GREETING (Psalm 141:2)
Let our prayer be counted as incense before you, God,
and the lifting up of our hands as an evening sacrifice.
HYMN 683 “The Day Is Past and Over”
PSALM 48
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
Almighty God, Lord of the heavenly host, Creator of all that exists,
Jesus has become the impassable gate keeping us safe.
He has closed the door to death and hell, violence and imprisonment,
by offering his own body to be tested by their tortures.
We thankfully hide behind Christ, soaking up the peace and quiet;
and thinking this is how you meant us to live all along.
But a gate that shuts out danger also opens to let us go confront evil.
Jesus took up his cross and he calls us to take up ours.
Even in the bliss of Eden, there was one tree that screamed danger.
You did not create us to live in total safety and harmony.
You do not want us to grow fat and lazy, wallowing in safe comfort,
nor do you want us to hide, afraid to confront injustice.
The gate that Jesus has become opens wide to let us go out to battle,
and slams shut to provide us rest and time for healing.
Mission, witnessing, working for good and for justice are dangerous.
Helping others without risking ourselves is impossible.
We hear your teaching most clearly when being healed of our wounds.
When danger is obvious, learning is greatly motivated.
Faith does not exist without the possibility that it is wrongly placed.
Love grows strongest when exercised facing sacrifice.
A holy life is invisible without an environment of temptation and sin.
Our light shines brightest when the darkness is complete.
Jesus opens the way for us to fight against the world’s greatest evils,
but stands ready to shield us or to rescue us from defeat.
Almighty God, we thank you for the peace and harmony we enjoy,
and we thank you for the victory that Jesus has provided.
But there are still battles to be fought, and martyrs are still needed.
Life laid down for others is still the greatest form of love.
We stand at the gate, enjoying Jesus’ protection, listening for your call.
And when we go out, fill us with his faith, hope and love.
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 165 “Hallelujah! What a Savior”
CLOSING PRAYER
Night comes, we are tired and need rest,
but if we close our eyes will they open again?
You are the resurrection and the life.
In you, Lord, our eyes will always open again.
Tomorrow we will again be hungry,
but you are the bread of life that will fill us.
Tomorrow we might again get lost,
but you, light of the world, will always lead us.
Will we be safe and free tomorrow?
You are still the gate, protecting and opening.
What will keep us going tomorrow?
You are the vine sustaining us your branches.
Will you always be there for us, Lord?
You are the good shepherd whose care lasts.
Where should we go? What is true?
How will we live when our eyes open again?
You are the way, the truth and the life.
Trusting you for tomorrow, we can finally rest.
Guard our sleep, and give us dreams
of the tomorrow that we will spend with you. Amen.
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
