We are continuing to share favorite prayers from our Book of Common Prayer (BCP). If you have a special BCP prayer you’d like to recommend, please let me know! ([email protected])
Today’s prayer is from Lucy Sexton. It can be found in the service of Holy Baptism in the BCP, pp. 299-311:
Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon these your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised them to the new life of grace. Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works. Amen. (BCP, p. 308)
Lucy writes: “After this prayer was read at my daughter Annabel’s baptism at Holy Apostles, my dad used it in every grace and many toasts for the next 20 years till his death. I love that he loved it. Love the idea of praying for an inquiring heart for children, and for all of us”
Amen!
Title: Baptism of Jesus; Date: 1950; Artist: Castera Bazile; Building: Cathedrale de Sainte Trinite; Object/Function: Fresco; City/Town: Port-au-Prince; Country: Haiti. Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:4-11; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22; Acts 2:14a, 36-41. Notes: Artwork in Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral, Port au Prince Haiti — mostly destroyed by earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010. Castera Bazile painted this section celebrating Christ’s baptism. Attempts are underway to retain as many sections of the damaged murals as possible, so that reconstruction attempts can eventually begin, when appropriate and when funding has been secured. The entire cathedral interior was covered with murals painted by Haitian artists during the period from 1950-1951. Permalink: https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54305. (Use this link to refer back to this image.)
