Noah and Kyle - my friends in dangerous places - and a bit from the Prayer Book.

For some reason  the following words from the 1662 (or maybe 1552/1549)  English Book of Common Prayer have been in my mind all day:

"And we most humbly beseech thee, of thy goodness, O Lord, to comfort and succor and all those who, in this transitory life, are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity."

It's been many moons ago since I heard or used these old-fangled words in church. 

Yet they have been in my mind for new-fangled concerns for my friends who are in dangerous places.

There is Kyle.  I got to know him when he and his mother worked in one of our local supermarkets. They were both amongst the cheeriest and most efficient workers there.

Now Kyle is in the United States Air Force.  He is serving a six month stint in Afghanistan.  I worry and pray for him every day.



There is Noah.  He is the oldest child of my very good Cambridge friends Elizabeth Keller and her husband the Revd. Steve Bonsey (they - and their other children Sam, Josiah and Annie -  were part of the parish community at St. James's Episcopal Church in Porter Square, Cambridge) .

I hooked up  again with Noah, and his fiancé Zehra, last year when they both lived in Tampa FL.

I hope to attend their wedding in Virginia later this year.

In the meantime Noah is enjoying his dream job as an analyst with the International Crisis Group ( http://www.crisisgroup.org/ )

This is a dream job which requires him to live in Beirut, Lebanon.   I worry and pray for him every day.

Back to the Prayer Book: "And we most humbly beseech thee, of thy goodness, O Lord, to comfort and succor and all those who, in this transitory life, are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity."

Please pray with me for Kyle and Noah who live and work in the shadows of  "any other adversity."


 

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