Nepsis

Category: Time to Pray

  • 1 Peter 2 21-25

    For you have been called to this,
    because Christ suffered too
    for you
    leaving you a model
    so that you might closely-follow
    in his footsteps
    who committed no sin
    nor was deceit found on in his mouth 1
    who although being insulted, did nor reply with an insult
    although suffering, did not threaten
    but he handed himself over to the one who judges justly,
    who himself ‘bore the burden’ of our sins,2
    in his body,
    on the tree,
    so being removed from sins
    we might live to righteousness.
    by whose wounding we are being healed 3
    For you were wandering like sheep4
    but now you have been turned
    towards to the shepherd
    and guardian of your souls.

    1. Isa 53:9 ↩︎
    2. Isa 53:4, 12 ↩︎
    3. Isal 53:5 ↩︎
    4. Isa 53:6 ↩︎

    Teach us, good Lord,
    to serve thee as thou deservest;
    to give and not to count the cost;
    to fight and not to heed the wounds;
    to toil and not to seek for rest;
    to labour and not to ask for any reward,
    save that of knowing that we do thy will,
    through Jesus Christ our Lord.
    Amen

    St Ignatius

  • 1 Peter 2 18-20

    [Be subject to every human authority…]


    The (House-) servants being subject
    in all fear (of God)
    to the masters
    not only to those who are good and gentle
    but to the cruel ones.
    For this is grace…
    if because of an awareness of God
    someone is enduring griefs
    while suffering unjustly.
    For what credit is it
    if while sinning
    and being beaten
    you will endure?
    But if while doing good
    and suffering
    you endure,
    this is grace in the presence of God.

    Grant, Lord,
    that we may hold to you without parting,
    worship you without wearying,
    serve you without failing;
    faithfully seek you,
    happily find you,
    and forever possess you,
    the only God,blessed now and for ever.
    Amen

    St Anselm

  • 1 Peter 2 13-17

    Be subject to every human authority,
    because of the Lord,
    that is a king – a ruler,
    or governors – sent by him
    for the punishment of evil-doers
    and the praise of good-doers
    because this is the will of God
    by doing good
    to silence
    the ignorance of foolish people,
    — (Be) as free people,
    not as those without excuse
    have freedom
    but as slaves of God.

    Honour everyone,
    love the ‘family’
    fear God,
    honour the King.

  • 1 Peter 2 11-12

    Beloved, I beg you as aliens and strangers
    to abstain from fleshly desires
    which war against the soul.
    – having a good way of life
    amongst the nations
    so that
    in the situation in which
    they accuse you
    as wrongdoers
    observing your good works
    they might glorify God,
    on the day of (his) visit.

    O Lord Jesus Christ,
    stay beside me to defend me,
    within me to guide me,
    before me to lead me,
    and above me to bless me,
    that with you and in you,
    I may live, and move and have my being,
    for ever and ever.
    Amen.

    (unknown)

  • 1 Peter 2 9,10

    But you!
    – a chosen race, 1
    a kingly priesthood,
    a holy nation.2
    a race to be possessed
    so that
    you might proclaim the excellencies
    of him
    who called you from darkness
    into his marvellous light.
    Those who once were not a people
    But now (are the) people of God
    those having not been shown mercy
    now having been shown mercy.    3

    1. Ex 19:6 ↩︎
    2. Isa 43:20-21 ↩︎
    3. Hos1:6,23, 2:3,5 ↩︎

    Steer the ship of my life, good Lord, to your quiet harbour,
    where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict.
    Show me the course I should take.
    Renew in me the gift of discernment,
    so that I can always see the right direction in which I should go.
    And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course,
    even when the sea is rough and the waves are high,
    knowing that through enduring hardship and danger in your name
    we shall find comfort and peace.
    Amen

    Basil of Caesarea (c.329-379)

  • 1 Peter 2 6-8

    Therefore it stands
    in scripture:
    Behold, I set a stone, in Zion,
    a cornerstone, chosen and honoured,
    and the one who believes upon him,
    will never ever be disgraced.    1

    So to you who believe – (there is) honour
    but to those are not believing
    (the) stone which the builders rejected
    this one has become the cornerstone    2
    and
    a stone that causes stumbling
    and a rock to fall over    3
    – (they are) the ones who stumble
    (because) they disobey the word
    with the result that is ‘set‘.

    1. Isa 28:16 ↩︎
    2. Psalm 118:22 ↩︎
    3. Isa 8:14 ↩︎

    Take from us,
    O God, all pride and vanity,
    all boasting and self-assertion,
    and give us the true courage that shows itself in gentleness,
    the true wisdom that shows itself in simplicity,
    and the true power that shows itself in modesty.

    Charles Kingsley

  • 1 Peter 2 4-5

    Coming to him,
    a living stone
    by people – rejected
    but by God – chosen, honoured
    and, you yourselves
    as living stones
    are being built up
    a spiritual house
    to be a holy priesthood,
    to offer spiritual sacrifices
    acceptable to God,
    through Jesus Christ.

    O thou, who art the light of the minds that know thee,
    the life of the souls that love thee,
    and the strength of the wills that serve thee;
    help us so to know thee that we may truly love thee;
    so to love thee that we may fully serve thee,
    whom to serve is perfect freedom.
    Amen

  • 1 Peter 2 1-3

    Therefore
    having thrown off
    all evil and
    all deceit1
    and hypocrisies
    and envies and
    all ‘running down’
    as newborn babies
    long for the spiritual, pure2, milk
    so that by it
    you might grow
    toward salvation-
    if you have tasted that the Lord is kind3.

    1. δολον (dolon) ↩︎
    2. αδολον (adolon) ↩︎
    3. χρηστος (chrestos) ↩︎

    God be in head and in my understanding;
    God be in my eyes and in my looking;
    God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
    God be in my heart and in my thinking;
    God be at my end and at my departing.

  • 1 Peter 1 22 – 25

    Having purified your souls
    by obedience to the truth
    constantly love one another
    for sincere sibling love
    from a pure heart,
    having not been born
    from a perishable seed
    but from an imperishable (one)
    through the living
    and enduring word,
    because
    All flesh is from grass,
    and all its glory is as the flower of grass–
    The grass withers
    and the flower falls off,
    but the word of the Lord remains for ever.
    This is the word that was proclaimed
    for your sake.

    O Lord
    Open our eyes to your presence
    Open our minds to your grace
    Open our lips to your praises
    Open our hearts to your love
    Open our lives to your healing
    And be found among us.
    Amen.

  • 1 Peter 1 17 -21

    And if you call on the one
    who judges impartially
    according to each person’s work,
    as Father
    conduct yourselves
    in fear
    for the time of your exile,
    for you know that
    not with transitory things
    (even) silver and gold,
    you have been ransomed
    from your worthless conduct
    handed down from your ancestors,
    but by the precious blood –
    as from a lamb,
    without blemish
    and without defect
    – Christ’s,
    (him) having been foreknown
    – before the foundation of the world
    having been made known
    – in these last times,
    for your sake,
    who
    because of him,
    are believing in God
    who raised him from the dead ones,
    and gave him glory,
    so that your faith and hope
    are in God.


    Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
    Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
    Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
    Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.