Jonathan Gibson - Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship

Jonny Gibsons new liturgical guide to personal or family worship is a gem! Evangelicals need enrichment of the daily quiet time, which has traditionally been little more than Bible study and intercessory prayer. While many have turned to a variety of traditions that are less than gospel- or word-centered, in Be Thou My Vision Jonny connects us to the Reformations historic forms of prayer and confession, catechesis, and the lectio continua reading of Scripture. Its a feast, and while providing only thirty-one days of different prayers, I believe the book can be profitably used all year, and year after year. Get it and use it! Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City Jonny has gifted us with a project not only of theological and historical retrieval but also, more deeply, retrieval of our own hearts, often wayward and wandering, distracted and distressed. This simple but rich liturgy takes our hearts and leads them back to the Lord with pastoral care and theological integrity. A deeply edifying and useful guide.

Dane Ortlund, Senior Pastor, Naperville Presbyterian Church; author, Gentle and Lowly and Deeper We believers sometimes stumble our way through the steps of spiritual devotion, especially in private or family worship. This liturgy for daily worship lets us hold the well-tested handrails of faithful worshipers, carved out deeply and well to help us on. Creeds, prayers, catechisms, hymns, and, most of all, Gods breathed-out word lead us profitably and beautifully to worship the triune God in spirit and in truth. I look forward to using and sharing this book. Kathleen B. Nielsen , author; speaker To use the rich traditions of biblical worship such as prayers, confessions of faith, catechisms, Scripture readings, praise, and more conveys a remarkable freshness in the context of personal worship.

Gibson guides you through each of these elements in a thirty-one-day cycle, and provides a familiar one-year Bible-reading plan. With some adjustments it can also serve as a family worship resource. All in all, Be Thou My Vision is perhaps the best, and certainly the most thorough and meaty, daily devotional guide Ive ever read. Donald S. Whitney, Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Associate Dean, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; author, Family Worship ; Praying the Bible ; and Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life What if you took thirty-one days and enveloped your Bible reading in a cocoon of riches? Make no mistakethis book is not a replacement for the living and active word of God. But how might it deepen and enliven your morning meditation to lead into it and out of it by drawing on centuries of wisdom? Both the sequence and the carefully crafted prayers and creeds will freshly inform your mind and stir your heart.

This is not a book of shortcuts for those looking to abbreviate their time in Gods word. These daily liturgies invite us to give more for a season and hold out the promise of great reward. How might God renovate your soul in these thirty-one days? David Mathis, Senior Teacher and Executive Editor, desiringGod.org; Pastor, Cities Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota; author, Habits of Grace Jonny Gibson is helping a new generation of Christian believers and pastors find language and structure that will enrich their daily devotional life and weekly worship services. I personally find Be Thou My Vision both helpful and inspiring, and warmly commend it to all. Keith Getty , hymn writer When it comes to daily personal worship, Christians are finding it harder to stay disciplined in todays swipe-scroll-click-search-tap culture. Many have lost the art of staying focused.

In the meantime, our souls cry out for authentic worship that lasts more than two minutes. Its why the book you hold in your hands is so necessary. I love this book! Having been raised in the Reformed Episcopal church, I enjoy the rhythms of liturgical adoration of God in all its depth, discipline, and exaltation of the word. Be Thou My Vision will educate you in personal worship that is truly worthy of our great God. I highly recommend this important guide for your personal devotions. Joni Eareckson Tada, Founder, Joni and Friends International Disability Center What a go-to source this volume will be for both individual devotion and family worship, with its carefully arranged daily liturgy featuring select Scripture readings, prayers culled from church history, luminous sections of the creeds and confessions, plus the ringing lyrics of sacred hymnody.

Those who take the time for an appropriation of the measured riches and disciplines of this book will experience an intensification of worship that will fill their existence. We believe that Be Thou My Vision will grace todays church and generations to come! Kent and Barbara Hughes, Senior Pastor Emeritus, College Church, Wheaton; authors, Disciplines of a Godly Man and Disciplines of a Godly Woman A daily time with the Lord has become a rarity in the lives of many Christians. This not only robs us of the good things that God has provided for the strengthening, encouragement, and equipping of his people, but it also dishonors the Lord who loved us and gave himself for us. Gibson has mined the devotional treasures of twenty centuries of Christian prayer to produce a structured and easy-to-use guide to thirty-one days of worship involving confession and praise, Scripture readings and creeds, catechism, and intercession. Be Thou My Vision will certainly give breadth and depth to your daily time with the Lord. I warmly welcome it.

Kanishka Raffel, Archbishop of Sydney, Australia Day 8 Call to Worship Hear God call you to worship through his word: And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Colossians 2:1315 Adoration Say or sing this praise to God: Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise him all creatures here below; Praise him above you heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Doxology Reading of the Law Hear Gods law as his will for your life: The words of our Lord Jesus Christ: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 22:3740 Confession of Sin Confess your sins to God: O Lord, have mercy upon us . O Christ, have mercy upon us . O Spirit, have mercy upon us .

O God the Father in heaven, we beseech you, hear us . O God the Son, Redeemer of the world, we beseech you, hear us . O God the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, we beseech you, hear us . Be gracious unto us. Spare us, good Lord . Be gracious unto us.

Help us, good Lord . Be gracious unto us. Save us, good Lord , from our sin, from our errors, from all evil. Good Lord, deliver us . Lord, have mercy upon us. Amen.

Gregory the Great Assurance of Pardon Receive these words of comfort from God: Yet even now, declares the L ord , return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the L ord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Joel 2:1213 Apostles Creed Confess what you believe about the Christian faith: I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.