A Place of Complete Surrender - Northumbria Community

(This is a picture of a mosaic that hung on the wall of a prayer chapel at Luther Seminary while I was a student there. I regularly sat before it contemplating Jesus’ suffering. A picture on the opposing wall depicted Jesus’ joy. That is a devotion for another day:)

Today I want to share with you a beautiful prayer I came across a few years ago. The prayer itself comes at the end of an article articulating the prayer. It is a prayer of complete surrender. This prayer articulates what the author imagines Jesus prayed at Gethsemane before he was taken into custody. I love the prayer at the bottom of the article and I also love the explanation of the prayer which precedes it. It talks about the difficulty of surrender and how it is okay for us to pray this prayer, even though we don’t fully want to and can’t quite submit to it. I see the act of praying a prayer like this as a spiritual practice. It is something we work toward, not something we are good at before we do it.

I have incorporated this prayer into my weekly prayers - using this most Saturdays. Give it a try yourself. What is it like for you to pray this prayer?

Here is a link to the introduction: www.northumbriacommunity.org/articles/place-complete-surrender/

Father,
I abandon myself into your hands;

do with me what you will.
Whatever you do, I will thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me, as in all your creatures.
And I’ll ask nothing else, my Lord.

Into your hands I commend my spirit;
I give it to you
with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
with a trust beyond all measure,
Because you are my Father.