The Lord is my shepherdI shall not want him for longHe maketh me to lie down in green pasturesand there are no green pasturesHe leadeth me beside still watersand still waters run deep

Grant unto us Lord that we may set our hope on Thy nameand open the eyes of our hearts that wemay know Thee.We beseech Thee Lord and Master to be our help and succour. Save those among us who are intribulation have mercy on the lowly lift up the fallen show Thyself to those in need heal the sick turnagain the wanderers of Thy people feed the hungry ransom our prisoners raise up the weak comfortthe faint-hearted. Let all nations know that Thou art God alone and that Jesus Christ is Thy Son andthat we are Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture.We praise Thee who art able to do these and better things than these through Jesus Christ the HighPriest and Guardian of our souls through whom be glory and majesty to Thee both now andthroughout all generations for ever and ever. Amen.

Upon the lips of babes asleep I saw light embracing light and so allowed my syllables to rest there as a prayer they might sing in their dreams...

Long discursive dry and inane are the prayers in many pulpits. Without unction or heart they fall like a killing frost on all the graces of worship. Death-dealing prayers they are. Every vestige of devotion has perished under their breath. The deader they are the longer they grow.

Gods forgot that ever I lived... Hes forgot...and He never cared nohow....He smoothed her brown rough-palmed hand he held her hands to keep her from jerking herself away from his admonishing Oh tis not true the words yere a-sayin Cean Smith and well ye know it. Never does He forget a child o Hisn. Tis His children that forget that He is rememberin. Get on yere knees and climb on them up to the shelter o His arms. Knock on His ears with yere prayers. Creep into His arms Cean Smith and lay yere head on His bosom and Hell hold ye closer than inny man ye ever love can ever hold ye. Hell lay His hand on yere head and yell stop yere restless fightin against His will. Hell shut yere pitiful little mouth from complainin against Him. Yell hush and be comforted....She dared him to prove his saying Then pray fer Him to do them things fer meHe prayed and when he had finished Ceans will was as water to Gods will and Ceans tears were softening and healing to her heart.

Prayer The act of falling to your knees in pleading fashion seeking help from a greater power than all else to have failed you previously.

A prayerless age will have but scant models of divine power. The age may be a better age than the past but there is an infinite distance between the betterment of an age by the force of an advancing civilization and its betterment by the increase of holiness and Christlikeness by the energy of prayer.

Theres a traditional Kenyan prayer From the cowardice that dares not deal with new truth from the laziness that is content with half-truth from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth Good Lord deliver me.

Prayer faith and vision plus real effort too.Blend them together for one potent brewThe magical spell to your dreams coming true.

Since both the departed saints and we ourselves are in Christ we share with them in the communion of saints. They are still our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we celebrate the Eucharist they are there with us along with the angels and archangels. Why then should we not pray for and with them The reason the Reformers and their successors did their best to outlaw praying for the dead was because that had been so bound up with the notion of purgatory and the need to get people out of it as soon as possible. Once we rule out purgatory I see no reason why we should not pray for and with the dead and every reason why we should - not that they will get out of purgatory but that they will be refreshed and filled with Gods joy and peace. Love passes into prayer we still love them why not hold them in that love before God