About times and dates,
sisters and brothers,
you do not need us to write to you, 
for you know very well that the day of the Lord comes like as a thief in the night. 

When they say ‘Peace and security’,
then destruction will come upon them suddenly
as labour pains on a pregnant woman.
and they will certainly not escape.

But you, sisters and brothers,
are not in the darkness,
that the day surprises you like a thief. 
For you all are children of the light and day.

For we are not of the night and darkness. 
So now let us not sleep as the others
but let us  keep aware and be sober

For those who sleep,
    sleep in darkness, 
and those who get drunk
    get drunk at night. 

But who we are of the day are sober
having put on the breastplate of faith and love 
and the helmet of the hope of salvation.
Because God did not appoint us for wrath
but for attaining salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ
who died for us,
 so that whether we are awake or asleep
we may live together with him. 

Therefore encourage one another
and build up each other
just as you are doing. 

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

For this we tell you
by a word of the Lord,
that we
        who are living
        who are remaining until the coming of the Lord,
will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep,
because the Lord himself
      with a command, 
with the  voice of the archangel,
      and the trumpet of God,
will come down from heaven
and the dead in Christ
      will rise first. 

Then we
     who are living
     who are remaining
together
     with them
will be swept up in the clouds
    for a meeting with the Lord
    in the air. 
And so we will be with the Lord, always. 

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

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

Then, we do not want you to be ignorant,
sisters and brothers, 
about those who are asleep,
so that you do not grieve
as the rest,
who do not have hope. 
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, 
just so (we believe) God will bring with him,
-through Jesus-
those who have fallen asleep.

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

Now about ‘love for the brothers and sisters’,
you do not need us to write to you,
you are ‘taught by God’ to love one another. 

For you do the same 
for all the brothers and sisters in the whole of Macedonia.

We encourage  you,
        brothers and sisters,
to overflow even more. 
and to try to live a quiet life
and to mind your own business
and to work with your own hands, 
just as we commanded you.
so that you might walk with decency
      among outsiders
and not have a need of anyone.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

(Sorry that we also used this prayer yesterday)

For this is the will of God
– your becoming holy- 
that you abstain from sexual immorality,
that each of you to know how to master your own body
in holiness and honour,
not in passionate lust
just as the pagans
who do not know God

not to wrong or take advantage of your brother in this matter, 
because the Lord is the Avenger about all these things,
as we also told you earlier and we emphatically warned you. 

For God has not called us to impurity but to holiness. 
Therefore the one who rejects (him)
is not rejecting humans
but God 
who gives to you his Spirit, who is holy. 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

Now after all that,
sisters and brothers,
we implore you and
we encourage you
in the Lord Jesus:
            that as you received from us 
     how it is necessary for you to walk (in life)
and to please God
          (as you are walking)
so overflow (even) more. 

For you know
we gave certain commands to you
– through the Lord Jesus.

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)

May God himself and our Father,
and our Lord Jesus
make straight our way to you all. 

But
may the Lord
make you overflowing
and abundant in love for one another, 
and for everyone else
just as we (love) you.,
so that your hearts are established
blameless 
in holiness
before God and our Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus
with all his holy ones. 

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)

Just now,
Timothy having come to us from you
and having announced the good news of your faith and love
and that you remembered us always with love,
longing to see us
just as we also (long to see)  you- 

because of this we have been encouraged
sisters and brothers, 
concerning you
in all our troubles and afflictions
because of your faith. 
so that we now we live
if you should stand firm in the Lord. 

For what thanksgiving can we give back to God about you,
for all the joy with which we rejoice
because of you, 
before our God,
night and day,
earnestly imploring
to see your face
and to complete the gaps in the faith of you all?

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

Therefore enduring (it) no longer
we thought it best to be left behind in Athens alone,

and we sent Timothy, our brother
and God’s fellow-worker
in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
to strengthen you
and to encourage your faith
so that no one might be shaken by these afflictions
for you yourselves know that we were destined for this. 

For when we were with you,
we told you
in advance
again and again
that we would be afflicted,

and so it has happened, as you know.

Because of this I 
– bearing it no longer –  
sent to find out about your faith,
(I was afraid) that the tempter had somehow tempted you
and our work might have been in vain.

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

But we, sisters and brothers, 

having been torn away from you for a short time, 
    in person not in heart, 
all the more did our best to see you in person out of a great longing. 

Because we wanted to to come to you,
        – indeed I,  Paul, once and twice-
            and Satan stopped us –
 for what is our hope,
our joy,
our crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming
– is it not you?

For you are our glory and joy.

 

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.