may understand
The supreme, unknown, ultimate, and splendid height
Of your words, mysterious and inspired.
There, all God’s secret matters lie covered and hidden
Under the darkness both profound and brilliant, silent and wise.
You make what is ultimate and beyond brightness
Secretly to shine in all that is most dark.
In your way, ever unseen and intangible,
You fill to the full with most beautiful splendor
Those souls who close their eyes that they may see.
And I, please, with love that goes on beyond mind
To all that is beyond mind,
Seek to gain such for myself through this prayer.
Though Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with Thee and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory,
World without end, Amen.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Out of a Far Country: A Review
Out of a Far Country, by Christopher and Angela Yuan, presents the dual memoir of a mother and son as each struggles to find God amidst heartache, confusion, and loss. With each chapter switching between the perspective of the mother and that of the son, two simultaneous but parallel - and occasionally even opposite - stories are told.
The book opens in 1993, with Christopher telling his traditional Chinese parents that he is gay and thereby ‘officially’ becoming a member of the gay community, where coming out to ones’ parents is seen as a milestone event. Angela balks at her son’s open rebellion of the values he grew up with, just as Christopher finds freedom in revealing his long-kept secret, to his parents’ chagrin.
However, after Angela discovers her own freedom in God and the Bible, she begins to repair what has so long been broken in her life – her lifeless marriage, her cold heart, and her anger towards her son. She stops at nothing to let Christopher know that both she and God love him, no matter his decisions.
Meanwhile, Christopher’s involvement in the gay nightclub scene spirals out of control after he tries ecstasy for the first time, becomes a drug dealer, is involved in a series of homosexual relationships, and eventually is busted by the DEA for possession and selling drugs, specifically ice. During his time in prison is when he too finds the redemption of God, stops doing drugs, begins dealing with an HIV positive diagnosis, and realizes that God wants holy sexuality from him, not just heterosexuality.
The memoir is a touching account of a mother’s unfailing love, a son’s prodigal-like return to his family, and the hope that can be found in God. Although Christopher does not shy away from graphic detail of his time as a drug dealer and user, he does avoid it when it comes to his homosexuality. Thus, this story reads less as a treatise on dealing with homosexuality and Christianity than an account of a junkie finding God and the faithful love of his mother. Either way, the focus is less on the specifics of the sin than on the feel-good redemption of two lost souls, who find each other as they also find hope.
The book opens in 1993, with Christopher telling his traditional Chinese parents that he is gay and thereby ‘officially’ becoming a member of the gay community, where coming out to ones’ parents is seen as a milestone event. Angela balks at her son’s open rebellion of the values he grew up with, just as Christopher finds freedom in revealing his long-kept secret, to his parents’ chagrin.
However, after Angela discovers her own freedom in God and the Bible, she begins to repair what has so long been broken in her life – her lifeless marriage, her cold heart, and her anger towards her son. She stops at nothing to let Christopher know that both she and God love him, no matter his decisions.
Meanwhile, Christopher’s involvement in the gay nightclub scene spirals out of control after he tries ecstasy for the first time, becomes a drug dealer, is involved in a series of homosexual relationships, and eventually is busted by the DEA for possession and selling drugs, specifically ice. During his time in prison is when he too finds the redemption of God, stops doing drugs, begins dealing with an HIV positive diagnosis, and realizes that God wants holy sexuality from him, not just heterosexuality.
The memoir is a touching account of a mother’s unfailing love, a son’s prodigal-like return to his family, and the hope that can be found in God. Although Christopher does not shy away from graphic detail of his time as a drug dealer and user, he does avoid it when it comes to his homosexuality. Thus, this story reads less as a treatise on dealing with homosexuality and Christianity than an account of a junkie finding God and the faithful love of his mother. Either way, the focus is less on the specifics of the sin than on the feel-good redemption of two lost souls, who find each other as they also find hope.
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