GREETING (Psalm 8:1, 3-5)
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
HYMN 92 “For the Beauty of the Earth”
PSALM 29
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
Giver of all good gifts,
you have graced your people,
with the creation of earth, seas and plants.
But we have fought wars,
to control what you gave freely,
to seize and hog the privilege of private use.
Show us your open hands,
and teach us to open our own,
to share freely with the rest of your children.
We are not owners.
We are stewards of your gifts,
servants tending an ecology of abundance.
Change our attitudes.
Redirect our hearts and minds.
Plant us with a new Spirit of thanksgiving.
We love the earth,
with its vast, welcoming plains
and rugged mountains reaching up to heaven.
We love the seas,
the deep mysterious oceans,
the backyard ponds and melodic streams.
We love the plants,
from the tall, proud forests,
to the lawn’s humble violets and dandelions.
So blessed are we.
Your gifts shape our lives.
Your rich legacy initiates and supports all life.
Make us faithful,
guardians of your creation,
sharing and preserving your gifts for all.
Let our stewardship
honor and praise you, O God,
as the source and future of all your creation.
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 97 “For the Fruits of This Creation”
CLOSING PRAYER
God, as you completed your astounding creation,
you saw the days and declared each of them good.
Now look at this day we have created with you,
and in your mercy and grace declare it good also.
May this humble offering add to your goodness,
our faith, our hope, our obedience and our love.
All these things you first created in our hearts,
to spill out and fill all creation with their blessing.
God of goodness, grant us a good night’s rest,
and let our dreams be of an even better tomorrow. Amen.
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
