GREETING
Blessed are those who love you and enjoy your company, God;
for beauty, peace, joy, life and your love will be theirs forever.
Be our blessing today, God of grace and glory. We love you.
HYMN 66 “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven”
PSALM 25
PRAYER
(Consider some of the following concerns of people for prayers of thanksgiving, intercession, and petition. Follow with your personal prayer list.)
For the increase of our compassion Those in need
For the increase of our willingness to forgive Those who are broken
For God to give us tender hearts Those lost in sin
For insight to recognize others’ needs Those imprisoned
For understanding of others’ lives Those who are afraid
For those whose mercy is abused or rejected Those who are sick or injured
The valuing of the lives of other living creatures Those with handicapping conditions
The preserving of habitats of other living creatures Those who are elderly
The preserving of food sources of other creatures Those who are very young
Preserving endangered species Those who are teenagers
Preserving the lives of dangerous animals or pests Those struggling to learn
For those who do not seek revenge Those working to earn a living
For those who refrain from hurting others Those without work
For the mercy the church shows to outsiders _____________________________
For the church’s mercy to other religions _____________________________
For God’s tender mercy shown to all _____________________________
THE LORD'S PRAYER
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
When I was still a child, God of mercy, I stomped ants on the sidewalk.
Why? Because I could. But then I learned about the mercy you so treasure.
Those lessons in mercy worked on me determinedly and unrelentingly.
The teachers of mercy thoroughly understood my obtuse and selfish nature.
Pain was the first teacher you sent, and what an effective teacher it was.
Sometimes its lessons were sharp, immediate, harsh and well-remembered.
Other times, pain’s teaching came slow and wearing, but made its point.
Are these important lessons one of the reasons you allow evil in the world?
As pain drilled its dreadful lessons into my psyche, I cried out for relief.
That is when I first met mercy. What a welcome and precious commodity!
Mercy came in many forms: a parent, family member, friend or doctor.
Surprisingly, mercy sometimes arrived in strangers and even my enemies.
Mercy was always welcome, and I eagerly provided it a warm reception.
In contrast to pain, mercy was like everything warm and right in the world.
Another teacher of mercy was guilt. I tried vainly to ignore that teacher,
but guilt was like a relentless knocking on my door that would not go away.
It accused, nagged, complained, criticized, and slid worry under the door.
Shame, remorse, embarrassment and self-condemnation added to its lessons.
Guilt is a very unattractive teacher, and it is almost impossible to silence.
Guilt will not be ignored, and its lessons always break my resistance to it.
Is that why you allow me freedom to do wrong, so that I learn from guilt?
Mercy shines all the more beautifully in the unending, dark lessons of guilt.
Joy was an unusual teacher, God. I never expected to find it where I did.
I showed mercy to someone else, and I came away with incomparable joy.
I relieved someone else’s pain, and they experienced the anticipated joy.
But my joy at their relief seemed even greater than that of the one relieved!
Joy is always a welcome visitor at anyone’s gate, God, but what a surprise
that its arrival coincided with my giving of mercy to someone else in need.
So now I have learned to show others mercy, if I want the company of joy.
What fun it is to watch the faces of those surprised by my deeds of mercy.
Love was my favorite teacher, so subtle, gentle, and immensely powerful.
What wondrous blessing I felt to be held in love and showered with mercy!
Love gave and gave, and amazingly never asked anything of me in return.
Mercy flowed from that love like the splashing waters of a cascading river.
Then, surprise caught me again, as I started loving my fellow creatures.
Mercy began flowing easily and abundantly from that great spring of love!
Pain, guilt, joy, love – what effective teachers you have sent to me, God.
Wherever they go, mercy grows and blooms like broad fields of wildflowers.
Peace and hope are my latest teachers. They are quieter than the others.
But, oh my, they really do pack quite a punch. And what an odd way to teach!
Interrupt either of these teachers, and they disappear like mist in a breeze.
It is the absence of peace and hope that delivers their very powerful message.
They leave so quickly, I sometimes wonder if they were ever really there,
but the pain of their absence leaves me no room to doubt their truth and reality.
When they vanish, all I want is for them to return, the quicker the better.
Then I learn how helpful mercy can be in regaining missing peace and hope.
Spread a little mercy here and there, and I can almost watch peace return.
When I pray for your mercy, hope breaks out like the sun from behind clouds.
The more I mature, the more I understand the message of peace and hope.
Pain, guilt, joy, love, peace and hope – what wonderful teachers you provide.
Mercy is such a beautiful thing, and so very precious to those who need it.
Thank you for sending your teachers to me, God. They have changed my life.
I now see others with different eyes, and I hear them with different ears.
I also understand and appreciate how very merciful you have been to me, God.
Like a tiny ant on the sidewalk, you could have stamped me out long ago.
Yet you shower me with mercy, even though ants are more innocent than me.
I am very thankful for the mercy I have received, from you and from others.
I greatly enjoy showing mercy to others, especially those small and powerless.
So, ants are safer now. I walk carefully. Showing mercy to all you created.
Thank you for my teachers, for your mercy, and for my ability to show mercy. 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 121 “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy”
CLOSING PRAYER
God who takes yesterday’s evil,
and turns it into today’s blessing,
help us to see what Christ sees
when troubles trample over us.
Help us live today trusting you
to know the way to all goodness.
Send us out in faith to see you
working to turn evil into good.
Reveal to us the many wonders
you initiate everywhere around us.
Help us hold to the eternal truth
that you will love and care for us,
and this day can bring us no evil
that you cannot turn to a blessing. Amen.
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
