GREETING (Adapted from Psalm 113:2-9)
Blessed be your name, O Lord,
from this time on and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to its setting
your name will be praised.
You are high above all nations,
and your glory above the heavens.
Who is like you, O Lord our God,
who is seated on high,
who looks far down
on the heavens and the earth?
You raise the poor from the dust,
and lift the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of your people.
You give the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
We praise you, O Lord!
HYMN 511 “Am I a Soldier of the Cross”
PSALM 109
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
Do too many people like us, God?
Have we compromised too much, and fit in too well?
Are we so like the surrounding culture that no one recognizes us as Christian?
You want lights set upon the hills.
You want others to see the bright light of Christ in us.
You want our lives, and our words, to light the path leading neighbors to you.
So reveal the love we enjoy in you.
Let our trusting you in every circumstance shine richly.
Publish how we revel in a supportive relationship with One not of this world.
Let them see our calm in calamity.
Display how we trust you to produce good from evil.
Exhibit our sense of well-being, that may or may not match current realities.
Broadcast our submission to you.
Magnify our obedience and self-sacrifice as a contrast
to this culture’s constant rebellion and its feeble attempts at self-preservation.
Promote the love you taught us,
the no-strings-attached love you offer even to enemies.
Parade the “foolishness” of our grace-filled loving of neighbors so all see it.
Let the others laugh and jeer at us.
Use the ridicule to develop our humility and strength.
Let us practice forgiving these others in the same way you have forgiven us.
Let us not trust the world’s friendship,
but put all our faith in you and the promised kingdom.
Show us how to invest our strength and treasure in that which is still to come.
Then let us live and die faithfully.
Make our differences stand out in the world’s culture.
Fill our hearts, words and deeds with your kingdom’s hope, peace, and joy.
Jesus lived to serve your holy will.
Help us to live in the same way, keeping true to you.
Make all this our living worship, offered in praise to you, our King and God.
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 700 “Abide with Me”
CLOSING PRAYER (adapted from Psalm 146:5-9)
Blessed are those whose help you are, God of Jacob.
Our hope is in you, our Lord and our God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them.
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
You set the prisoners free.
You open the eyes of the blind.
You lift up those who are bowed down;
You love the righteous.
You watch over the strangers.
You uphold the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked you bring to ruin.
We believe these things, Lord,
and as we put aside today’s struggles,
we will rest happy for your help with it all. Amen.
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
