Evening Scripture and Prayer
Scripture (Philippians 4:6-7)
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”
Prayer
Lord, so many things race through my mind,
I long to gather them and hold them up in a bunch to you,
but they go this way and that while I go that way and this…
So, instead gather me up and bless what escapes my grasp but not yours.
You are the God of Wonder, the Lord of Heaven and Earth;
my humble prayers I offer to you.
My loved ones are sick and struggle with personal issues; please bring healing to their body and souls and grant them a sense of peace…
Our world is in turmoil and sometimes it scares me; I lift up these fears to you…
I am often frustrated because things aren’t going as I feel they should be, will I have enough; help me to trust in you…
I don’t always make the best choices and find myself heavy laden with guilt; show me thy way Lord, please show me thy way…
Is this where you’ve called me to be in my life; I ask you, Oh Holy One for guidance and clarity as I discern your call for me…
My cup overflows with the bountiful blessings you have showered upon me; Giver of all that is good, I say thank you…
My precious Savior, I give this all to you. It is well with my soul. Amen
Afternoon Prayer
My Lord, I have no hope but in Your Cross.
You, by Your humility, and sufferings and death,
have delivered me from all vain hope.
You have killed the vanity of the present life in Yourself, and
have given me all that is eternal by rising from the dead.
Why should I want to be rich, when You were poor?
Why should I desire to be famous and powerful in the eyes of men,
when the sons of those who exalted the false prophets
and stoned the true rejected You and nailed You to the cross?
Why should I cherish in my heart a hope that devours me – the hope for perfect happiness in this life – when such hope, doomed to frustration, is nothing but despair?
My hope is in what the eye has never seen.
Therefore, let me not trust in visible rewards.
My hope is in what the heart of man cannot feel.
Therefore let me not trust in the feelings of my heart.
My hope is in what the hand of man has never touched.
Do not let me trust what I can grasp between my fingers.
Death will loosen my grasp and my vain hope will be gone.
Let my trust be in Your mercy, not to myself.
Let my hope be in Your love,
not in health, or strength, or ability or human resources.
If I trust You,
everything else will become, for me, strength, health, and support.
Everything will bring me to heaven.
If I do not trust You, everything will be my destruction.
– Thomas Merton
Noon Prayer
Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Let us ask God to give us this love.
Love is patient and kind.
O God, help us to be patient with people
even they are foolish and silly and annoying;
and help us always to be kind to others
as we would wish them to be to us.
Love is not jealous or boastful.
O God, help us never to grudge other people
their possessions or their successes,
but to be as glad as if they were our own;
and keep us from all pride and from all conceit
that we may never boast of what we are, or have, or have achieved.
Love is not arrogant or rude.
O God, make us at all times courteous,
as those who always remember that they are living
in the presence of the King;
and no matter what we are,
and no matter who or what the other person is,
help us never to look on anyone with contempt.
Love does not insist on its own way, is not irritable or resentful.
O God help us, Not to sulk when we do not get our own way;
Not to be irritable and difficult to live with,
but to take things and people as they come;
Not to resent criticism and rebuke,
even when we think we do not deserve it.
Love does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
O God, help us never to find any pleasure in any wrong thing,
but to find happiness only in doing the right,
and in helping others to do it.
Love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
O God, help us To bear insults, injuries, slights and never to grow bitter;
Never to lose our faith in Jesus our Lord;
Never to despair,
however dark and difficult and discouraging life may be;
To stick it out to the end, and never to give in.
O God, you are love;
help us to show your love to others every day in life.
This we ask for your love’s sake. Amen.”
(William Barclay, A Barclay Prayer Book)
Morning – 9:00 a.m.
From Guerrillas of Grace / I Need to Breathe Deeply
Eternal Friend,
grant me an ease to breathe deeply of this moment,
this light,
this miracle of now.
Beneath the din and fury
of great movements
and harsh news
and urgent crises,
make me attentive still
to good news,
to small occasions,
and the grace of what is possible
for me to be,
to do,
to give,
to receive,
that I may miss neither my neighbor’s gift
nor my enemy’s need.
Precious Lord, grant me
a sense of humor
that adds perspective to compassion,
gratitude
that adds persistence to courage,
quietness of spirit
that adds irrepressibility to hope,
openness of mind
that adds surprise to joy;
that with gladness of heart I may link arm and aim
with the One who saw signs of your kingdom
in salt and yeast,
pearls and seeds,
travelers and tax collectors,
sowers and harlots,
foreigners and fishermen,
and who opens my eyes with these signs
and my ears with the summons
to follow to something more of justice and joy.
0 Comments