GREETING (adapted from Psalm 89:26)
You, Almighty One, are our Father, our God, and the Rock of our salvation.
Your steadfast love is forever, and your covenant is everlasting.
Reveal to us your will, so we may worship you with our time in this world.
Hold us to your covenant, where all our blessing and hope lies.
Use our worship to form us as the steadfast covenant-keepers that you desire,
and let our faithful witness draw others to their salvation in you.
HYMN 455 “Not So in Haste, My Heart”
PSALM 117
PRAYER
(Think back to the beginning of this day. Start there, and mentally walk through the day again, while you thank God for the day's blessings and God's continuous work of love. Confess and repent of those times when you forgot, ignored or rebelled against God. Continue to pray with your personal prayer list.)
SCRIPTURE LESSON
(Choose a passage of scripture to read. It can be a chapter, a paragraph, or a particular story. Daily lectionaries are available online or in print that assign a lesson each day from the gospels, epistles, Old Testament and psalms on a three-year cycle. Or you can create a plan to read a book of the Bible, or the whole Bible. Then follow the steps below.)
Read a passage of scripture. Read it out loud, very slowly and carefully as if for the first time. Continue reading until a word, phrase or sentence captures your attention. Stop there to repeat the word, phrase or sentence over and over, listening to it deeply in your heart.
Reflect on why the passage got your attention. Consider the area of your life to which this may apply. Is God saying something to you in this passage? Take time to listen carefully to whatever God may be saying to you.
Respond to God in prayer (or with journaling, music, art or whatever you choose) about what you have heard. Ask questions. Open yourself to God’s will for you.
Rest in God’s company. Be still and quiet. Move beyond thinking, practicing interior silence. Let yourself be open to God’s presence. Savor this moment with God.
PRAYER
Covenant-Maker and Covenant-Keeper, we will wait.
Like Abraham of old, we long for the blessings promised.
Yet we see your faithfulness to Israel’s patriarch, and so we wait.
Power Beyond Our Knowing, Invisible Faithfulness,
our faulty understanding and reasoning seed doubts in us,
yet we will wait, even when it seems that your promises are tardy.
Holy Judge, Law-Giver, Lord of All Righteousness,
many temptations coax and cajole us to preemptive action;
but we will wait, even when the good they claim is so beguiling.
Bread of Life, Source of Fruitfulness, Prodigal Patron,
during want and hunger our needs cry for a speedy response.
Keep us from short-cuts that steal from us your rich benevolence.
Creating God, Tireless Craftsman, Unflagging Buttress,
exhausted with difficult labors we ache for quiet and rest,
but we slog forward knowing your famed relief never arrives late.
Impenetrable Fortress, Sheltering Harbor, Loyal Guard,
in times of terrible crisis we bellow demands to know why.
Fix us with faith that trusts you to bring timely good out of tragedy.
Knowing Guide, Ancient Wisdom, Source of All Light,
at times of indecision, we need you to provide guidance.
Not knowing what to do, where to go, or whom to trust, we wait.
Joy of Every Day, Wonder of Wonders, Gentle Mystery,
when we sink into a sticky quagmire of desperate boredom
help us await your relief instead of falling into perilous adventure.
Wounded Healer, Mothering Comforter, Breathe of Life,
we become terribly impatient when sickness or pain attack.
Forgive our impatience. Strengthen us to await your prescription.
Resurrecting Spirit, Immortal Shepherd, Heavenly Future,
when death becomes imminent we are in such terrible hurry.
But, when the living become impatient, your timing is most precise.
Glorious Presence, Crucified Savior, Resurrected Friend,
you never leave us abandoned and never make us wait alone.
Our waiting is always blessed with the joyous company of Christ.
Teacher of Truth, Fount of Faith, and Gardener of Grace,
In our waiting is where you send our faith to be schooled.
There faith grows strong and unbreakable in experiences with you.
Trinity of Triumph, Lord of Forever and Eternal Home,
the greatest gifts you bring us often require the longest waits.
Two millennia waiting for the kingdom assures it will be amazing.
Covenant-Maker and Covenant-Keeper, we will wait.
Like Abraham of old, we long for the blessings promised.
Yet we see your faithfulness, and so we wait as long as necessary. Amen.
SILENCE AND COMMITMENT
(Pause to reflect and listen. Work to push out of your mind any distracting or irrelevant thoughts. Concentrate your thoughts on the words of the hymns and choruses you have sung, the prayers you have spoken and the scriptures you have read. Be aware of what you are feeling. Listen for anything that God might be saying to you in this time you have spent together. As God responds to your prayer-time, seek guidance for how you can best respond to God’s will. Then commit to serving God’s will for you.)
HYMN 141 “Children of the Heavenly Father”
CLOSING PRAYER
You have made a number of covenants with your people, God.
But what is a covenant really – a contract, an agreement, a promise?
When you make a covenant with someone it is more than these.
Your covenants have always been full and unique because they are:
a surprise, with you initiating the whole arrangement for blessing us;
an unbalanced gift, in that we receive more than we can ever return;
a steadfast bond binding you to people you have chosen for covenant;
an alliance of you and your chosen people to work for all that is good;
a relationship with people who are privileged to enjoy your company;
your pledge, your understanding, your commitment to those chosen.
When you make a covenant, you are absolutely, always faithful.
On the other hand, we absolutely, always fail to keep faith with you.
But we can sleep soundly because Christ has kept faith for us,
and tomorrow we begin again in a covenant that still stands in love.
Amen.
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
