Tuesday, 24 July 2012

Sir Francis Drake

Three conferences at All Nations Christian College (Refresh for Mission; CMS Partners in Mission; Communications) have left us with many reflections and new ideas for our future. As we come away from our 'home' for two weeks (in the old servants quarters on the top floor) a prayer of a fellow Devonian, Sir Francis Drake, has travelled with us from the conferences:

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst for the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.


2 comments:

RuthJ said...

Very nostalgic to think of you at All Nations! Love the Drake prayer: very salutary.

Carole Carey said...

hadnt seen the Drake prayer before very thought provoking. The conference centre looks lovely You were remembered in prayers at church Hope all is working out for you and that you are feeling better Jane :)