Flight 2011, You're cleared for Takeoff

It's truly amazing, but we've entered the second decade of the third millennium. Scary stuff in the fact that this is the Decade that the Catbird will turn fifty.... Truly an eeeek moment. Out of the gate on this New Year's weekend, I want to offer up my hopes/prayers for life in 2011. Specifically, prayers for the Nation, the Church, and this humble Deacon.

My hope and prayer for this Republic are simple and direct. I desire to see the United States of America return to her Constitutional roots. I want to see a strong, sufficient, and humble Republic that has rediscovered her first principles. I want to see a nation whose borders are secure, who welcomes and embraces those who lawfully enter, and repels those who wish to exploit her bounty or wish to do her harm. As the scion of immigrants, I fully grasp the rich diversity that a century and a half of lawful immigration has brought to this Republic. I want to see a nation that embraces fiscal responsibility and restraint. My prayer is that those who’ve been sent to Washington apprehend their responsibilities as elected representatives. I want to see individuals who won’t exceed their vested authority and wade off into extra-constitutional forays. I desire a President who will be an advocate, apologist and ambassador for his country, and not someone who snivels before tin-horn despots, apologizing for imagined grievances.

For my Church, I long to see a resurgent Anglicanism sweep across America. Though I’ve said it before from this blog, it bears repeating. It would be arrogant hubris to infer that Anglicanism is the only legitimate expression of Christianity in our world. But that being said, Anglicanism remains a faithful and trustworthy expression of the “Faith, once delivered”. Anglicanism landed on the sandy shores of the James River with our first settlers. It was the faith of the majority of our founding fathers. It was the faith of men like Wilberforce, who fought to end the evil practice of slavery. Far and away from the consumer-based practices of modern American Evangelicalism, Anglicanism is trans-testamental, connecting worshipers across time to the eternal. In a time when truth is personal and malleable, the Anglican expression offers a solid bridge between the temporal and eternal.

For this Deacon, well this is where it gets a little close.

I pray that I might become closer to the heart of the Almighty. I don’t want to be sanctimonious, or out of touch. I want to stand in His presence with a “short” account. I want to be able to look across the panorama of humanity and see Christ in every face I encounter. I pray that I might be able to reach out with the hands and heart of the Savior in all I do. I want to point folk away from the “hard knock” life, and towards the eternal, abundant life in our Savior.