[16] Lord, teach us to Pray

Meditation:

The Iona Community seeks to re-emphasise the Incarnation—God's coming to men in Christ—and to discover its relevance for modern man and society. This is the central fact of the Christian faith and, if it is true, it must have meaning for life to-day. If God entered human history to reveal to men the meaning of human history, His act of becoming man surely has a message for twentieth century history, and for the men through whom that history happens.

We assert that the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ is significant for all society, and that it is only with this central fact continually before us that we can bring the Gospel to men to-day. Jesus Christ was born into an earthly home and His presence there challenges the rightness of the miserable surroundings in which many children live to-day. He worked at a trade and His occupation as a tradesman challenges the economic conditions under which many men and women Work to-day. He lived in a human society and His sharing of social responsibilities challenges the morality of many of the social situations which to-day the Church condones or blindly ignores.

The union of God and man in Christ, His taking our flesh and, dwelling among us, full of grace arid truth is God's Word—His assertion that the sacred and the secular should never be separated. His message was not "spiritual" or, "religious" alone—it dealt with the whole man, with all his problems.

The Church which is still His body upon earth, then, has a message which concerns, not man's soul alone, but every part and sphere of his life. "We dare never rest until we care for the whole man and exert a total ministry."

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Prayer:

For all adventurous minds, which have courageously set their feet upon untrodden paths of thought, discounting misunderstanding by their fellows, my own mind would praise Thee, O God, and fain would itself adventure upon some unknown way with Thee.

For teachers kind, for benefactors liberal, who have advantaged men by Writings, Sermons, Converse, Prayers, Example, I bless Thee, and will bless Thee all the days of my life through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

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