Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt - Evening Prayers: For Every Day of the Year

Evening Prayers

For Every Day of the Year

Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt

Published by Plough Publishing House

Walden, New York

Robertsbridge, East Sussex

Elsmore, Australia

www.plough.com

Copyright 2014 by Plough Publishing House

All rights reserved.

Original Title: Abendgebete fr alle Tage des Jahres, Furche Verlag, Berlin, 1926;
second edition: Gotthelf Verlag, Zurich, n.d. Used with permission.
Translated and edited from the German by Plough Publishing House.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version.
1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Illustrations by Marcus and Rita Wegner

Illustrations copyright 2014 by Plough Publishing House

Cover photograph: Corbis Images

Print ISBN: 978-0-87486-811-1
Pdf ISBN: 978-0-87486-582-0
Epub ISBN: 978-0-87486-583-7
Mobi ISBN: 978-0-87486-584-4

You who answer prayer, to you all people will come.

PSALM 65:2

What is it about these evening prayers that still draws thousands of people around the world to turn to them daily, a century after they were spoken? Their rare simplicity and authority spring from the remarkable life of their author, Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, a pastor and theologian who influenced Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Paul Tillich, and Karl Barth. As Barth writes of Blumhardts approach to prayer: Our cause, our hope, is served better with prayers than with treatises... If we want to become healthy and strong, we have to start from the beginning and become like children. That is where Blumhardt can be of great service to people everywhere.

This modern spiritual classic, now in a newly revised edition, is introduced below by Eugen Jckh, a friend of Blumhardts and the editor of his complete works.

Originally intended only for some of Blumhardts close friends, this book of prayers was collected after his death in 1919. Taken from evening devotions that Blumhardt held at Bad Boll, in Germany, these prayers were said without any thought of publication. The fact that they came into being out of real life in this way has endeared them to many who have since used them. The style of the prayers has been changed as little as possible in order to maintain the quality of the spoken word and their essential simplicity.

Those who knew Blumhardt were deeply impressed by the pastoral, even priestly, quality of his personality. His concern went out not only to those whom he knew or who sought his help, but to the whole world. He prayed without ceasing, but not with many words. He stood before God, mindful of people and their needs and answerable for them.

Peoples concerns were important to him because, for him, they were Gods concerns. It is characteristic of him that when he prayed, the first three requests of the Lords Prayer always rose involuntarily to his lips. He lived in them and subordinated everything else to them. All we ask and long for, all our concerns down to the very smallest, we lay in your hands in the one great request that your name be glorified on earth as it is in heaven. Blumhardts short, concentrated prayers contain everything that we want to bring before God, though he never gets lost in details and trivialities. His whole being, and therefore his praying as well, is ruled completely by the saying: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matt. 6:33). Because of this, we seldom hear him ask for these other things.

Blumhardts prayers breathe forth peace in a remarkable way; they have no overwrought emotionalism about them. This peace comes from Blumhardts unshakable conviction that Gods kingdom is on the way in spite of stormy and changing times. And so he gives thanks for giving our hearts hope for your kingdom, the kingdom of God. We thank you that again and again we may draw strength from this hope, find new youthfulness and courage, and discover how powerfully, though hidden, your kingdom is already approaching. But because his heart trembles within him, like the hearts of all those who are waiting for this coming of Gods kingdom, he asks, in order that God can speak to us, for the quietness we need in order to stand before God and forget all the things that can assail us.

Just as nearly every letter of Paul begins with thanks, so Blumhardt too in his prayers is always full of praise and thanks. For there is nothing that can lighten our hearts like giving thanks. In giving thanks we are positive; in the face of thanks everything negative and contrary disappears. Blumhardts thanksgiving does not lose itself in details and superficialities, but is completely directed towards the most inward and central thing that is given to us by God that we are his children. Therefore Blumhardt never tires of giving his simple, childlike thanks that God is our Father and that we may be his children.

But if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Rom. 8:17). Blumhardts prayers flow out of this feeling for the suffering of the whole world. But there is no sighing about them they are strong and glad and confident of victory in the knowledge of Gods promise, which has been given us. Basically they all point in the same direction to the prayer that Gods kingdom shall come, that the Savior shall come. If we pray, all sin and need can only strengthen our faith in the certainty of Gods promise that he will complete his work and bring an end to all affliction.

Eugen Jckh

This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

MATTHEW 6:910

Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored. May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as in heaven. May this continue to be our prayer in the new year, and may we find fellowship with one another in what is eternal and holy. Bless us on our way. Bless us on our earthly pilgrimage so that we may remain free from all bondage, able to thank you day and night for all the good you do, even when things look very dark. We praise your name and we pray as the Savior has taught us. Amen.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.

EPHESIANS 3:1417, NRSV

Lord our God, we have gathered in your sight. We thank you that through your words you have given something of your very self to help us be your disciples, your children, who stand firm in faith and trust throughout our lives, whatever our lot may be. Help us in these times, and when days grow difficult and full of grief, hold your people securely in your hand. Help us to be firmly rooted in faith, however dark it is on earth. You can give us strength and courage; we can do nothing in our human strength. But the power of your Spirit can renew us, make us alert, and fill us with lasting joy. For we are your people, your children, and when held in your hand, we can rejoice in spite of all grief. Amen.