March 24, 2021
MORNING PRAYERS: Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)
Begin by sitting in a comfortable place as you enter into the presence of God.
Scripture: “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that send out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV)
Music Link: O Lord, Your Tenderness
Please listen to the Song and repeat as many times as you want. As you listen, close your eyes and give your attention to the images the scripture uses to tell of God’s nature and presence. Use your imagination to create “mind pictures” of where you are like a tree with roots fed by God’s Spirit (water). Focus on how you feel when you feel spiritually thirsty or unproductive. As you listen again, sense/feel God with you, especially in those places. Pause to reflect on the ways the Song and the words of the passage speak of how God nurtures you.
Now lift up any places in your life that you need strength and courage to address. You may listen to “O Lord, Your Tenderness” as you focus on the ways God protects, comforts and guides you wherever you go.
Pray your prayers of thanks to God for God’s care for you and others…you may include your personal prayers and prayers for others as you conclude with this prayer:
MORNING PRAYER – A Million Miracles
O Son of God, perform a miracle for me:
Change my heart.
You whose crimson blood redeems
Mankind (humankind), whiten my heart.
It is you who makes the sun bright and
The ice sparkle; you who makes the
Rivers flow and the salmon leap.
Your skilled hand makes the nut tree
Blossom, and the wheat grain turn golden;
Your spirit composes the songs of the
Birds and the buzz of the bees.
Your creation is a million wondrous
Miracles, beautiful to behold.
I ask of you just one more miracle:
Beautify my soul. Amen
(Celtic Prayers: A Book of Celtic Devotion/Daily Prayers and Blessings, Robert Van De Weyer, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1997, pg.14)
EVENING PRAYERS: Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)
Music Link: O Lord, Your Tenderness
Reflect on the words to the scripture from the morning and focus on the day as you ask yourself these questions: How did my day demonstrate worship of God? Did I pray (talk with God) during the day? In what ways did God care for me (and those I love) today? Offer thanks to God for God’s grace and mercy to you and to others. Sit in quiet gratitude to God.
Offer your personal prayers for the day and for God to be with you during the night…..
Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer.
REFRAIN TO THE SONG:
O Lord, your tenderness, melting all my bitterness; O Lord, I receive your love.
O Lord, your loveliness, changing my unworthiness; O Lord, I receive your love.
O Lord, I receive your love. O Lord, I receive your love.
(Words and Music: Graham Kendrick (Isa. 61:3) 1986 Kingsway’s Thank You Music, admin. EMI Christian Music Group
March 17, 2021
MORNING PRAYERS: Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)
Begin by sitting in a comfortable place as you enter into the presence of God.
Scripture: The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone, the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars. (Isaiah 9:10 New International Version)
Music Link: “Bless the Lord”
Please listen to the Song and repeat as many times as you want. As you listen, close your eyes and give your attention to the images the scripture uses to tell of God with you in times of loss and times of healing. Use your imagination to create “mind pictures” of where you might need to be supported by God’s blessings as you seek to remain strong and hope-filled. Focus on how you feel when you feel spiritually weak and discouraged. As you listen again, sense/feel God with you, especially in those places. Pause to reflect on the ways the song and the words of the passage speak of God’s care for you now and always.
Now lift up any places in your life that you need strength and courage to address. You may listen to “Bless the Lord” as you focus on the ways God protects, comforts and guides you wherever you go.
Pray your prayers of thanks to God for God’s care for you and others…you may include your personal prayers and prayers for others as you conclude with this prayer:
MORNING PRAYER: ST. PATRICK’S BREASTPLATE
I gird myself with the might of heaven:
The rays of the sun,
The beams of the moon,
The glory of fire,
The speed of the wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The hardness of rock,
I gird myself with the power of God:
God’s strength to comfort me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to lead me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s angel to save me
From the snares of the Devil,
From temptations to sin,
From all who wish me ill,
Both far and near,
Alone and with others.
May Christ guard me today
From poison and fire,
From drowning and wounding,
So my mission may bear fruit in abundance. Amen.
(Celtic Prayers: A Book of Celtic Devotion/Daily Prayers and Blessings, Robert Van De Weyer, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1997, pgs 46-47)
EVENING PRAYERS: Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)
EVENING PRAYER: ST PATRICK’S BREASTPLATE (continued from Morning Prayer)
Christ behind and before me,
Christ beneath and above me,
Christ with me and in me,
Christ around and about me,
Christ on my left and my right,
Christ when I rise in the morning,
Christ when I lie down at night,
Christ in each heart that thinks of me,
Christ in each mouth that speaks of me,
Christ in each eye that sees me,
Christ in each ear that hears me.
I arise today (I rest this night)
Through the power of the Trinity,
Through faith in the Threeness,
Through trust in the oneness,
Of the Maker of earth,
And the Maker of heaven. Amen.
(See Morning Prayer notation for copyright information)
Music Link: “Bless the Lord”
Reflect on the words to the scripture from the morning and focus on the day as you ask yourself these questions: How did my day demonstrate worship of God? Did I pray (talk with God) during the day? In what ways did God care for me (and those I love) today? Offer thanks to God for God’s grace and mercy to you and to others. Sit in quiet gratitude to God.
Offer your personal prayers for the day and for God to be with you during the night…..
Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer.
REFRAIN TO THE SONG: “Bless the Lord”
Bless the Lord my soul and bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Lord my soul who leads me into life.
(Words and Music: Jacques Berthier and the Taize Community (Ps 103:1). 1984 Les Presses de Taize, France admin. By GIA Publications, Inc.)
March 3, 2021
MORNING PRAYERS: Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)
Begin by sitting in a comfortable place as you enter into the presence of God.
Scripture:
Music Link: “As the Deer” (based on Psalm 42)
Please listen to the Song and repeat as many times as you want. As you listen, close your eyes and give your attention to how the Psalmist expresses a longing (thirsting) for God. Use your imagination to help you to see the images the Psalmist describes. Allow yourself to “feel” that you are in a time of waiting for God as you long to reconnect with the presence of God’s Spirit. As you listen again, put yourself into the pictures you have imagined and focus on how you experience God in your life – as Creator, as Jesus, and as Spirit. Pause to reflect on the ways the Song and the words of the Psalm bring you closer to God’s presence.
Now lift up any sense of being alone, any feelings of being distanced from God, any fears of abandonment you might have during this time in your life as you focus again on the words from the Psalm.
Pray your prayers for God’s presence and healing in the life of your loved ones, friends, family and for yourself. Offer thanks to God for God’s care for you and others…you may include any other personal prayers and prayers for others you want as you conclude with this prayer:
GOD
I am the wind that breathes upon the sea,
I am the wave of the ocean,
I am the murmur of leaves rustling,
I am the rays of the sun,
I am the beam of the moon and stars,
I am the power of trees growing,
I am the bud breaking into blossom,
I am the movement of the salmon swimming,
I am the courage of the wild boar fighting,
I am the speed of the stag running,
I am the strength of the ox pulling the plow,
I am the size of the mighty oak tree,
And I am the thoughts of all people who
Praise my beauty and grace. Amen.
(Celtic Prayers: A Book of Celtic Devotion/Daily Prayers and Blessings, Robert Van De Weyer, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1997, pg.17)
EVENING PRAYERS: Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)
Music Link: “As the Deer” (based on Psalm 42)
Reflect on the words to the Psalm from the morning and focus the day as you ask yourself these questions:
How did my day demonstrate worship of God? Did I pray (talk with God) during the day? In what ways did God care for me (and those I love) today? When did I “long” for God? At what moments did I feel the presence of God? Offer thanks to God for God’s grace and mercy to you and to others. Sit in quiet gratitude to God.
Offer your personal prayers for the day and for God to be with you during the night…..
Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer.
Psalm 42 (NIV version)
As the deer pants for streams of
water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
Why my soul are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
For I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon – from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me –
a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
My bones suffer mortal agony
As my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
My Savior and my God.
REFRAIN TO THE SONG: “As the Deer”
As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you.
You alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship you.
You alone are my strength, my shield; to you alone may my spirit yield.
You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.
(Words and Music: Martin j. Nystrom, 1984 Maranatha Praise Inc., admin by The Copyright Co.)
“Be still and Know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10)
As you pray remember that God’s Spirit surrounds and supports you wherever you are. Open your heart to God in worship, pray with an open heart to God, thank God for the help God gives, has given and will give you, and listen to hear God speak with you as you are “still” with God.
Morning Prayer…
Silence – Be still in God’s presence.
Prayer – Glory be to you, O God, for the rising of the sun, for colour filling the skies and for the whiteness of daylight. Glory be to you for creatures stirring forth from the night, for plant forms stretching and unfolding, for the stable earth and its solid rocks. Glory be to you for the beauty of your image, waking in opening eyes, lighting the human countenance. Glory be to you. Glory be to you. But where the glistening is lost sight of, where life’s colours are dulled and the human soul grows hard, I pray for grace this day, I pray for your softening grace.
Pray for the coming day and the life of the world.
Offer thanks to God for the goodness and grace you have received in your life, the goodness and grace you hope to receive this day, and the goodness and grace that you long for in the days to come.
Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer.
Evening Prayer….
Silence – Be Still in God’s presence
Prayer – Glory be to you, O God, at the conclusion of this day. Glory to you for the ways you have revealed yourself to me this day in the beauty of nature and of those around me. Give me your beauty at this time of rest and help me to dream as I remember, even while I sleep, your goodness to me at every time in my life. I pray for your grace this night, for me and for others wherever they are. Keep all in your care and give us your gentle peace.
