The following video is our congregation’s communion observance (10.11.20). My actual notes follow the video. However, with the state of Michigan this week, I felt led to offer some consoling remarks and a call to prayer and unity. Part of those remarks are in the section Partial transcription of communion. I have also added a couple of official statements that I found and shared on social networks in Related | Tragedy averted in Michigan.
Honestly, I’m grieved that political agendas are eclipsing true thanksgiving to God for guiding our strategic teams to dismantle a coup.
So I will refuse to engage in political banter in the places I post this video. In fact, I will remove comments that digress.
This is not a time for talking points.
It’s a time for thanksgiving and unity.
on communion
the prayer of Hippolytus
& unity for Michigan
The following is not exactly academic. It is nearly a transcription of a portion of our observance of the Lord’s Supper. It is an extemporaneous exhortation.
Partial transcription of communion
This is a prayer by Hippolytus. I just felt like this was the one I needed to select. I can’t explain all that, but I do know that there’s one line in here that I don’t want you to miss, and it has to do with unity.
When a prayer like this is written down and passed down through the ages (you’ve got to remember this guy was one generation away from the Apostles) every line is important.
I’m not just praying unity for our church, but also unity for our families.
I’m especially praying unity right now for our state. It’s been a terrible week, if you’ve read the headlines. I am praying for us to kind of just pull together, just a little bit, just a glimpse of bipartisanship and unity.
As you know, our Governor was at risk.
I don’t know if you know this or not, but just in the last day, it’s been released that our Legislature was going to be stormed as well. It was a bigger plot than what we thought, and our Legislature was at risk as well. They were facing a life threatening plot.
So this was major. This was not something minor.
Yet it seems like, sometimes I look at our political leaders and I think, “This is not even close to the unity that I witnessed when I was a kid!”
Our leaders – Democrat or Republican – would be calling a Prayer Assembly today, not playing political ping pong[1] . . . not playing some game of tennis back and forth, toeing the party line, in a time like this.
As a spiritual father, I feel like it’s immature. I feel that as Christians if you can vote your values, then you can speak unity right now for our state. You should thank God we still have leaders alive today, because that’s where it was!
And they should be thanking God, instead of fighting!
We need unity at all levels.
My actual notes
As we partake of the Lord’s Supper today, I’d like to share an ancient prayer. This was written in the late 2nd Century, probably within 100 years of the Apostles. I’ve noticed that some of the early prayers focus on the Holy Spirit blessing us, and preparing us to remember the work of Christ.
Listen to this early prayer by Hippolytus (hip-PAUL-i-tus)
“And we pray Thee that [Thou wouldest send Thy Holy Spirit upon the oblation of Thy holy Church]
Thou wouldest grant to all [Thy saints] who partake to be united [to Thee]
that they may be fulfilled with the Holy Spirit for the confirmation of [their] faith in truth.”[2]
Related | Tragedy averted in Michigan
Friday
The news hit the state, and the nation, that some type of coup had nearly taken place to overthrow our Governor Gretchen Whitmer. There were a lot of comments being exchanged by our higher leaders, and a volley that really diverted our attention from the gravity of the situation.
However, I found a little centering in the comments of our Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives. I applaud his nonpartisan approach. This is truly a moment when there is no place for political differences.
We thank God that our Governor is still with us.
Saturday evening, 10.10.20
I usually post to LinkedIn when I’m tracking articles, developing stories, and anything else I would like to remember. It has replaced Google+ for me in that regard. Not everyone has Facebook, but I do find a lot of working class people on LinkedIn.
There is only one news source I found that posted this letter in its entirety. Other sources cut and pasted parts of our Speaker’s thoughts here and there, interspersed with quotes from other political figures.
You can also find Speaker Chatfield’s entire statement on his Facebook Page as well if you: CLICK HERE
I post to our JCIngle FB Business Page those things that are related to our nonprofit and business ventures, and reserve my personal page for more social and fun interaction. This is essentially the same post that I shared with LinkedIn.
Pastor Jared Ingle
Long Lake Friends Church
4172 Church Rd.
Traverse City, Michigan 49685
Facebook @longlakefriends
JC Ingle, Inc.
notes:
[1] I’ve always used the phrase “political ping pong” for the banter during election season. I’m really not sure where I first heard it. However, in the video, I apologize to one of our parishioners. Her husband was actually injured a few weeks ago in a ping pong match, as he twisted his body the wrong way. We miss him as he is recovering, so I wish I would have thought of another phrase.[2] Bard Thompson, Liturgies of the Western Church (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1980), 21.
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