I have recently started doing the Family Prayer again from the old American Prayerbooks.. has this prayer struck anyone as it does me? it is heavy on moral action, casts Christ in a terrifying role, and makes final judgment a kind of summit of the Christian journey Imprint upon our hearts such a dread of thy judgments, and such a grateful sense of thy goodness to us, as may make us both afraid and ashamed to offend thee. And, above all, keep in our minds a lively remembrance of that great day, in which we must give a strict count of our thoughts, words, and actions to him whom thou hast appointed the Judge of quick and dead, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
It is heavy for sure. I have found that I really like the 1662 BCP. Just got it within the last month and I love it. It can be pretty heavy at times also
I glad to have read post #3. It clarified post #1 for me. I initially thought you were implying it is too heavy. However, I agree it is what we need. It seems to me that today far too many people think it is all about happy-clappy songs and feeling all good about yourself. I do not intend to imply that being a Christian means you need to be miserable and dour. However, we do need to remember humans have a sinful nature. We need to be aware of this and do our best to avoid sin. If we do not do this we place our souls in grave danger. Hell is very real and is a place where you can end up and eternity is a very, very long time!
There's a ditch on each side of the road. One can become too cavalier about God's grace, and one can become too sin-conscious. There's a "happy medium" in between the two. Of course, if someone senses that he's veered somewhat toward one ditch or the other, dwelling on what God's word teaches can help one to re-center.