Collect for the blogosphere

I grew up a very lucky child, because not only do I have great parents, but I also attended a lively Missouri Synod congregation with a phenomenal pastor. One of the skills he taught us in Confirmation that sticks with me to this day is the ability to craft a good collect* on the fly. It's one of my favorite kinds of public prayers because the form helps keep it focused and it naturally places emphasis on God rather than on ourselves.

The form I was taught can be remembered by the first five letters of the alphabet, ABCDE:

• A: Address. Who are we talking to in this prayer?
• B: Basis. What about God makes Him the person who can deal with the requests of the prayer?
• C: Collect. The meat of the prayer, this is where you actually make your requests of God or offer up praise and thanksgiving.
• D: Dedication. In whose name are we praying? The basis and dedication offer a lot of latitude for creative characterizations of God that get at all the many wonderful facets of His love.
• E: End. Just a simple "Amen" will do!

So, I'd like to offer a collect for the blogosphere today. If you find yourself thinking about fellow bloggers, pray this prayer for them, or make up your own.**

Blogosphere Collect of the Day

Our Father in heaven, since you are the source of all insight and wisdom, please be with all bloggers everywhere. Just as we hear the Holy Spirit speaking through those around us in our churches and our communities, help us also see the Holy Spirit in the words of our neighbors in cyberspace. Help us make the blogosphere a place conducive to learning from one another and sharing our faith openly. Stay our hands when we want to post something that does not exhibit the love you command us to show others, and help us react constructively to the frustration and anger our fellow bloggers sometimes express. We pray this in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, whose ultimate sacrifice justifies us before You. Amen.

* Pronounced KAH-lekt, Merriam-Webster defines it as: a short prayer comprising an invocation, petition, and conclusion; specifically often capitalized : one preceding the eucharistic Epistle and varying with the day.
** If you do make up your own, either give this entry a TrackBack ping or send me an email. I'd like to see them!

Posted by tessone at December 18, 2003 02:44 PM | TrackBack