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Pastor's Corner
...musings from Salem's Pastor Kurt Traugott...

 

As you read this we are nearing the end of Lent and moving toward Holy Week and Easter.  As you know one of the spiritual disciplines of the season of Lent was to be intentional in our prayer life.  During this time I have been reading a book titled: "A Book of Uncommon Prayer", by Kenneth G. Phifer.  At the very end of the book he offers a prayer for Easter.  Below is a portion of the prayer which I hope may be part of your thoughts as we enter Holy Week and Easter.

 

          Christ is risen!

          Thanks be to You, O God.

                    Who has raised Him from the dead,

                    and Who, with Him, has raised me from the darkness into light,

                              from trembling into hope,

                              from forlornness and forsakenness

                                        into acceptance and restoration.

          I am grateful, O God.

          Sometimes I forget,

                    and live as though the tomb were sealed

                              and the stone still in place.

          But on this day I remember

                    and am ashamed that I live such an unresurrected life

                              so much of the time

 

          Help me in remembering to feel the touch of resurrection within,

                    to hear the voice of angels and wild whispers of faith,

                              that because He lives I shall life also.

          I shall live with a new shining

                    upon the dark places of hurt and heartache.

          I shall live with a new vision of what it means

                    to see daily existence glimmering

                              in the light of eternal purpose.

          I shall live, not cringing in fear and abject sorrow,

                    but renewed in hope and assurance…

         

          O Lord, make this a day of resurrection for me,

                    a day of new beginnings,

                    a day of renewed commitment.

          Raise my spirit from its tomb of selfishness and greed,

                    from its burial cloths of pride and arrogance.

          Free me into the resurrection life of our Lord has promised.

 

          Let me hear the thunder and whisper,

                    the trumpet and the far-off music

                              of life yet to be with Him.

          Thanks be to You, God, through the Risen Christ.  Amen.

 

                              Easter Blessings to you all…!

                                                                                          Pastor Kurt+

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