Good morning Heavenly Father
Good morning Lord Jesus
Good morning Holy Spirit

Father, I worship you, Creator and Sustainer of the Universe
Jesus, I worship you, Saviour and Lord of the world
Spirit, I worship you, Sanctifier of the people of God

Glory to the Father, and the Son, and to the Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever
Amen

Father, would I live this day in your presence and please you more and more
Jesus, would I take up my cross this day and follow you
Spirit, would you fill me and cause your fruit to ripen in my life:
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

Holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity
Have mercy upon me
Amen

John Stott’s evangelical expression of faith wasn’t a flighty, novel sort of thing. A prayer like this takes us back before the Reformation, back even before the split between East and West, echoing the ancient mass and the ‘Great Tradition’ of Trinitarian reflection. This is the sort of stuff that Christian communities have always brought before God together.

This is also a liturgy, words to be enacted and then grown into and lived out, words that do not merely name our requests before God, but name the meaning behind everything we experience: words with which we can understand, This is what we have been part of all along, this is where we find ourselves, this is where we will belong.

Read John Stott’s biography

(The rendition above contains my own minor style edits.)

Categories: Written by Arthur

Tagged as: evangelical John Stott liturgy Prayer Trinity

Arthur Davis

Arthur Davis is an Aussie living in Tanzania, writing at meetjesusatuni.com.