Therefore,
beloved,
waiting for these things
do your best
to be found by him
spotless and blemishless
in peace
and
consider the patience of our Lord
salvation
just as our beloved brother Paul
wrote to you
according to the wisdom given to him
speaking in all the letters
(in them)
about these things
in which some things are hard to understand
which ignorant and unstable people twist
to their own destruction
as they also (do) to the other scriptures.

So you,
beloved
having been warned beforehand
be on guard
so that you
may not be led astray
by the error of wicked people
and fall from
your firm position,
Grow in grace and knowledge
from our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ.

To him be glory
both now
and on the day of eternity.

(Amen)

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts,
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil,
Eternal Power, be our support,
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance,
Eternal Pity, have mercy upon us;
that with all our heart and mind
and soul and strength we may seek thy face
and be brought by thine infinite mercy
to thy holy presence;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Alcuin (735-804)

And the day of the Lord will come like a thief,
on which
the heavens will disappear
with a roar,
the heavenly bodies will be burned up,
and the earth and every deed (done) on it
will be ‘uncovered’.

As all these things are to be dissolved in this way,
what sort (of person) is it necessary (for us us) be?
– in holy ways of life
or godly acts?
waiting for and
hastening
the coming of the day of our God
because of which
the heavens will be burnt up
and the heavenly bodies will melt
as they burn

But we are waiting
for a new heaven and
a new earth
according to his promise¹,
in which righteousness dwells.

1. Isaiah 65: 17
   See, I will create
       new heavens and a new earth.
   The former things will not be remembered,
       nor will they come to mind. ↩︎

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

Do not let this one thing be forgotten by you
beloved,
because
one day
(in the sight) of the Lord
is as
a thousand years
and a thousand years
is like one day. ¹
But the Lord of the promise is not slow²
as some consider slowness,
but he is patient with you,
not wishing for any to be destroyed
but all to come to repentance.

1. Psalm 90:4 ↩︎
2. Hab 2:3 ↩︎

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

These people are waterless springs,
and mists propelled by a storm,
for whom the gloom, that is the darkness,
has been kept.
For speaking boastful words of folly,
they ensnare
by fleshly desires
by sensuality
those who are barely escaping
from those who live in error,
promising freedom to them
they are slaves of corruption.
Because
whatever/ whoever defeats one,
to this, one is enslaved.

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)

Bold! Arrogant!
They [the false teachers]do not tremble
when slandering the glorious ones [evil angels].
– whereas [good] angels
being greater in might and power [than evil angels]
do not use (bear)
a slanderous judgement
against them [evil angels]
from the Lord.

But these
as irrational animals
born by nature
to be caught and killed (destroyed)
slandering
those of whom they are ignorant
in their destruction
will be destroyed with them [the evil angels].

O Lord, in whom is our hope,
remove far from us, we pray thee,
empty hopes and presumptuous confidence.
Make our hearts so right with thy most holy and loving heart,
that hoping in thee we may do good;
until that day when faith and hope
shall be abolished by sight and possession,
and love shall be all in all.

Christina Rossetti (1830-94)

For if God did not spare angels
who sinned
but gave them over to pits of gloom
having held them captive in Tartarus
who held them until judgement…
and
did not spare the ancient world
but protected
Noah the eighth
(and seven others)
a preacher of righteousness
when he brought
a flood
upon an ungodly world,

and if he
having reduced to ashes
the cities of Sodom, and Gomorrah
he condemned {them to destruction]
having set a warning-example
a sign
of the things to come
for the ungodly
and
if he rescued righteous Lot
having been troubled
by the lawless lifestyle
of the wicked people
(for, the righteous man
living among them
tormented his righteous soul
daily
by what is seen and what is heard
by lawless deeds)
(if so…) the Lord knows how to deliver
the godly from trial,
and how to keep the ungodly
for punishment
at the day of judgement
especially those who go after
the flesh in its corrupt lusts
and those who despise authority (of the Lord).

Keep us, O Lord, while we tarry on this earth,
in a serious seeking after thee,
and in an affectionate walking with thee,
every day of our lives;
that when thou comest,
we may be found not hiding our talent,
nor yet asleep with our lamp unfurnished,
but waiting and longing for our Lord,
our glorious King, for ever and ever.

Richard Baxter (1615-1691)

And also there were (became) false-prophets
among the people
as also there will be false-teachers
among you all
who will bring in destructive opinions
even denying the master
who bought them-
bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

And many will follow their indecencies,
through whom the true way will be blasphemed

And  in their greed
by made up words
they will exploit you
-about whom
the ancient judgement is not idle
and their destruction is not sleeping.

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.

Alcuin

Of first order
       know this:
               that every prophecy of scripture
                     comes about not
                            by (the prophet’s) own interpretation.
For no prophecy was 
       ever brought about 
                             by the will of a human, 
but by those
      carried by the Holy Spirit
-they spoke from God. 
               

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.

Alcuin